SPECworkstation 3.0.2 Storage Benchmark
SPECworkstation benchmark is an excellent benchmark to test systems using workstation-type workloads. In this test, we only ran the Storage component, which is fifteen separate tests.
SPECworkstation results for the Lexar NM790 are not great, but also not catastrophically bad in any way. The NM790 does not win any categories but also does lose any by a huge margin.
Sustained Write Performance
This is not necessarily a benchmark so much as trying to catch the post-cache write speed of the drive. While I am filling the drive with data to the 85% mark with ten simultaneous write threads, I monitor the drive for the write performance to dip to the lowest steady point and grab a screenshot.
1000 MB/s is a fine result, though it is nowhere near top tier. It is certainly a good result as far as DRAM-less drives are concerned.
Temperatures
We monitored the idle and maximum temperature during testing with HWMonitor to get some idea of the thermal performance and requirements of the drive.
Unlike the S770 and S880, the temperatures resulting from HWMonitor are honest, which I verified via my FLIR.
The NM790 topped out at 68C, which is edging up there but still fine. At no point did I appear to encounter thermal throttling. With that said, if you have a motherboard heatsink to install on the NM790 I would go ahead and use it.
Final Words
The Lexar NM790 4TB is available on Amazon for $189. While there are drives less expensive than that, such as the Fanxiang S660, the NM790 performed a good bit better than the S660 through most of my testing. I would venture to say that the NM790 is one of the least expensive 7GB/s (sequential) PCIe Gen4 SSDs available if not the least costly outright. Certainly, it is one of the cheapest from a ‘name brand’ since far more folks will have heard of Lexar than, say, Fanxiang.
Lexar positions the NM790 as a top-end Gen 4 competitor despite lacking a DRAM cache, and if you are basing that claim mainly on read performance, then it is difficult to disagree with them. In almost all of my testing, read performance on the NM790 was very competitive with top-tier DRAM-equipped drives. Write performance was also generally acceptable, but under heavy load, the NM790 tended to stumble and perhaps reveal its DRAM-less nature.
For lots of consumers, the likelihood of putting a heavy load on their SSD is somewhere between “infrequent” and “never” and so, at least to me, a drive like the Lexar NM790 makes a lot of sense. If you want a bunch of storage at a performance tier above something like the Fanxiang S660, then the Lexar NM790 is worth your consideration.
Where to Buy
You can find the Lexar NM790 4TB and other models on popular retailers.
Note: STH participates in various affiliate programs where we may earn a small commission if you buy through our links.
Just a heads up. There is a problem with Linux as it fails to initialize (nvme0: Device not ready). I think it is solved from kernel 6.5.x
4TB single sided! Opens up the way for potential 8TB m.2 drives.
Yeah, 4TB single-sided was what drew me to buy this drive for use as my D: for my games library. Have been running it a couple weeks now and zero complaints.
How does this drive measure up to other gen4 drives temperature-wise, being singlesided and DRAM-less? I would expect it also run quite a bit cooler? This is much more important in sub-notebook/portable environments that may still need large capacity.