Lexar NM800 PCI-E 4.0 SSD Performance Test

Lexar is a mass storage manufacturer that became famous for quite successful budget NM610 and NM620 SSDs, which are an interesting alternative to the popular Kingston A2000 or ADATA SX6000. However, the company shows much greater ambitions, as it has decided to fight for the palm of priority in the segment of media dedicated to creators and enthusiasts. The Lexar NM800 1 TB belonging to the Professional family, using the PCI-Express 4.0 interface and efficient components, intends to do this. The declared transfers actually make a decent impression, undoubtedly ranking among the world leaders, but the most important will of course be performance in real tests.

Author: Sebastian Oktaba

SSD (Solid State Drive) technology has been operating in the sector of specialized devices for several decades, although it has only recently started to gain popularity among ordinary users, which is mainly due to the decline in component prices (mainly memory). The first protoplast devices of the current SSDs appeared before the Intel 286 processors, so they waited a long time for a chance to appear in the mass consciousness. Why is it worth having an SSD? The advantage of semiconductor media over discs is devastating – models using Flash memory are more durable and noiseless due to the lack of moving parts. However, most importantly, they are much more efficient – especially when dealing with small or very small files. SSD media use four types of modules NAND Flash SLC, MLC, TLC and QLC – the first is the domain of server solutions, the remaining three are the most common in consumer designs, however, TLC accounts for the largest percentage of the bones used. The other key factors for disk performance are the controller and the appropriate firmware, which must work together to ensure the stability of the entire structure.

Lexar NM800 1TB is the fastest M.2 medium in the manufacturer’s offer, using an 8-channel controller and 176-layer 3D TLC memories.

“src=” http://www.purepc.pl/image/artykul/2021/10/04_test_wydajnosci_dysku_ssd_lexar_nm800_pci_e_4_0_mocny_konkurent_dla_patriot_viper_vp4300_i_adata_xpg_gammix_s70_nc27. on the powerful eight-channel controller InnoGrit IG5236 , known primarily from Patriot Viper VP4300 , Plextor M10PY and ADATA XPG Gammix S70, being one of the fastest media in the 1 TB segment. 2 TB models can achieve even higher values ​​for writing, even exceeding 6800 MB / s, however, the Lexar NM800 does not exist in this variant The control system was made in 12 nm FinFET lithography, but the manufacturer does not provide detailed configuration data except for AES 128/256, SM 2/3/4, SHA3-256 and RSA4096 hardware encryption. InnoGrit IG5236’s competitor is the Phison PS5018-E18, providing very similar parameters, which can be found in the Corsair Force MP600 PRO, MSI Spatium M480 and TeamGroup Cardea A 440, but in general the heart of the Lexar NM800 is slightly better, incl. better dealing with heavily compressed files. The manufacturer used 176-layer 3D TLC NAND Micron modules (RG NAND Gen 2), replacing everything with 1 GB of DDR4 cache and a dynamic SLC Cache.

Lexar NM620 SSD Performance Test. Low-cost PCI-E 3.0 x4 media to take the place of ADATA SX8200 PRO and Kingston KC2500

Lexar NM800 1 maximum transfers TB is 7,400 MB / s for reading and 5,800 MB / s for sequential writing, so there aren’t many faster 1TB M.2 PCI-E Gen4 media. IOPS reaches 750,000 and 400,000 operations consecutively – Competitive Patriot Viper VP4300 and ADATA XPG Gammix S70, using InnoGrit IG5236 controller , they also offer very similar values. The Lexar NM800, despite wearing the proud Professional badge, is unfortunately very average in terms of TBW, which is only 500 TB for the 1 TB model. The previously mentioned media sharing the specification with the hero of this test, despite the identical capacity, have declared 1000 and 740 TBW. The manufacturer does not provide any heat sink with the device, leaving a small sticker on the obverse heat dissipation with a copper core and graphene coating. Although this will allow you to mount the medium in the laptop, it can be assumed that the temperatures will exceed the recommended 70C. In addition, the carrier is covered by a 5-year warranty period.