It’s been half a year since we last reviewed Kingston’s KC2500, an NVMe Gen3 SSD aimed towards consumers that are chasing down lightning-fast transfer speeds. Fast forward to today, the brand recently announced the NV1, an NVMe Gen3 SSD that is on the opposite end of its product range. Specifically, the cheaper and more budget-friendly variety.

With considerably lower sequential read and write speeds, along with a significantly cheaper price tag, the primary question is, naturally, is it worth it?

What Is It?

Besides the obvious point that the NV1 is an NVMe Gen3 SSD in M.2 form, I will point out that the storage medium is available in three storage capacities: 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB. On that note, while it is surprising to see an entry-level SSD with higher capacities, it is also something of a relief to see that a 2TB storage option isn’t just limited to the higher-tier NVMe SSDs.

Specs-wise, the NV1 uses two older DRAM-less SSD controllers, a Phison E13T and Silicon Motion SM2263XT. As for its transfer speeds, you’re looking at 2100MB/s sequential read and 1700MB/s sequential write speeds, respectively. Again, those aren’t blindingly fast as other NVMe Gen3 SSDs, but the good news is that those speeds are consistent across all three available capacities.

Is It Any Good?

With sequential transfer speeds of 2100MB/s and 1700MB/s, the NV1 is several steps ahead of the already ageing SATA SSDs, which traditionally have average sequential read and write speeds of 550MB/s.

The NV1’s performance is steady, while heat generation depends on the state you leave it in. When I leave the SSD bare naked and under constant stress, its overall temperature peaked at an average of 54°C. With the motherboard’s M.2 heatsink attached, its peak temperature dramatically decreased to 43°C.

Oh, and like most Kingston SSD products, the NV1 also comes with a free copy of Acronis True Image HD. On that note, don’t throw away the packaging, as the code to the software is actually plastered underneath it. Literally. Last but not least is the price. At a starting price of RM269 for the 500GB variant and RM939 for the 2TB model, there is little doubt that this was done to make the NV1 a competitive option.

The Bad Stuff. Tell Me.

To be frank, there is not a whole lot I can say that would discourage you from purchasing the NV1. However, I will emphasize the importance that this is still an entry-level SSD and as such, I would not recommend that you severely abuse it. Compared to other NVMe SSDs, the NV1’s write endurance is lower, with 120TBW (Terabytes Written) for the 500GB, 240TBW for the 1TB, and 480TBW for the 2TB.

Should I Buy It?

Ultimately, the Kingston NV1 is worth the consideration, especially if you’re in the market for an entry-level NVMe SSD, either to simply expand your storage in your laptop and PC, or simply to upgrade your primary drive on-the-fly.

Having said that, I will say once more that the NV1 is not a high-performance NVMe Gen3 SSD, so if you’re looking for performance, you may want to set your sights elsewhere.