Introduction
Lexar is well known for its memory components, including memory cards, USB flash drives, portable drives, card readers, and even RAM and SSDs. Today we will review the first SSD from Lexar we have ever looked at. This SSD today falls under Lexar’s Professional line. We’ve also just recently reviewed some Lexar RAM, so make sure to check that out. If you aren’t familiar with Lexar’s SSD lineup, you can be forgiven. Lexar does not have a ton of SSD options, but they do have very relevant and current-generation SSDs that will suit professional content creators and gamers alike.
In Lexar’s SSD lineup, there are a couple of 2.5″ SATA SSD models, but moving up they also offer several models of M.2 NVMe SSDs. Starting with the NM620 we find a PCIe Gen 3 x4 NVMe SSD, and then next in the line is the NM710 which offers PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe SSD performance and is the first generation of PCIe Gen 4 SSDs. But moving all the way up the stack, we come to the SSD that really moves the needle, and the one we are reviewing today, the Lexar Professional NM800PRO With Heatsink M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe SSD (LNM800P001T-RN8NG) based on the latest generation, with very fast read speeds of 7500MB/s.
Lexar Professional NM800PRO
Lexar offers two versions of the Professional NM800 PRO, one without a heatsink, and one with a heatsink included and installed out-of-the-box. We are reviewing the one with the included heatsink. If you plan to install this in your motherboard, and it has its own SSD heatsink cover, you can purchase the one without a heatsink to save a little money. However, the one with a heatsink can be used in many environments and configurations and it has its own contained heatsink.
Lexar offers three capacities of the Lexar Professional NM800 PRO SSD, a 512GB model, a 1TB model, and a 2TB model. For the models without a heatsink, at the time of writing, the 512GB model is $56.99, while the 1TB model is $69.99, and the 2TB model is $122.99. For the models with a heatsink, the 512GB model is $57.99, the 1TB model is $77.99, and the 2TB model is not available at the moment. We will be reviewing the 1TB model today, which is $77.99 at the time of writing. These prices are currently on a temporary discount, but Lexar does offer promotions like this from time to time.
All three capacities of the NM800 PRO are based on NVMe 1.4 technology and PCIe Gen 4.0 x4, but they do vary in read and write performance due to capacity. The 512GB model has a sequential read up to 7450MB/s and a sequential write up to 3500MB/s and a random 4K Read/Write up to 500/900K. The 1TB model has a sequential read up to 7500MB/s and a sequential write up to 6300MB/s and a random 4K Read/Write up to 1000/1100K. The 2TB model has a sequential read up to 7500MB/s and a sequential write up to 6500MB/s and a random 4K Read/Write up to 1300/1200K. Again, we are reviewing the 1TB model, therefore expecting 7500MB/s read sequential and 6300MB/s write sequentially.
The TBW also differs per model, the 512GB model is 500TBW, while the 1TB is 1000TBW and the 2TB is 2000TBW. These are above-average TBW stats. DWPD is 0.535 and MTBF is 1,500,000 hours. All come with a 5-year warranty limited.
SSD Pictures and Components
The Lexar Professional NM800 PRO 1TB SSD PCIe 4.0 x4 m.2 2280 NVMe SSD comes with an integrated heatsink, and Lexar claims these SSDs are geared for “hardcore gamers” and “professionals” and “creators.” They have an integrated heatsink and heat spreader and are fully compatible with PS5 and PCs.
The Lexar Professional NM800 PRO is a 3D TLC NAND flash-based SSD with a DRAM cache. It is based on the InnoGrit IG5236 controller, a 12nm 8-channel controller, and 176-Layer Micron TLC NAND flash with 1GB of LPDDR4X DRAM.
