KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 4 TB SSD Performance Review
A review of the KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 4 TB PCIe 5.0 SSD reveals a drive with high read speeds but significant performance drops during sustained writes.
Today's coverage looks at storage performance and graphics card security. First, a new PCIe 5.0 SSD shows a split personality in testing. Second, AMD is coordinating silent firmware patches for its latest GPUs.
KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 4 TB SSD
The KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 is a 4 TB PCIe 5.0 SSD positioned as a cost-conscious entry into the interface. In testing by igor’sLAB, the drive demonstrated high sequential read bandwidth but experienced a major performance drop during sustained write workloads and certain application profiles.
The drive, which uses KIOXIA's own QLC NAND and lacks a pre-installed heatsink, was tested on an Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus system with an MSI MEG Z890 ACE motherboard. The connection negotiated PCIe 5.0 x4. The test conditions included disabled Windows write cache, incompressible data, and an ambient temperature of 21 °C. Starting temperatures for synthetic tests ranged from 51 to 60 °C.
Performance was not consistent. A large, fast write region was followed by a substantially lower level of performance during continued writing. This drop occurred in the streaming test before recorded thermal interventions, suggesting heating was not the sole cause. In a video profile simulating Apple ProRes 4444 XQ at 8K, thermal activity and the end of the fast write region coincided. The author concluded the drive is better suited to read-intensive use than sustained write workloads.
As of October 9, 2026, no reliable German retail price for the EXCERIA G3 4 TB was available. Market offers for other drives at that time provided a snapshot, not a direct comparison.
| Model | Price (Euros) |
|---|---|
| Lexar NM790 | 477.99 |
| WD_BLACK SN850X | 529.99 |
The author's estimated price threshold for the G3 was around 400 to 430 euros. The packaging lists sequential read speeds up to 10,000 MB/s.
AMD Radeon RX 7000 Firmware Updates
AMD has confirmed that recent video BIOS updates for Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards address potential security vulnerabilities. Partners Sapphire and Gigabyte have begun distributing the revised firmware for selected RDNA 3 products, ranging from the Radeon RX 7600 to the RX 7900 XTX.
The updates are part of a coordinated security maintenance effort, though AMD is not yet providing technical details. Gigabyte's firmware descriptions referenced an AMD security advisory identifier, AMD-SN-6023, which had not yet appeared in the public database. AMD explained that releasing patches before revealing details allows customers to update while limiting information for potential exploit attempts. This is described as part of the company's normal security disclosure procedure. The specific vulnerabilities and their potential impact on users remain undisclosed.
