Kingston announced it is now shipping the new NV3 SSD, providing a substantial upgrade over its predecessor despite both being on the same PCIe 4.0 standard.
Kingston NV3
The new Kingston NV3 comes with a new controller that roughly doubles its sequential read and write speed over NV2, with a claimed 6,000MB/s and 5,000MB/s in respective throughput for the 2TB and 4TB model. Gone is the 250GB model, and the new lineup now starts with 500GB capacity, rated for 5,000MB/s and 3,000MB/s in read and write speeds, respectively.
Here’s a quick specs comparison for reference:
| Capacity | 500GB | 1TB | 2TB | 4TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read | 5,000MB/s | 6,000MB/s | 6,000MB/s | 6,000MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 3,000MB/s | 4,000MB/s | 5,000MB/s | 5,000MB/s |
| Endurance | 160TBW | 320TBW | 640TBW | 1,280TBW |
Like its predecessor, it uses M.2 2280 form factor with single-sided design (which allows it to be installed in ultra-thin laptops that have limited height clearance), though this means using QLC NAND that trades data density over sustained performance. That being said, it uses host memory buffer (HMB) to accelerate burst performance, which relies on the system RAM instead of a dedicated DRAM found in high-end SSDs.
Kingston says every NV3 comes with 1-year free Acronis True Image for backups and data cloning, as well as a 3-year warranty. Pricing is currently listed as RM252, RM398, RM773, RM1,315 for the 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB versions, respectively, on Kingston’s official Shopee store.
Pokdepinion: Pretty solid specs on paper, actually.
