Specification
| Form factor | M.2 2230 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe |
| Capacities | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB |
| Sequential read/write | 500GB – 5,000/3,000MB/s 1TB – 6,000/4,000MB/s 2TB – 6,000/5,000MB/s |
| NAND | 3D |
| Endurance (total bytes written) | 500GB – 160TB 1TB – 320TB 2TB – 640TB |
| Storage temperature | -40°C~85°C |
| Operating temperature | 0°C~70°C |
| Dimensions | 22mm x 30mm x 2.3mm |
| Weight | 500GB – 2.6g 1TB – 2TB – 2.8g |
| Vibration non-operating | 20G (10-1,000Hz) |
| MTBF | 2,000,000 hours |
| Warranty/Support | Limited 5-year warranty with free technical support |
Features
The NV3 SSD features a DRAM-less design, similar to all M.2 2230 SSDs currently available on the market. It’s equipped with a Silicon Motion SM2268XT2 controller and Kioxia BiCS8 218-layer QLC NAND. The QLC NAND is cheaper, which affects the store price, but it provides about half of the TLC’s endurance – 640TBW for the 2TB option. It’s still above standard for the M.2 2230 SSD, even when compared to other QLC 2230 SSDs on the market, due to NV3’s higher performance and 5-year warranty. Most users who work on mobile devices or handheld gaming consoles don’t use them frequently for extended writing, so endurance shouldn’t be an issue.
The NV3 offers sequential bandwidth of up to 6 GB/s. This is at least what we can find in the specifications, as our test results say it’s even more. The performance is above that of most QLC and top TLC M.2 2230 SSD series, so it’s not the highest, but it still outperforms its direct competitors.
The SSD supports all the latest technologies to improve stability, data protection, and performance.
Below is a screenshot from the AIDA64 diagnostic screen, which provides additional details about the SSD.
Kingston provides SSD Manager software that checks the SSD’s health and lets us update its firmware. The tested SSD arrived with the latest available firmware. There were no issues during all our tests.
Below is a screenshot from CrystalDiskInfo, one of the most widely used diagnostic programs. The SSD arrived in perfect condition with 0TB written.
Depending on the load, the drive’s temperature typically ranges between 35 °C and 75 °C. The maximum specified temperature is 85°C, whereas our tests observed a temperature of 75°C. Although the temperature increases significantly under load, we haven’t observed thermal throttling. Probably it’s set higher than a typical 75°C. On the other hand, our tests were performed in an open space, while temperatures in airflow-limited small computers, such as ultrabooks or handheld gaming consoles, can be higher.
