The Kingston NV3 comes two years after I reviewed the NV2 and I have to say, it’s an obvious improvement over the last. On top of that, it’s got a price tag that doesn’t gouge the wallet as badly as some of the more premium SSDs.
What Am I Looking At?
As with all follow-ups, the NV3 is the direct successor of the NV2, retaining the mantra of “affordable but still fast”. For the fast part, Kingston has finally brought it up close to current NVMe 4.0 speeds. Close to, but not quite there.
Specs-wise, it’s running either the SMI SM2268XT2 or the Phison E27T controller, depending on storage configuration. In the case of my NV3, I’ve got a whopping 2TB of storage, meaning that mine is fitted with the latter. Both, by the way, are considered to be relatively basic. Oh, and it uses BiCS6 TLC and QLC flash memory too, depending on the SKU you choose.
Pricing for the NV3 in Malaysia starts at RM199 for the 500GB model, RM279 for 1TB, and RM539 for the 2TB SKU that we have in our lab.
What’s Good About It?
As mentioned, the NV3, with its storage configuration of 1TB or greater, can maintain average sequential read and write speeds of 6GB/s, with reads obviously being slightly faster than the write. That said, the write speeds displayed by CDM 8 runs slightly faster, approximately 12% by my estimate.
The NV3 also runs quite cool. and this is despite running some game titles off it directly.
What’s The Catch?
At a starting price of RM279 – the 500GB model retails for RM199 but is slower by 1GB/s across the board – the NV3 is a poster child of the “you get what you pay for” motto. At this price point, the SSD is all you get physically. There is no DRAM, and all you get is the SSD Controller and two NAND flash chips. Not even a heatsink, like so many other brands tend to do these days.
That last bit leads me to a topic that I’ve rarely discussed: the MTBF or to put it simply, endurance. Over the course of the last few generations, the Kingston KC2500, KC300, NV1, and NV2 have experienced critical failure, less than two years after they were reviewed. While I suspect this was because I have a habit of testing SSDs naked (read: without the heatsink, be it from the brand or the motherboard’s own heatshield), I can’t shake the feeling that my own units may have been the runt of their respective litters.
Should I Buy It?
If you’re on the hunt for an affordable NVMe 4.0 SSD with sequential read speeds nearing 7GB/s without puncturing your wallet, and you’re not a snob or hung up on using higher-quality components in its assembly, the Kingston NV3 is probably for you.
Even if you’re not planning on using this SSD as your main drive, it’s definitely a great secondary storage for your game. Just don’t use it as your main means of storing media or files; you’re better off with the traditional hard drive for that.
