INTRODUCTION

    Even though lately storage media manufacturers have either already released or are about to release new PCIe 5.0 Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs the most popular drives currently are PCIe 4.0 Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSDs. Yes, Gen4 models may not be quite as fast as their Gen5 brothers but for most people across all segments of the market speeds up to 7500MB/s are more than plenty and as for both temperatures and durability they usually do significantly better. The NM790 2TB PCIe 4.0 Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD model by Lexar which i had the chance to review late last year (review here) was a good all-rounder and today with me i have the 4TB with heatsink variant.

   For more than 25 years, Lexar has been a trusted leading global brand of memory solutions. Our award-winning lineup includes memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, solid-state drives and DRAM. With so many options, it’s easy to find the right Lexar solution to fit your needs. All Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs with more than 1,100 digital devices, to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability. Lexar products are available worldwide at major retail and e-tail stores. For more information or support, visit www.lexar.com.

   Once again, the NM790 line of PCIe 4.0 Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSDs is currently available in 1/2/4TB capacities with and without a heatsink (both are PS5 compatible) and is yet another model to feature MaXio's DRAM-less MAP1602 12nm quad-channel (R5) NAND flash controller which Lexar has this time paired with 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash by YMTC (X3 variant - Longsys branded). The MAP1602 12nm quad-channel NAND controller by MaXio packs quite a few features including advanced wear leveling algorithms, Host Memory Buffer (HMB) architecture (uses a fraction of your PC's system memory to cache mapping tables), pseudo SLC cache, bad block management strategy, hardware error-correction, L1.2 ultra-low power state and sudden power-loss protection, TRIM, NCQ, hardware support for AES256/SM4 encryption and support for TCG OPAL2.0. Last but not least Lexar covers the entire NM790 line with a 5-year limited warranty and reports a MTBF of 1.5 million hours for all variants and a TBW (terabytes written) of 1000TB for the 1TB model, 1500 for the 2TB model and 3000 for the 4TB model.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

At the front of the box, we find a large product picture, advertised performance, capacity and the company logo.

The main product features are listed at the rear along with warranty information and contact details for Lexar.

A quick installation guide and a mounting screw are the two things placed in the box alongside the NM790 SSD.

THE NM790 HEATSINK 4TB

With the black heatsink mounted the NM790 4TB is almost 1cm thick (9.7mm to be precise).

On the other side of the heatsink we find a sticker with the drive serial and part numbers and barcodes.

Removing the heatsink is very easy although I wouldn’t recommend it.

At the top of the drive, we find the MaXio MAP1602 NAND flash controller and four 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules.

The opposite side is empty (as expected since the 2TB variant had two empty NAND flash spots at the top).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Not long after I first started testing SSDs back in 2008, I concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into the charts*/****. Also, as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately, due to the time required for these tests they get repeated a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people have made inquiries about our charts in the past so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also, although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 installation complete with every update up to the date of this review.

* Since November 2018 the SSD comparison charts have been divided to 2.5” and M.2 models to reduce their growing size.
** Unless stated otherwise the Ryzen 9 3950x based Test Rig used for M.2 Gen 4 SSD reviews is not located in the lab.
*** As of January 2021 for Gen 3x4 models I’ll be using the Core i9-7980XE test rig (after numerous tests the up to 6% difference in read & write performance compared to the i7-6700 system simply wasn’t enough to justify having an extra test rig around).
**** Since February 2022 M.2 NVMe Gen3 and Gen4 SSD drives are placed in different charts.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS - IOMETER SNIA

CONCLUSION

    Even though the 4TB variant of the NM790 actually did slightly worse in my tests compared to its smaller capacity brother (2TB) it’s also clear that the heatsink does help with temperatures and with the summer right around the corner you don’t have to be a professional to count this among the pros of the drive. On top of that with a reported endurance of 3000TBW the 4TB variant should have no issue outliving your current PC configuration regardless of workload. Also let’s not forget that the heatsink is PS5 compatible thus making it the ideal choice for PS5 owners.

    With a retail price currently set at USD305.34 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 299.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the Lexar NM790 4TB with heatsink PCIe 4.0 Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD is priced around what one would expect. Again, the NM790 line may not be the fastest Gen4 SSD line out there (DRAM-Less) but it does perform very well and since 4TB should be enough and then some for most people (yes, I do think it’s about time manufacturers started producing 8TB models in number) the heatsink variant clearly deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Overall Performance (For a DRAM-Less Drive)
- Heatsink (No Throttling)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- 3000 TBW Endurance
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- None