Collection: Lexar Solid State Drives

Which Lexar solid state drive do you actually need?

Most PC builders land on Lexar Solid State Drives because the value per gigabyte is hard to beat, but the tiers behave differently under the hood. Entry drives are SATA models like the NQ100 or NS100 series, or older PCIe 3.0 NVMe like the NM620. SATA caps out around 550 MB/s because of the interface itself, and that's fine for a boot drive in an older machine or a bulk game library. It's a big step down from NVMe in queue depth handling, though, which is why a SATA drive feels slower when Windows is doing updates and you're launching apps at the same time.

The sweet spot is PCIe 4.0 NVMe, and the Lexar NM790 is the standout. It pairs a Maxio controller with TLC NAND and uses Host Memory Buffer instead of onboard DRAM to hold its mapping table. That cuts cost and heat, and for gaming and general work the difference in feel is tiny. Where it shows is sustained random writes on a very full drive, because the mapping table has to be fetched more often. Compare that with a Samsung 990 Pro or WD_BLACK SN850X, which have stronger random write consistency and bigger SLC cache behaviour.

Enthusiast PCIe 5.0 drives, like Lexar's NM1090 class, double the headline sequential speed to roughly 10,000 to 14,000 MB/s. The catch is that games and OS tasks mostly hit small random reads, where latency matters more than bandwidth, so you rarely notice the jump. Gen 5 controllers also run hot enough to throttle without a decent heatsink. Diminishing returns kick in hard after a good Gen 4 drive unless you're moving huge video files or datasets daily.

Upgrading and technical nuances

Check your Motherboards spec sheet before buying. On AM5 and LGA1851 boards, the primary M.2 slot is usually wired straight to the CPU at PCIe 5.0 x4, while secondary slots often run Gen 4 or share lanes through the chipset. Populating certain M.2 slots can disable SATA ports, which catches people out when they add a fourth drive. A Gen 5 drive in a Gen 4 slot works fine, it just runs at Gen 4 speed, so buying ahead isn't wasted, but you'd be paying for bandwidth you can't use.

TLC versus QLC matters more than the PCIe generation for many buyers. TLC holds up better on sustained writes once the SLC cache fills, while QLC drives can drop to a few hundred MB/s on large transfers. The NM790 is TLC, which is one reason it punches above its price. Also look at endurance, rated in TBW. A 2TB NM790 is rated well into the 1,000 TBW range, far beyond what a gaming rig will write.

For consoles, the Lexar NM800 Pro with its heatsink variant is the one people look at for PS5 expansion, because Sony requires a heatsink and a minimum sequential read spec. Other benchmark families worth cross-shopping in Solid State Drives (SSD) are the Crucial T500, Kingston KC3000 and Samsung 990 EVO Plus, depending on budget.

Capacity is the real performance lever. Bigger drives have more NAND dies working in parallel and a larger dynamic cache, so a 2TB drive is often faster and more consistent than a 500GB drive of the same model. Modern games regularly sit above 100GB each, so 2TB is the sensible baseline today.

Practical things to check before buying

Start with the form factor. Most NVMe drives are M.2 2280, meaning 22 mm wide and 80 mm long. Some compact boards and handhelds use 2230, so confirm before ordering. Single-sided drives fit under thin laptop covers and tight handheld bays, while double-sided ones can foul a low-clearance heatsink.

Thermals come next. Many motherboards ship with M.2 heatsinks, and a bare Gen 4 drive paired with one is usually fine. Be careful if your GPU sits directly above the primary M.2 slot, because a big card from Graphics Cards / GPU will trap heat there, and some boards have a slot hidden under the GPU that's a pain to reach. If you add an aftermarket heatsink, check it won't clash with the board's own cover or with the backplate of a tower cooler from CPU Cooling. Airflow from a well-planned Computer Cases layout and a few quality Fans, Heatsinks & Cooling products help far more than fancy drive shrouds.

SATA drives need both a data cable and a power connector from your PSU, so make sure you have a spare SATA lead. Browse Cables & Connectors if you're short. NVMe drives need neither, which is a big win for tidy builds. Still, a clean, stable supply matters. Quality units from Power Supplies or ATX Power Supply protect drives from nasty power events.

Finally, think about migration. Cloning software or a fresh Windows install works, but if you're swapping the boot drive, back up first and update your motherboard BIOS beforehand. For a full new build, pairing the drive with a platform from CPUs & Processors and fast Desktop Memory means you aren't bottlenecking one part with another. If you'd rather skip the parts list, Computers has prebuilt options.

Brands and local warranty

Lexar is a long-running flash brand with a solid reputation for value NVMe and SATA drives. In the same space, Samsung, Crucial, WD_BLACK, Kingston and Seagate all make dependable options, and Samsung and WD tend to lead on premium consistency. The NAND and controller combination matters more than the label, so look at reviews of the specific model, not just the brand.

In Australia, warranty is where grey imports bite. Buying from a local retailer means the warranty runs through Australian Consumer Law and a local distributor, so you aren't posting a failed drive overseas and waiting weeks. Lexar's NM790 is typically backed by a five-year warranty, but confirm it applies to the stock you're buying. Keep your invoice, and note that drive failure replacement doesn't recover your data, so keep backups regardless.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Lexar NM790 good enough for gaming?

Yes. It's a PCIe 4.0 TLC drive with read speeds well past what any game loader can use. DirectStorage and fast level loading benefit more from the NVMe interface than from extra headline speed, so the NM790 is a sensible pick for most gaming PCs.

Do I need a heatsink on my Lexar NVMe drive?

For Gen 4 drives in a desktop, the motherboard's M.2 heatsink is usually enough. Gen 5 drives and PS5 installs should have a proper heatsink, since throttling reduces sustained speed.

Will a PCIe 5.0 drive work in my older board?

It will, as long as the board has an M.2 NVMe slot. It simply negotiates down to Gen 4 or Gen 3 speeds. You won't damage anything, but you won't see the full rated numbers either.

How much capacity should I buy?

Go for 1TB at minimum, though 2TB is the practical sweet spot today for a system with several large games. Larger drives also hold performance better when they fill up.

Is a DRAM-less SSD a bad idea?

Not for typical use. HMB drives like the NM790 are fast for everyday tasks and gaming. If you run heavy sustained write workloads such as video editing scratch disks or databases, a drive with onboard DRAM is a safer bet.