Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Outstandingly inexpensive
- Very good real-world efficiency
Cons
- Short three-year guarantee with low TBW score
- 150MBps writing off cache
Our Verdict
If you’re on the hunt for the least costly PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, then the Kingston NV2 will possible seem on the prime of the record. Performance is greater than sufficient for the common consumer, however it’s not for execs banging on it with plenty of knowledge.
Price When Reviewed
250GB: $29.99 I 500GB: $43:99 I 1TB: $64.99 I 2TB: $139.99 I 4TB: $219.99
Best Prices Today: Kingston NV2 SSD
$29.99
$35
You gained’t discover a extra inexpensive PCIe 4.0 SSD than Kingston’s NV2. It’s slower than the overwhelming majority of its friends, however being NVMe, it’s nonetheless sufficient for many customers and most on a regular basis duties.
Further studying: See our roundup of the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs to find out about competing merchandise.
What are the Kingston NV2’s options?
The NV2 is a PCIe 4.0 x4, 2280 type issue (22mm vast, 80mm lengthy) M.2, NVMe SSD using a DRAM-less (HMB/host reminiscence buffer) design. The NAND is 144-layer Kingston-labeled QLC dealt with by a Silicon Motion SM2267XTV controller.
We examined the 1TB capability of the NV2, however rated efficiency varies tremendously by capability: For the 250GB capability it’s 3GBps studying/1.3GBps writing, for the 500GB and 1TB capacities it’s 3.5GBps/2.1GBps, and for the 2TB and 4TB capacities its 3.5GBps/2.8GBps.
Jon L. Jacobi / Foundry
The NV2 is warrantied for 3 years or 320TBW (terabytes that may be written) per terabyte of capability. Those are paltry in comparison with most NVMe SSDs, and the low TBW is a useless giveaway that the NAND is QLC.
That mentioned 320TBW per TB isn’t the bottom score we’ve seen: The Sabrent Rocket Q4, Corsair MP600 Core Mini, and Crucial P3 — all QLC drives — are rated for 225TBW/TB, 250TBW/TB, and 220TBW/TB, respectively.
You are taking a little bit of an opportunity on the NV2 and QLC drives normally, although endurance is mostly understood to be better (usually significantly) than vendor TBW scores, that are factoring in monetary legal responsibility. Not solely that, however most customers write far much less knowledge than they suppose.
Still, you didn’t suppose you’d get Seagate-like backing at these costs, did you? What costs are these? See under.
How a lot does the NV2 price?
At the time of this writing the 25GB NV2 was $28, the 500GB was $38, our 1TB drive price $52, the 2TB was $100, and the 4TB was $187 — all on Amazon (Kingston’s MSRP is $10 to $30 larger). Those costs, people, are a comparative pittance.
How quick is the Kingston NV2?
All NVMe SSDs are quick — we’re evaluating the thoroughbreds of storage right here. But the NV2 is unquestionably one of many slowest such units we’ve examined. It ensconced itself comfortably in next-to-last place, simply forward of the Crucial P3, a really related design however solely PCIe 3.0.
So truly, the NV2 is the slowest PCIe 4.0 SSD we’ve ever examined, and it’s not even notably near the following slowest — the Solidigm P41 Plus.
While slower than most, our 1TB NV2 really exceeded Kingston’s scores (see above). Note that Kingston was unwilling to fill out our fact-check sheet, so we quoted the scores from the corporate’s web site.
The Kingston NV2 was hardly the quickest NVMe SSD we’ve examined, however 3GBps remains to be very quick within the grand scheme.
Jon L. Jacobi
Again, the NV2 was off the NVMe efficiency tempo in CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K efficiency checks. Only the PCIe 3.0 Crucial P3 was slower, and never in each take a look at.
Our 48GB transfers have been a relative jaunt for the NV2, which completed tied with, or in entrance of every part however WD’s wonderful TLC SSD, the SN770M. These form of copies are the place most customers can be observing a progress bar, so have essentially the most salient impression on efficiency satisfaction.
The 450GB write was the place the NV2 mainly fell off a efficiency cliff, plummeting to a median write pace of 140MBps when it ran out of secondary (QLC written as SLC) cache. Keep in thoughts that our take a look at mannequin was a 1TB drive, whereas all of the others within the chart have been 2TB with extra NAND for secondary caching. No doubt, a 2TB or 4TB mannequin would’ve completed with a extra aggressive time.
Below you may see the drop in sustained write pace illustrated. The tiny bumps are the occasional soar as much as 400/500MBps. The NV2 spent nearly all of the time on the slower price.
Again, I have to level out that we’re speaking NVMe right here, which is much sooner than some other sort of storage you’re more likely to make use of. But inside these boundaries, you’re positively getting what you pay for. Or didn’t pay for, extra exactly.
Should I purchase the Kingston NV2?
Yes, in the event you’re on a decent price range and might’t afford anything. It’s additionally appropriate for exterior storage the place the USB and even Thunderbolt busses aren’t quick sufficient to warrant a top-tier SSD.
On the opposite hand, positively skip the NV2 in the event you’re an fanatic or prosumer commonly writing very massive quantities of knowledge. It’s additionally not the optimum drive for operating an working system as a result of comparatively slothful 4K efficiency.
How we take a look at
Drive checks presently make the most of Windows 11, 64-bit operating on an X790 (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of reminiscence complete). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are built-in to the again panel and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. The 48GB switch checks make the most of an ImDisk RAM disk taking over 58GB of the 64GB of complete reminiscence. The 450GB file is transferred from a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro which additionally runs the OS.
Each take a look at is carried out on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Note that in regular use, as a drive fills up, efficiency might lower as a consequence of much less NAND for secondary caching, in addition to different components. This is much less of an element with the present crop of SSDs with their far sooner NAND.
Caveat: The efficiency numbers proven apply solely to the drive we have been shipped and to the capability examined. SSD efficiency can and can differ by capability as a consequence of extra or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes throughout and the quantity of NAND out there for secondary caching. Vendors additionally sometimes swap parts. If you ever discover a big discrepancy between the efficiency you expertise and that which we report, by all means, tell us.