Conclusion
In our Lexar NM790 SSD review, we discovered that the NM790 was no slouch, and offered top-tier performance with an integrated heatsink. The lack of a DRAM-cache did not hold it back, and we experienced fast access times, and sequential read and especially write performance for this drive. Lexar offers the NM790 in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, and they all provide the same rated speed of up to 7400MB/s read and 6500MB/s write of PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD performance. The Lexar NM790 is also offered in a bare SSD, or with an integrated pre-installed heatsink version.
Cooling
The goal of this temperature testing is to push the SSDs as hard as possible by writing to the SSD over the entire capacity using Secure Erase/Wipe feature. This is not typical usage behavior, but our goal is to find the maximum limits of the cooling in use and to see if it can keep up with a high demand of usage without adding external fans. We utilize HWiNFO64 for reporting SSD temperatures, taking note of all sensor data, either the (NAND Flash or Composite Sensor) or the (ASIC) sensor. We report what this utility shows us. No case fans are running during these tests.
Above, in the first Composite Sensor 1 graph, we can see that the Lexar NM790 2TB SSD with Heatsink is hitting 54c, which puts it at much cooler than the Lexar NM800 PRO and NM710 for this particular sensor, but slightly warmer than the Teamgroup MP44, but still a very cool temperature relatively speaking. For the Compsite Sensor 2 data, it is again at 54c, and cooler than the NM800 PRO, and close to the MP44. In terms of the ASIC 1 temperature sensor, it was the coolest drive at 39c, while the MP44 was slightly warmer, and then the NM710 and NM800 PRO were much hotter. Note that the NM800 PRO is the model with the integrated heatsink, while the NM710 and MP44 do not have heatsinks attached.
Final Points
The Lexar NM790 with Heatsink M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe SSD has proven to be a competitive, and fast SSD for the price in many applications and use cases. In the sequential read and write testing, it was as fast as quoted, and actually pulled ahead in write performance. The random performance fell slightly behind the competition, but only slightly, and made up for it in other scenarios. In system benchmarks it remained competitive, as well as disk throughput and access time. It also shined in game loading time, whether that be DirectStorage, or raw game loading, it provided very fast game loading times. It also shined in file copy time, whether single file data or data of multiple file sizes in large directories. While it didn’t match the NM800 PRO in workstation performance, it was second to fastest in this area.
When we compare the NM790 to the NM800 PRO, it’s generally faster and offers better performance for everyday applications, office work, and of course gaming performance in a gaming PC. It is also a huge upgrade from the likes of the Lexar NM710. The NM710 was a great SSD for its time, it is of the earlier generation Gen4 SSDs, while the NM790 is of the newer generation using faster NAND flash, and controllers. The Lexar NM790, therefore, offers a big upgrade in terms of sequential, random, file copy, and game loading performance.
We were impressed by how well it competes also with the Teamgroup MP44, which is another fast DRAM-less cache SSD in this price range. The MP44 does have more capacities offered with an 8TB model and 512MB model available, but the Lexar NM790 has an integrated heatsink option, which the MP44 does not. We do, however, find a higher TBW on the 1TB and 2TB MP44, while the 4TB models of each match.
Overall, the Lexar NM790 with Heatsink SSD is a welcomed SSD in Lexar’s lineup and offers competitive performance, and great cooling for desktop, laptop, or the PS5. You will find that it offers top-tier PCIe Gen4 x4 performance in a slim profile, with great cooling, and is more power efficient without a DRAM cache. If you are in the market for a new PCIe Gen4 SSD and need to upgrade that sluggish Gen3 or SATA SSD, then this is a great option for any system.
