Introduction
Kingston has been very open about their parts-swapping strategy for their NV storage lineup, a way to initially circumvent the parts shortage of the 2020s, Kingston’s NV2 saw pretty consistent speccing over time transcending the image of a budget part to a go-to starting SSD for general use. Most markets see Kingston NV SSD as a great seller, ipso facto becoming the goal post for the newer batch of DRAM brands emerging from Taiwan and China. Still, Kingston has its name to rely on and today we now have a true Gen4 successor to the NV2 with the new Kingston NV3.
Following the success of the NV2, Kingston now introduces the NV3, a budget-oriented PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD aimed at entry-level users looking for an affordable performance uplift over SATA drives and older PCIe Gen 3 SSDs. While still positioned as a DRAM-less solution, the Kingston NV3 brings notable improvements in efficiency and NAND technology, making it a compelling choice for mainstream users and system builders.
In this review, we’ll find out if the Kingston NV3 is good, discover its specifications and parts variance, what changed from the NV2, and overall value proposition. With the SSD market still on an upward trend with new players in the field, can Kingston’s latest budget NVMe drive keep up with increasing performance expectations? Let’s find out.
Features & Specification
| Specification | 500GB | 1TB | 2TB | 4TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | |||
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe | |||
| NAND Flash Type | 3D NAND | |||
| Sequential Read | Up to 5,000 MB/s | Up to 6,000 MB/s | Up to 6,000 MB/s | Up to 6,000 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | Up to 3,000 MB/s | Up to 4,000 MB/s | Up to 5,000 MB/s | Up to 5,000 MB/s |
| Endurance (TBW) | 160 TB | 320 TB | 640 TB | 1280 TB |
| Warranty | Limited 3-year warranty with free technical support | |||
Series Comparison
| Specification | Kingston NV1 | Kingston NV2 | Kingston NV3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe |
| NAND Flash Type | 3D NAND | 3D NAND | 3D NAND |
| Sequential Read | Up to 2,100 MB/s | Up to 3,500 MB/s | Up to 6,000 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | Up to 1,700 MB/s | Up to 2,800 MB/s | Up to 5,000 MB/s |
| Endurance (TBW) | Up to 960 TB | Up to 1280 TB | Up to 1280 TB |
| Warranty | 3 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years |
Closer Look – Kingston NV3
We’ll just breeze through the physical aspect of the Kingston NV3 starting off with the packaging. Kingston ships the NV3 in a trap blister packaging with the stylized artwork at the front. Some details include the model name and capacity as well as the warranty duration badge (3-year).
The physical SSD itself doesn’t change much. Even with 2TB capacity, this module only uses 2 NAND chips keeping the back flat and bare which is perfect for low-profile applications that can accommodate the standard 2280 dimension. The drive doesn’t include a heatsink and given the faster spec, it will heat up and throttle badly, or shut itself off when heated. In cases like this, its highly recommended to have a cooling solution for the SSD e.g. a motherboard shroud/heatspreader or an aftermarket heatsink.
With consumers becoming more aware of part revisions and how they can affect performance down the line, we include the key components in our SSD reviews. Below are the components used by KINGSTON NV3 2TB sample as pictured:
- Controller: TenaFE TC2201 controller
- Flash: Kingston FP01T08VCY1-54 (YMTC 232-layer QLC)
- DRAM: N/A, uses 64MB HMB
This SSD has confirmed multiple controller+NAND variations available simultaneously.
Performance Testing – Kingston NV3
Test Setup
Processor: Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z890 HERO
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade DDR5-6400 32GB (2×16)
Storage: Kingston FURY Renegade SSD (OS), tested drive as listed
PSU: FSP Hydro GT Pro 1000W
Cooling: Arctic Frozr III 360
Monitor: ROG Strix XG32UQ
VGA: ASUS GTX 1050 Ti Phoenix
Our sample for this test is the KINGSTON NV3 2TB capacity version
Linear Performance Testing
SSD performance rating especially on write usually only achieved in optimal sitautions particularly sequential transfers. In this we use a script to write 1GB data files to fill-up the drive or until we hit the saturation point where the drive doesn’t deliver its rated performance.
Crystal DiskMark
CrystalDIskMark has been the most actively updated disk benchmark amongst all the ones we use and is effectively the most reliable. Unfortunately, version to version results are not comparable which limits the ability to extrapolate comparative data. Still its a reliable and direct benchmark. Like the previous, it allows control over test data pattern, the test data size, amount of passes and individual benchmark control.
PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark
PCMark 10 introduces a set of four storage benchmarks that use relevant real-world traces from popular applications and common tasks to fully test the performance of the latest modern drives.
3DMark Storage Benchmark
The 3DMark Storage Benchmark uses traces recorded from popular games and gaming-related activities to measure real-world gaming performance, such as:
- Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
- Loading Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
- Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
- Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
- Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
- Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
- Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.
Final Fantasy XIV Benchmark
Final Fantasy XIV has a standalone benchmark application for PC, with the mid-2024 update to the game being the Drawntrail expansion which means that we’re restarting from scratch in our testing archive for this benchmark which delivers some very nice graphical updates. A long-standing feature of the Final Fantasy XIV standalone benchmark is the loading data is captures which is a summary of all the load times between scenes in the benchmark. We take the aggregate loading times of these scenes for the total score.
Playstation 5 Testing
The Sony Playstation 5 supports storage expansion thru M.2 devices and many SSD makers are advertising their drives as supporting the Playstation 5. That said, we’ve included PS5 bandwidth testing in our reviews. We use the Playstation 5’s internal read speed test for the primary initialization. Due to how Sony designed this benchmark, our testing averages at least 5 reads with the drive formatted after a rest period for best thermal results.
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Conclusion
The Kingston NV3 presents itself as a solid budget-friendly PCIe 4.0 SSD, delivering a significant upgrade for users coming from older SATA or PCIe Gen 3 SSDs, even compared to the NV2. While it doesn’t compete with high-end Gen 4 drives in terms of raw speed, its performance is respectable within its price bracket, making it a great choice for mainstream users, gamers, and system builders looking for a cost-effective solution.
One of the key advantages of the NV3 is its affordability, which makes it highly accessible to budget-conscious consumers. The endurance rating is reasonable for an entry-level SSD but as mentioned, Kingston is aware of their strength market and Philippine stocks of the NV3 only have 3-year warranty coverage versus select regions that have 5-year warranties.
That said, the NV3’s reliance on a DRAM-less architecture and variable NAND/controller configurations might result in inconsistent performance in certain workloads, particularly those involving sustained write operations which is a real thing when you see the amount of users asking in forums and Facebook groups why their drives is suddenly doing hundreds of megabytes rather than thousands.
Users dealing with intensive workloads like video editing or large-scale data transfers may find better options in SSDs equipped with DRAM cache but that’s just for the initial ingest. If the video is already on the drive and you’re curious about scrubbing performance, there shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Overall, the Kingston NV3 strikes a fine balance between price and performance, making it an attractive upgrade option for those looking for a jump to an SSD without breaking the bank, costing only a minimal price increase over the NV2 for a whole lot of payoff in performance. If you need an affordable PCIe 4.0 SSD for general use and gaming, the Kingston NV3 is easily top choice.
Kingston backs the NV3 with a 3-year warranty. I give it my B2G Recommended Seal!
3 Comments
Binili ko to dahil sa review ni sir RK Visda hahaha
Kuya Rygell! haha
Back2Gaming Baka RK yan hahaah!