CONCLUSION

   Having already tested several SSDs using the 88SS1074 NAND flash SATA controller by Marvell we knew pretty much what to expect from the UV500 480GB M.2 SSD and so we weren’t really disappointed. Sure the UV500 can’t compete with NVME drives in terms of performance (a review of the A1000 is on the works to showcase differences between Kingston models) and it’s a bit “weaker” compared to the MX500 500GB M.2 variant which we tested a while back but overall it delivers very good read and write performance for the price. As mentioned in the review we were hoping that Kingston would “copy” Marvell and Samsung by using a copper sticker on the drive modules in order to reduce heat buildup (quite evident in our IOMeter SNIA results) but as you all saw that wasn’t the case (even if they had we’d still recommend grabbing an M.2 heatsink from EKWB for the best possible results – on a budget that is). With a TBW of 200TB the UV500 480 M.2 has nothing to be jealous from the likes of the MX500 but we were a bit surprised to see a reported MTBF of 1 million hours which pales compared to the 1.8 million hours of the MX500 500GB M.2 (although MTBF numbers have proven to be somewhat inaccurate from time to time).

   We’re almost at the end of August 2018 and so at this specific time and date the UV500 480GB M.2 2280 SSD retails for just USD133.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 122Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Unfortunately even though the UV500 480GB M.2 is priced quite aggressively its price tag is still set roughly 10-15% higher compared to that of the MX500 500GB M.2 and so it doesn’t offer quite the same punch for your buck. That being said it’s still a very good M.2 2280 SSD and between its features and performance and all its available form factors and capacities it’s definitely worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality / Durability (200TB TBW)
- Very Good Overall Performance
- Features (AES 256 Bit Hardware Encryption / SLC Caching / DevSleep/ eDrive Support)
- 5 Year Warranty
- Available Capacities (120/240/480/960/1920GB)
- Availabel Form Factors (2.5"/mSATA/M.2)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- High Temperatures (Performance Throttling)
- Price (Compared To The MX500 500GB M.2)