The Lexar Professional NM800 Pro is a high-end PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD that enters a crowded market, but stands out with its high efficiency and cool temperatures. This drive sells best, especially at 2 TB and is perfect for PlayStation 5 and gaming desktops. It does not set new performance records and has some inconsistent performance results. best ps5 ssd and Best SSD Overall Listed, but overall it performs well enough to get the job done. With PCIe 5.0 SSDs coming soon, this drive could be a great addition to your system for super-fast storage.
SSD prices have been falling rapidly for some time now, so getting the right deal is important. If the above characteristics meet the criteria, this drive should be included in the list. Another drive in this class that has been priced lower in recent sales is the Important P5 Plusbut the NM800 Pro is a great choice as it generally performs better and comes with a stylish heatsink. No problem.
On the other hand, there are many drives that are faster than the NM800 Pro, even if the performance gap is hard to subjectively feel on a daily basis. I recommend putting this drive in your PS5 or using it as a secondary PC drive if the price is right (especially 2 TB). The NM800 Pro doesn’t really stand out.
| product | 512GB | 1TB | 2TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| price | $69.99 | $83.49 | $129.99 |
| form factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| interface/protocol | PCIe 4.0 x 4 | PCIe 4.0 x 4 | PCIe 4.0 x 4 |
| controller | IG5236 | IG5236 | IG5236 |
| DRAM | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| flash memory | 176-layer micron TLC | 176-layer micron TLC | 176-layer micron TLC |
| Sequential read | 7,450MBps | 7,500MBps | 7,500MBps |
| Sequential write | 3,500MBps | 6,300MBps | 6,500MBps |
| random read | 500K | 1000K | 1300K |
| random write | 900K | 1100K | 1200K |
| safety | none | none | none |
| Endurance (TBW) | 500TB | 1,000TB | 2,000TB |
| part number | LNM800P512G-RNNNG | LNM800P001T-RNNNG | LNM800P002T-RNNNG |
| guarantee | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
The Lexar Professional NM800 Pro is available in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB. At the time of review, they were priced at $69.99, $83.49, and $129.99 respectively. The price is competitive for 1 TB, especially 2 TB, but the market is volatile. This is the drive you need to catch on sale, regardless of capacity.
NM800 Pro can push PCIe 4.0 bandwidth up to 7500/6500 MBps and 1300K/1200K IOPS for sequential/random reads and writes respectively. Lexar warrants this drive for 5 years and guarantees 1PB writes per TB capacity. This durability rating is above the industry average, but generally not a factor.
Software and accessories for Lexar Professional NM800 Pro
Lexar does not offer any special downloads or accessories for this drive other than the optional heatsink. I recommend Clonezilla or similar for imaging/cloning and CrystalDiskInfo for general health analysis.
Learn more about the Lexar Professional NM800 Pro
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Our sample arrived with a heatsink. This is a great addition. Some competing drives don’t have heatsinks, and even without this, thermal throttling can start to become a problem with high-end he drives. Lexar also sells a version of this drive without the heatsink. Both work fine when used with the PlayStation 5. The drive under the heatsink is essentially the same as the version without the heatsink.
Underneath the label are the controller, DRAM package, and two NAND packages. Even at 2 TB, this drive is a single-sided drive, which is especially difficult at this capacity. This makes it an option for certain tricky builds, like some laptops and his HTPC.
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The controller is the InnoGrit IG5236, a popular 8-channel design used for high-end PCIe 4.0 drives. These drives are typically cheaper than competing SSDs built around Phison’s E18 or proprietary solutions. In the future, we should work on a fast 4-channel controller, such as the Maxio MAP1602 found in the Acer Predator GM7, that can take full advantage of the interface. Other examples include TenaFe TC2201 and SMI SM2268XT. The DRAM-less, low channel count and high speed of these controllers make them particularly competitive in price and laptop applications.
The DRAM is labeled FLXC2002G-N2 which is LPDDR4X. It’s a very efficient DRAM, and although the DRAM is only one component, it should make the NM800 Pro run more efficiently as a whole. This also helps a bit with thermal management, with or without a heatsink. This is 2GB of his DRAM, which is an excellent amount for 2TB of flash.
The NM800 Pro uses Micron’s 176-layer TLC, or B47R. This flash is typically sold in 64GB dies, which means that each 1TB NAND package contains 16 dies in HDP or 16DP configurations. This is typically the maximum amount of die that can reasonably be stacked per package.
Lexar has options to swap to other flash, such as the efficient YMTC TLC found in the Predator GM7, but reports indicate that the IG5236 SSD controller has firmware issues with the YMTC flash. Its flash efficiency is a good match for this drive, and other flash manufacturers seem to be taking note of the benefits they see in such a design.
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