One other day, one other stupid-fast PCIe Gen 4 SSD primarily based on the favored Phison E18 controller chip? Kind of, sure. The truth is, the brand new Kingston Fury Renegade SSD, reviewed right here in 2TB configuration, isn’t even distinctive inside Kingston’s vary of M.2 drives. The intently associated Kingston KC3000 additionally sports activities the E18 controller.
Different Phison E18-based drives which have landed in PC Gamer’s labs embrace the Sabrent Rocket 4.0 Plus, the PNY XLR8 CS3140, and the Addlink S95. No query, we’re accustomed to the attraction of the E18 controller.
As we’ve detailed earlier than, Phison’s PS5018-E18 is an eight-channel controller knocked out on none aside from TSMC’s 12nm course of. It’s loaded with 5 CPU cores in complete, three primarily based on generic ARM Cortex R5 IP and two cores with proprietary Phison designs. Phison claims the E18 can crank out 7.4GB/s learn and 7GB/s write speeds, to not point out a million IOPS. We’ve beforehand seen the E18 labeled as an NVMe 1.4 chip, however Kingston claims NVMe 2.0 assist for the Fury Renegade.
As for the specs of the NAND reminiscence chips Kingston has chosen, it solely quotes 3D TLC NAND. Nonetheless, courtesy of some routine sleuthing, we consider Kingston is utilizing the identical Micron 176-Layer 3D TLC chips as seen within the KC3000 sibling drive. All of which implies you’re a totally up-to-date drive. Clearly, the PCIe 5.0 normal is notionally upon us with the arrival of Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs. However we’re a way from PCIe 5.0 drives and platforms being mainstream and appropriate drives being out there in quantity, though Phison is already on the ball with its PCIe 5.0 controller testing.
As for additional particulars, this 2TB drive is quoted at 7,300MB/s for sequential reads and seven,000MB/s for writes, whereas random entry efficiency is pegged at 1,000,000 IOPS in each instructions. Meaty numbers throughout, to make certain.
Kingston Fury Renegade 2TB Specs
Bodily, this M.2 2280 format drive advantages from a skinny aluminium warmth spreader augmented by a skinny layer of graphene for optimised thermal conductivity. As for the way this Fury Renegade drive differs from its KC3000 sibling, we’re speaking element variations. The Fury Renegade is claimed to be marginally quicker, whereas the KC3000 fashions have barely extra usable area at any given capability.
Nonetheless, the smaller capability permits for extra redundancy provision on the Fury and in flip higher write endurance. The place the 2TB KC3000 is rated at 1,600TB of write endurance, the 2TB Fury Renegade will get a 2,000TB score. In actuality, only a few customers are going to flirt with 1,600TB of writes, not to mention 2,000TB.
Anywho, what can we make of the Kingston Fury Renegade from our precise testing? Through the warm-up section earlier than our formal testing kicks off, which entails filling the drive with knowledge, this SSD makes a really sturdy impression. The interior file copy velocity zips alongside at 1.8GB/s and it sustains that efficiency for absolutely 700GB earlier than dropping right down to round 1GB/s for the rest of the fill.
By means of comparability, the PNY XLR8 is a fraction slower at a peak of 1.7GB/s, solely sustains that for 300GB, after which drops precipitously to a spread between 400MB/s and 800MB/s, albeit that drive was examined in 1TB, not 2TB config. For the document, the 2TB Sabrent rocket 4 Plus delivers comparable sustained efficiency because the Fury Renegade.
Leaping into the formal benchmark suite, it’s not a trivial job to separate this Phison E18-based protagonist from the similarly-equipped competitors. Peak sequential speeds are awash in ATTO, for example, sure should you evaluate like-for-like with 2TB fashions. The Kingston Fury Renegade does carve out a little bit of a distinct segment in CrystalDiskMark. However can you actually inform the distinction, in the true world, between 7,000MB/s and seven,300MB/s? In all probability not.
In 4K random entry checks throughout a number of functions the Fury tends to be barely forward for reads and barely behind for writes. One space the place it scored notably effectively versus the Phison competitors was in PCMark’s full drive check, nailing 3,177 factors the place the competitors can’t even handle 2,500 factors. That mentioned, it’s value remembering that the WD Black SN850, which isn’t within the Phison camp, cranks out almost 3,500 factors.
What’s extra, like different Phison drives, this one runs good and funky. A peak of 44 levels C signifies that you’re unlikely to have to fret about thermal limitations throttling efficiency – or inflicting long-term reliability points, for that matter.
General, then, it is a actually fast drive. When it comes to the subjective computing expertise, we doubt you’d have the ability to choose it from the remainder of the high-performance PCIe Gen 4 crop. Which implies the broader bundle and pricing are key differentiators. We be ok with this drive’s long-term reliability due to these cool working temps and epic write endurance score.
The worth for cash proposition is lots much less interesting. That is at the moment one of the vital costly PCIe Gen 4 drives on the market proper now, rolling in at $425 on the time of evaluate. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, WD Black SN850, and Samsung 980 Pro can all be had for significantly much less cash. So, as undeniably good as that is, we discover the Kingston Fury Renegade just a little robust to justify at this lofty value level.
