Lexar NM600 480GB SSD Review

Rating: 7.5.

Probably better known for their comprehensive range of memory cards, Lexar also has a range of SSDs in M.2 NVMe, M.2 SATA and 2.5in SATA formats. The current flagship of the NVMe M.2 range is the NM600, using a combination of a Silicon Motion controller and Micron 3D TLC NAND.

There are just two capacities in the NM600 range, 480GB and 240GB. The drives use Micron 64-layer 3D TLC NAND combined with a Silicon Motion SM2263XT, 4-channel controller. The XT version of Silicon Motion's SM2263 used by the NM600, is a DRAM-less design which helps keep the cost of a drive down by reducing the number of components needed on the PCB.

Official Sequential Read/Write figures for the 480GB model are up to 2,100MB/s and 1,600MB/s respectively. The 240GB drive is rated at up to 2,000MB/s for reads and 1,200MB/s for writes.

When it comes to 4K random performance the 480GB drive is rated as up to 188,000 IOPS for reads and 156,000 IOPS for writes. For the 240GB drive it's up to 110,000 IOPs and 151,000 IOPS for read and writes respectively.

Endurance for the 480GB NM600 is stated as 240TBW (the 240GB drive is 120TBW) and Lexar back the drive with a 3-year limited warranty.

Physical Specifications:

• Usable Capacities: 480GB.
• NAND Components: Micron 64-layer 3D TLC.
• NAND Controller: Silicon Motion SM2263XT.
• Cache: none.
• Interface: PCIe Gen3 x4. (NVMe 1.3).
• Form Factor: M.2 2280.
• Dimensions: 80 x22 x 2.25 mm.
• Drive Weight: 9g.

Firmware Version: R1115A0.

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