INTRODUCTION

    It may have taken quite a while, but Gen5 SSDs are finally about to arrive in numbers due to the introduction of new NAND controllers that have all but eliminated the rather significant temperature issues encountered with the initial models. Yes, it may take a bit of time, but these controllers (and their successors) will allow manufacturers to not only release faster models (especially in sustained speeds due to absence of thermal throttling) but also more durable and in even higher capacities. The FURY Renegade G5 is among the first Gen5 SSDs to get released with one such controller and today with me I have the 2TB capacity model.

    Kingston Technology Europe Co LLP and Kingston Technology Company, Inc., are part of the same corporate group (“Kingston”). Kingston is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. From big data, to laptops and PCs, to IoT-based devices like smart and wearable technology, to design-in and contract manufacturing, Kingston helps deliver the solutions used to live, work and play. The world’s largest PC makers and cloud-hosting companies depend on Kingston for their manufacturing needs, and our passion fuels the technology the world uses every day. We strive beyond our products to see the bigger picture, to meet the needs of our customers and offer solutions that make a difference. To learn more about how Kingston Is With You, visit Kingston.com.

    The brand new FURY Renegade G5 M.2 PCIe Gen5 SSD is based on the latest SM2508 NVMe 2.0 controller by Silicon Motion (6nm lithography) which for the 2TB capacity Kingston has paired with 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM (4266MT/S) by Micron and 218-layer 3D TLC NAND (Kingston branded - probably BiCS8 by KIOXIA). The Silicon Motion SM2508 NVMe 2.0 controller features an quad-core ARM Cortex R8 CPU with support for 4 PCIe lanes of 32Gb/s data transfer speed (Gen5 x4), 8 NAND channels with a speed of up to 3600MT/s per channel and packs various technologies including end to end data path protection, programmable firmware interface, SRAM ECC & CRC parity, Innovative LDPC ECC engine, embedded programmable RAID, real-time full-drive AES 128/256bit encryption, hardware SHA 256/384 and TRNG, secure boot for FW authentication, built-in smart clock-gating mechanism (highly efficient power consumption), ONFI 5.0 and Toggle 5.0 support and TCG Opal 2.0 compliance. Moving to endurance Kingston reports an MTBF (meantime between failures) of 2 million hours and TBW of 1000/2000/4000 for the available models (1/2/4TB). So, let's see what the latest FURY Renegade G5 Gen5 SSD by Kingston is capable of.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE FURY RENEGADE G5 2TB

Kingston uses a small box the front of which is taken by a large product picture, their logo and the model name.

Contact information for Kingston, some details on the product and a cut-out from where you can see the rear of the drive are placed at the rear.

Just the drive itself is placed in the bundle and as you can see thanks to the latest SM2508 controller by Silicon Motion there's no need for a large heatsink on it (just a plain sticker).

Under the sticker we find the SM2508 controller by Silicon Motion, 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM module by Micron and two 218-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules.

The 2TB is a single sided M.2 SSD so on the opposite side we just see a sticker with information on the drive.

SSD MANAGER

As with past SSDs by Kingston you can download their SSD manager to check the health of your drive.

Health, temperature, drive model and firmware version are the things you can check on the firmware tab of the software.

SMART details are available inside the health tab.

Inside the events tab you can check your system details and of course drive logs.

From the Acronis tab you can download the latest Acronis True Image software with which you can clone your drive.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   I've been using pretty much the same testing methodology for PCIe 3.0 Gen3 and PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSDs for far too many years now, so I decided to "tweak" it for PCIe 5.0 Gen5 models. Needless to say, Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs will be tested using one of my latest test rigs (Intel Core Ultra 285K / ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite) and unlike with both Gen3 and Gen4 SSDs I will not be using the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) 12 hour IOMeter benchmark since it proved to be rather heavy for early Gen5 SSDs (temperature issues). Instead, I decided to use the latest versions of 3D Mark, AIDA64, AS SSD, ATTO, Crystal Disk Mark, HD Tune Pro, HD Tach RW, Performance Test, IOMeter (4k Random Writes / 4k Random Reads – since September 2024 / SNIA Mixed) and Sandra Titanium for performance measuring and ForSpoken for all of you who might be wondering just how well Gen5 SSDs do in regard to Microsoft's DirectStorage API/Technology. Each test will be run a total of 5 times after which the average number will be recorded in each chart.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - SANDRA TITANIUM / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS - PERFORMANCE TEST / 3D MARK / FORSPOKEN

CONCLUSION

    It took quite a bit for Kingston to release their very first Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSD and well, I can understand the why. High temperature issues with earlier controllers didn’t allow for the best possible speeds (sustained) and the people over at Kingston clearly didn’t like that. So even though it took them a while to release their very own model it’s actually the fastest overall Gen5 SSD I’ve tested to date (more reviews on the way) and also the only one without any thermal throttling recorded during my tests. The sole thing I didn’t like as with other reviews is the lack of available capacities. Yes, 1/2/4TB should be plenty for most people but there’s an increasing demand for 8TB drives (and over) in the market and well, this should be standard by now.

    The FURY Renegade G5 line of Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs by Kingston was officially released this Monday with a price tag of USD325.52 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 331.50Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) for the 2TB capacity model. Bottom line if you’re looking for what’s possibly the fastest Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSD in the market today (especially regarding sustained speeds) the Kingston FURY Renegade G5 is it and that’s why it deserves the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Top Performance (Over 14000MB/s)
- 2000TBW / 2.000.000 Hours MTFB Endurance
- No Thermal Throttling
- 5 Year Limited Warranty

CONS

- Available Capacities (Only Up To 4TB)