Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink Review: Built Tough

By: Jason R. Wilson
Source: https://wccftech.com/review/kingston-fury-renegade-2-tb-pcie-4-0-nvme-m-2-2280-ssd-heatsink-review-built-tough/

Kingston Technology is synonymous with memory and storage solutions for consumers and enterprises. The company sent Wccftech the Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 solid-state drive, but this was more unique as it includes a heatsink on this particular model, the 2 TB version. The manufacturer promises “blazing speeds up to 7,300/7,000 MB/s read/write and up to 1,000,000 IOPS.” The company also advertises (pretty heavily, I might add) the PS5 compatibility of this solid-state drive. Without having the sought-after console, let us see how it stands up to other SSDs we have reviewed on the site.

Let’s get started.

Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs + Heatsink

The Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD comes in an M.2 2280 form factor. The capacities of the SSD come in 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB, and all of those come with or without the heatsink. The controller is the Phison E18 with a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe interface and 3D TLC NAND. The company boasts sequential read speeds for each capacity of 7,300 MB/s.

The sequential write speeds vary, with the 500 GB version only offering 3,900 MB/s, the 1 TB at 6,000 MB/s, and the 2 and 4 TB versions at 7,000 MB/s. Random 4K read speeds for the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSDs + Heatsink offer 450,000 IOPS for the 500 GB, 900,000 IOPS for the 1 TB, and 1,000,000 IOPS for the 2 and 4 TB SSDs. The random 4K write speeds are similar, with 900,00 IOPS for the 500 GB and the remainder offering 1,000,000 IOPS of random 4K write speed.

Operating temperatures range from zero degrees Celsius to 70° C, but the SSD never peaked above 42° C in my testing. It typically ran with an average temperature in the low 30° C range. The heat spreader is made of graphene aluminum, which the company has optimized for high use. That is why the company feels comfortable recommending it for the PS5 as a superior SSD option for users.

The Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD + Heatsink measures 80mm x 22mm x 2.21mm for the 500 GB and 1 TB options and 80mm x 22mm x 3.5mm for the 2 TB and 4 TB options. It is heftier in weight than SSDs that do not offer a heatsink, weighing in at 34.86 g.

Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink — Unboxing and Inspection

The box offers quite a bit of flair while keeping it simple. It is hard to miss the amount of storage space and expected speeds of up to 7300 MB/s, which is faster than the 7000 MB/s of the SK hynix Platinum P41 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD that we tested simultaneously with this drive.

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On the back, it shows you can get free tech support, all the tiny little legality text, and a striking image of the drive next to a fan.

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After opening the package, we can see the top of the drive, where the heatsink is covering the SSD, and after removing the cardboard holder, we can get a closer look at the drive.

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Since this has the heatsink built on top of it, I decided to mount the drive under the graphics card in my HYTE Y60 chassis, mainly so it would have ample room to vent adequately.

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The test PC we are using today is the same one that I use for most components and peripherals:

• Processor: Intel 12th Gen Core i7-12700K
• Graphics Card: MSI RTX 3080 LHR 10 GB GDRR6X
• DRAM: Kingston Fury Beast 16 GB DDR4-5600 RAM
• Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z690-P WiFi LGA 1700 ATX
• Operating/Secondary System Drive: Samsung SSD 870 EVO 1 TB (x 2)
• M.2 SSD: SK hynix Platinum P41 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (tested simultaneously with this SSD)
• Power Supply: Thermaltake 850W
• Operating system: Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2, OS build 22621.1702

Installation was once again effortless. Just place it in the appropriate location, add the secure placement screw so it will not move around, and you are ready to go. Kingston does offer cloning software through Acronis True Image OEM, which “is an integrated software suite that allows you to back up your entire disk drive or selected partitions, clone your operating system, restore from data previously backed up, and create bootable media from USB drives or CD/DVD discs.” I did not download the software as I found it unnecessary then, but the process is simple and allows users to turn their primary drive into the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink. Here is the link if you are interested in the software, but remember that you must have the drive and necessary key to activate it.

Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink — Performance Benchmarks

In this recent review of the Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB and 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, there is an extensive list of SSDs tested by the Wccftech staff. We will run some of the same benchmarks to track the performance of the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink. Official advertised performance places this drive between the TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB and Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB. The TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB SSD offers sequential read/write speeds of 7400 MB/s and 7000 MB/s, while the Inland Gaming Performance Plus 2 TB SSD offers 7000 MB/s and 6900 MB/s, respectively.

AS SSD Benchmark

The AS SSD Benchmark is a Windows 10 utility application that tests the performance of solid-state drives. It will allow users to find the speed of all installed SSDs and assist with any issues during testing. The free application performs three tests to supply definitive proof of the drive’s behavior while copying, reading, and writing data. Additionally, the utility will determine the access time, speed, and performance capabilities of the SSD (s).

The score above places the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink between the TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1TB SSD, which scored 11,700 points, and the Samsung 980 PRO 1 TB SSD, which scored 8600 points. It should be noted that all three drives are PCIe Gen 4 drives.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO is the industry’s leading high-performance storage and network connectivity product provider. The company has created a widely-adopted Disk Benchmark software tool, also free, to assist in measuring storage performance. ATTO Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, SSDs, RAID arrays, and the host connection to attached storage. Leading drive manufacturers like Hitachi build and test every drive using the ATTO Disk Benchmark. It has Windows and Mac compatibility, allowing users to utilize the tool to test any manufacturer’s RAID controllers, storage controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), hard drives, and SSD drives.

I was surprised by the sequential read/write of the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink, as it seemed to run slower than advertised. The TeamGroup CARDEA A440 1 TB offered speeds of 6.8 K and 7.1 K, whereas the Kingston ran slower but still outperformed the MSI SPATIUM M470 1 TB SSD, which only reached 5.1 k and 5.3 K sequential read/write speeds (MB/s).

Crystal Disk Mark 7.0.0 x64

CrystalDiskMark is considered an alternative to ATTO Disk Benchmark. It measures sequential reads/writes speed, measure random 512KB, 4 KB, 4 KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed, selects test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill), and much more.

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I feel the CrystalDiskMark benchmark would have shown better performance for the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink. However, that was not the case. It was still between the offering from TeamGroup and MSI but was slower than advertised.

Operating temperatures were fantastic. After running a few tests, the screenshot above shows that the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink remained cool during those tests. Even with the minor difference in advertised performance and what I observed, this drive is worth the extra cost, which on Amazon is $168.57. That is still relatively high for an SSD without a heatsink, so the additional price paid for the added heatsink makes up for it.

Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink — Conclusion

While you wouldn’t want to throw this at a wall or on the ground to test its durability, the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink almost lives up to the speeds advertised. I have looked at additional reviews online, and while my results might show lower performance, on average, results have been better, leading me to believe that further checks within my motherboard’s BIOS settings might improve performance a bit.

Is the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink worth the almost $170 asking price? Looking at sales figures, WD_Black, Samsung, and Crucial appear to be top sellers in this category (the category of SSDs with included heatsink), but most reviews from consumers use the drive for the PS5 and not PC. I enjoy the build quality, the added cloning software option, the constant cool drive temperatures, and the speed are comparable with most PCIe Gen 4 drives in this price range. While results may vary, I am satisfied with the Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD + Heatsink.