Kingston KC3000 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD

Kingston KC3000 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD

Kingston’s flagship consumer NVMe drive, pairing a Phison E18 controller with 3D TLC NAND for up to 7,000MB/s reads.

The KC3000 is aimed at people who want the fastest Gen4 storage for demanding software rather than just a quick boot drive. This 1024GB model reads at up to 7,000MB/s and writes at up to 6,000MB/s, with random performance of up to 900,000 read and 1,000,000 write IOPS. That combination is what makes a difference in 3D rendering, 4K video work, large game installs and software builds, where the drive is constantly being hit with both big streams and small scattered reads.

Controller and NAND

The Phison E18 is a top-tier eight-channel Gen4 controller, and Kingston pairs it with 3D TLC NAND and a DRAM cache. TLC with DRAM keeps write speeds consistent under sustained load in a way that cheaper DRAM-less or QLC drives cannot, which is why the KC3000 carries an 800TBW endurance rating at this capacity.

Thermal design

A low-profile graphene aluminium heat spreader is fitted to the label side. It is thin enough (2.21mm total drive thickness at this capacity) to fit under motherboard M.2 shields and in laptops, while still helping to move heat away from the controller during long transfers.

Warranty and fitting

Kingston backs the KC3000 with a limited five-year warranty and free technical support, and rates it for two million hours MTBF. Punch Technology can install it as the primary drive in a new workstation or gaming build.

Ideal for

• Content creation workstations working with 4K video and large assets
• High-end gaming PCs on a PCIe 4.0 platform
• Software developers and power users who want top-tier random performance

Specifications

• Part number: SKC3000S/1024G
• Capacity: 1024GB
• Form factor: M.2 2280
• Interface: PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe
• Controller: Phison E18
• NAND: 3D TLC
• DRAM cache: Yes
• Sequential read/write: up to 7,000 / 6,000MB/s
• Random 4K read/write: up to 900,000 / 1,000,000 IOPS
• Endurance: 800TBW
• Power: 50mW idle / 0.33W average / 2.8W max read / 6.3W max write
• Operating temperature: 0 to 70 degrees C
• Dimensions: 80 x 22 x 2.21mm
• Weight: 7g
• MTBF: 2,000,000 hours
• Warranty: limited 5-year with free technical support