Lexar NM790 with Heatsink 4TB SSD Review

Rating: 8.5.

When we looked at the standard Lexar NM790, the temperatures the drive reached while benchmarking were a little concerning at times. Now we have the heatsink-equipped version of the drive to see if it makes a difference, testing the 4TB model that retails for £260 here in the UK.

Unlike the standard NM790 which comes in four capacities, the heatsink-equipped drive comes in just three; 1TB, 2TB and the flagship 4TB model, the 512GB drive gets dropped from the heatsink-equipped lineup.

Lexar's MN790 uses a 4-channel DRAM-less design controller from Maxiotech, the MAP1602A in combination with 232-Layer 3D TLC NAND. To improve performance the controller uses a 2,400MT/s NAND interface. Instead of using DRAM, the drive uses Host Memory Buffer (HMB) 3.0 technology (the drive uses a small portion of the system memory in place of a dedicated DRAM IC) along with Dynamic SLC caching.

Lexar quotes Sequential performance across the range as up to 7,400MB/s and up to 6,500MB/s for read and writes respectively. Although Lexar hasn't disclosed any random performance figures we have seen, the controller supports up to 1,000K IOPS for both read and writes.

The endurance of the 4TB drive is quoted as 3,000TBW and Lexar backs the drive with a 5-year warranty,

Physical Specifications:

• Usable Capacities: 4TB.
• NAND Components: 232-Layer 3D TLC.
• NAND Controller: Maxiotech MAP1602A 4-channel.
• Cache: none, Host Memory Buffer (HMB) 3.0.
• Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4, NMVe 2.0.
• Form Factor: M.2, 2280.
• Dimensions: 80 x 24 x 9.7mm.
• Drive Weight: 48.6g

Firmware Version: 12237.

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