The Kingston FURY Renegade G5 PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 is Kingston’s latest generation of high-performance SSDs, and the successor to the previous-gen FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0. This new Gen5 version uses a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface and introduces a number of improvements over its predecessor, most notably much higher throughput, a new controller with better power efficiency, and an improved thermal design. In today’s piece I’ll take a closer look at this drive and answer the question: is it worth buying? I received the unit for review directly from Kingston. Thank you for supporting my blog and channel.
PCIe 5.0 vs 4.0 – a performance leap
Moving from PCIe 4.0 to PCIe 5.0 resulted in more than double the sequential performance of the Renegade G5 compared to its predecessor. Maximum sequential read speed increased from around ~7.3 GB/s to 14.7 GB/s, and write speed from around ~7.0 GB/s to 14.0 GB/s. The jump in random performance is equally impressive: 4K IOPS increased from about 1 million to 2.2 million for both reads and writes. These numbers place the Renegade G5 among the very fastest consumer SSDs available. In practice, that means shorter game and app load times, faster transfers of large files, and smoother handling of demanding workloads (for example video editing or big data tasks). Keep in mind, however, that you’ll only get the full benefits of Gen5 on a platform that supports PCIe 5.0, such as the latest AMD Ryzen 7000/9000 processors or Intel 12th/13th gen paired with a compatible motherboard.
A new controller and newer NAND
The Renegade G5 uses the new Silicon Motion SM2508 controller, Silicon Motion’s first consumer PCIe 5.0 solution, built on a 6 nm process. The previous generation (Renegade Gen4) was based on the Phison PS5018-E18 controller manufactured on 12 nm, paired with 176-layer 3D TLC NAND from Micron. Moving to a newer controller and manufacturing process brought major benefits, including about a 30% reduction in power consumption versus earlier solutions, while also lowering heat output. Kingston also adopted next-generation 218-layer 3D TLC NAND (Kioxia BiCS8), tuning the firmware to its characteristics, which translates into high real-world performance and responsiveness. The drive also includes 2 GB of DRAM cache (LPDDR4-4266) to buffer the mapping table. Interestingly, Kingston chose LPDDR4 instead of newer LPDDR5, because LPDDR4 tends to draw less power and run cooler. It was a deliberate engineering decision to keep temperatures down. As a result, the Renegade G5 doesn’t just deliver higher speed, it does so with better power efficiency, using less energy per unit of data than its predecessor.
Efficiency and cooling
For users, one of the most important improvements in this generation is significantly better management of temperature and power draw. The Renegade G5 runs cooler despite its much higher performance. That’s thanks in part to the 6 nm SM2508 controller as well as an optimized design (a 12-layer PCB, low-voltage DRAM, and so on) aimed at reducing energy loss and heat output. With this approach, which Kingston describes as “Advanced Thermal Design”, the drive doesn’t require unusual cooling solutions. It clearly runs cooler than my other NVMe drives sitting under heatsinks. The Renegade G5 can sustain full performance without throttling and without the need for massive heatsinks or experimental heat dissipation methods. You can rely on the motherboard’s stock M.2 heatsinks to get the most out of this drive.
A noticeable change is also the physical design of the drive. The Renegade G5 is a single-sided SSD, with all key components (controller, NAND, and DRAM) placed on one side of the PCB. By contrast, the previous Gen4 model was double-sided (with some chips on the back as well), which combined with heatsinks increased overall thickness and could limit compatibility in some devices (for example ultra-thin laptops). The new Renegade G5 is only 2.3 mm thick and weighs about ~7.7 g (the 2 TB version I have), while the Gen4 version with a factory heatsink was around 10.5 mm thick and weighed about ~35 g. This time Kingston doesn’t include a large heatsink in the box. The manufacturer apparently decided that a standard motherboard heatsink, or at most a thin adhesive heatspreader, is sufficient given the cooler-running drive. Smaller dimensions and a single-sided layout improve compatibility. It’s easier to fit into tight SFF builds, laptops, and even a PlayStation 5 (with a low-profile heatsink added). At the same time, the full capacity range remains available, from 1 TB up to 4 TB, so despite the design changes users still have just as large options as in the previous generation.
