Kingston NV2 1000GB

The Kingston NV2 1TB is a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe drive whose practical throughput is often limited to PCIe 3.0–class performance. The drive is produced with a variable hardware bill of materials: controllers commonly include Phison PS5021-E21T or SMI SM2267XT, and NAND may be either 3D TLC or 3D QLC depending on the production batch. The NV2 is a DRAM-less design that uses Host Memory Buffer (HMB) for mapping, is typically single-sided M.2 2280, and is usually shipped as a bare PCB without a heat spreader. Sustained write performance can vary significantly between TLC and QLC units (QLC units show a larger drop once the pseudo-SLC cache is exhausted), and the controller may thermal throttle in stagnant airflow during long transfers or formatting.

Key Specifications

• Interface: PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
• Sequential Read: 3,500 MB/s
• Sequential Write: 2,100 MB/s
• Controller: Variable (Commonly Phison PS5021-E21T or SMI SM2267XT)
• NAND Type: Variable (3D TLC or 3D QLC)
• DRAM Cache: No (HMB Supported)
• Physical Profile: Single-sided M.2 2280
• Endurance Rating: 320 TBW

Hardware Alternatives

• Crucial P3 Plus: Direct functional competitor to QLC-configured NV2 units, using similar high-density storage and operating in the same entry-level PCIe 4.0 bandwidth bracket.
• Western Digital WD_BLACK SN770: DRAM-less PCIe 4.0 design with a proprietary controller and consistent TLC NAND, providing higher sustained transfer rates.
• Solidigm P41 Plus: Shares similarities with QLC-based NV2 units, notably the use of Intel/Solidigm 144-layer QLC flash and a focus on read-intensive consumer workloads over heavy write endurance.