Lexar NM790 with Heatsink 2TB PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD Review

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File Copy and Workstation Performance

DiskBench

With DiskBench we run two different tests. First, we place a 50GB single file onto the test drive. We copy this file from the test drive to a new folder on the test drive, volume to volume. This tests the performance of the drive’s ability to copy a single large file from itself to itself as if you were copying files on the same drive, it replicates this drive being your primary and only drive. Second, we do the same thing but with the SteamLibrary folder. The SteamLibrary folder is a 243GB folder containing 570 smaller files. This replicates a folder with varying different file sizes and copying those files. 

Lexar NM790 with Heatsink 2TB PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD DiskBench File Copy 50GB

Copying a large 50GB file from volume to volume the Lexar NM790 2TB SSD with Heatsink offers a much faster file copy time than the Lexar NM800 PRO, at 23% less time than the NM800 PRO, which is significant. It is also just slightly faster than the NM710 and competitive with the Teamgroup MP44.

Lexar NM790 with Heatsink 2TB PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD DiskBench File Copy Steam Game Library

This is something a gamer might do, coping your SteamLibrary or Steam Game Library folder. What we find here is very significant and important. The time shown is in minutes. With the Lexar NM710, you will be sitting 4 minutes to copy, and with the Lexar NM800 PRO, almost 3 minutes. However, the Lexar NM790 2TB with Heatsink SSD improves this time a lot, it’s 60% less time than the NM710 and 41% less time than the NM800 PRO. At just 1.6 minutes of waiting, it is competitive with the Teamgroup MP44 for large file copy time.

SPECworkstation 3.1

We are using SPECworkstation 3.1 and specifically the WPCstorage test. “The storage workload is based on storage transaction traces from a wide variety of professional applications engaged in real work.” It includes media and entertainment, product development, life sciences, energy, and general operations. Each program receives a score, and they are averaged together for an overall score, higher is better.

Lexar NM790 with Heatsink 2TB PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD SPECworkstation 3.1

In SPECworkstation 3.1 WPCstorage testing, this test shows why the Lexar NM800 PRO is marketed as a Professional drive. The NM800 PRO doubles performance for workstation applications, and that is the SSD if workstation apps are your thing. This doesn’t mean the Lexar NM790 2TB with Heatsink SSD is bad though, for workstation applications, in fact, it’s the second fastest SSD here, beating the Teamgroup MP44 for these workloads by 2% and beating the NM710 by 10%.

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REVIEW OVERVIEW

Performance
9
Features
9
Cooling
10
Price Value
8

SUMMARY

In our Lexar NM790 SSD review, we found that it offers top-tier Gen4 SSD performance, without a DRAM cache, but offers fast access time, great sequential read and write performance, and good random performance. You'll find fast loading times for games, fast file copy times, and even workstation capable. The integrated heatsink cools well, and provides stable performance without throttling. The price is steeper than the competition, but the integrated heatsink makes up the difference.
Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

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In our Lexar NM790 SSD review, we found that it offers top-tier Gen4 SSD performance, without a DRAM cache, but offers fast access time, great sequential read and write performance, and good random performance. You'll find fast loading times for games, fast file copy times, and even workstation capable. The integrated heatsink cools well, and provides stable performance without throttling. The price is steeper than the competition, but the integrated heatsink makes up the difference.Lexar NM790 with Heatsink 2TB PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD Review