CONCLUSION

    KIOXIA has assembled a well-rounded Gen5 SSD in the EXCERIA G3 4TB, pairing trusted BiCS8 flash memory with an efficient PHISON NAND flash controller to deliver the speed expected from a modern PCIe 5.0 drive. Performance remains competitive across a wide range of workloads, durability ratings are reassuring for long-term use, and thermal management is sufficiently controlled to avoid severe throttling in typical desktop environments. The compromises stem primarily from its DRAM-less design, which uses system memory to compensate for the lack of dedicated cache and may affect demanding write-heavy workloads. Also, although 4TB remains generous by mainstream standards, power users working with large media libraries or extensive gaming collections may still find themselves wanting more. Combined with today's elevated SSD pricing, these factors somewhat temper an otherwise capable storage solution.

    At the time of my review the EXCERIA G3 4TB Gen5 M.2 SSD by KIOXIA is not really available, neither in the USA or the EU and so I can’t really comment on price. KIOXIA has also not provided an MSRP for the drive but according to the philosophy surrounding it (DRAM less, QLC 3D NAND flash) I expect it to retail around USD550/550Euros (realistically speaking - with the current state of the market of course this would be an appealing price tag). Price aside the EXCERIA G3 4TB by KIOXIA delivers as advertised, yes, it’s far from the fastest Gen5 M.2 SSD out there today but thanks to its durability, capacity and features it’s definitely worth the Golden Award.

PROS

- Quality
- Overall Performance
- Endurance (1.5 Million Hours MTTF / 2400TBW)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- SSD Utility

CONS

- Controller Temperatures
- 4TB Max Capacity (For Some)