Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 1TB specifications and in-depth review

Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 1TB

Manufacturer: Kioxia

The Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 1TB is an M.2 NVMe solid-state drive built around the PCIe 5.0 interface, placing it among the faster storage options in the consumer SSD category. It uses TLC NAND storage and relies on Host Memory Buffer (HMB) caching rather than dedicated DRAM, keeping the design compact and without an integrated heatsink or RGB lighting. The drive carries a five-year warranty and a rated MTBF of 1.5 million hours.

On the performance side, the Exceria Plus G4 1TB is rated for sequential read speeds of 10,000 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 7,900 MB/s, while random read and write figures reach 1,300,000 IOPS and 1,400,000 IOPS respectively. The Phison PS5031-E31T controller manages four channels and operates under NVMe version 2. Endurance is specified at 600 terabytes written, which reflects the total data volume the drive is rated to handle over its usable lifetime.

Pros
  • Sequential read speed of 10,000 MB/s and sequential write speed of 7,900 MB/s indicate strong throughput for large file transfers
  • Random read and write IOPS both exceed one million, pointing to responsive handling of small, scattered operations
  • PCIe 5.0 interface and NVMe version 2 support represent the latest connectivity standards available for M.2 drives
  • 600 TBW endurance rating offers a substantial write lifespan for a 1TB drive
  • MTBF of 1.5 million hours reflects a solid long-term reliability specification
  • Five-year warranty provides extended coverage over the drive's expected service life
Cons
  • Relies on HMB caching instead of dedicated DRAM, which may affect sustained performance under certain workloads
  • No integrated heatsink included, meaning thermal management depends entirely on the host system
  • Four controller channels is a relatively modest channel count at this interface tier, which may limit parallelism under heavy mixed workloads
Who is this for?

This drive is well-suited to users who need maximum sequential throughput for demanding workloads such as video editing, large dataset processing, or frequent transfers of multi-gigabyte files. The combination of PCIe 5.0, NVMe version 2, and random IOPS exceeding one million on both read and write makes it a practical fit for high-performance desktop builds where the host system can fully exploit the interface. The 600 TBW endurance rating and 1.5 million hour MTBF also make it a reasonable choice for users who write to storage heavily on a regular basis and need a drive that can sustain that load over a long period.

Who is this NOT for?

Users building compact systems or working in thermally constrained environments may find this drive less suitable, as it ships without an integrated heatsink and relies entirely on the host platform for cooling — a potential concern given the heat output typical of PCIe 5.0 drives. It is also not the right fit for systems that lack a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, since the drive cannot operate at its intended speeds on older interfaces. Additionally, users whose workloads depend heavily on sustained cache-intensive operations may notice limitations from the HMB-based caching design, which draws on system RAM rather than dedicated onboard memory.

Read speed:

sequential read speed 10000 MB/s
random read speed 1300000 IOPS

The Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 1TB reaches a sequential read speed of 10,000 MB/s, making it capable of moving large files at a sustained high throughput. For workloads that involve many small, scattered operations, the drive is rated at 1,300,000 random read IOPS, reflecting solid responsiveness under mixed read-heavy conditions.

Write speed:

sequential write speed 7900 MB/s
random write speed 1400000 IOPS

The Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 1TB is rated for a sequential write speed of 7,900 MB/s, allowing large volumes of data to be written at a consistently high throughput. When handling numerous small, randomized write operations simultaneously, the drive reaches 1,400,000 random write IOPS, indicating strong performance under demanding write-intensive workloads.

Benchmarks:

General info:

type M2
SSD cache HMB (Host Memory Buffer)
Is an NVMe SSD
NVMe version 2
internal storage 1000GB
controller Phison PS5031-E31T
SSD storage type TLC
PCI Express (PCIe) version 5
Controller channels 4
Terabytes Written (TBW) 600
MTBF 1.5million hours
warranty period 5 years
Has an integrated heatsink
has RGB lighting

This drive uses the M.2 form factor and connects via PCIe 5.0, operating as an NVMe SSD under NVMe version 2. It offers 1,000GB of internal storage built on TLC NAND, managed by a Phison PS5031-E31T controller with four channels. Caching is handled through HMB (Host Memory Buffer) rather than dedicated onboard memory, and the drive does not include an integrated heatsink or RGB lighting. Endurance is rated at 600 TBW, with an MTBF of 1.5 million hours, and the product is backed by a 5-year warranty.

Final Verdict

The Kioxia Exceria Plus G4 1TB is a capable PCIe 5.0 M.2 NVMe drive that delivers on its core promise of high-throughput storage, with sequential read speeds reaching 10,000 MB/s and random IOPS figures well above one million in both directions. Backed by a 600 TBW endurance rating, a 1.5 million hour MTBF, and a five-year warranty, it is built with longevity in mind for users who place consistent demands on their storage. The absence of a dedicated heatsink and the reliance on HMB caching mean that getting the most out of this drive requires a compatible, well-ventilated host system — but for users who can provide that environment, the Exceria Plus G4 1TB represents a technically solid choice within the PCIe 5.0 SSD category.