Lexar 4TB SSD PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2280

The Lexar NM790 is a fast, efficient 4TB PCIe 4.0 drive with excellent endurance. Speed and capacity both rank in the top 10 percent of our database. Pricing varies wildly by retailer, so hunt for the lower end of the range before you buy.

Sequential reads hit 7400 MB/s and writes land at 6500 MB/s, which puts this drive among the fastest PCIe 4.0 options out there. Random performance is also strong at 1000K read IOPS and 900K write IOPS, so it handles mixed workloads well. The DRAM-less design with HMB 3.0 works fine in practice for most people, and Lexar claims up to 40 percent lower power consumption than DRAM-equipped Gen 4 drives. That's a real win for laptops. Endurance is a standout too at 3000 TBW, backed by a 5-year warranty and a 1.5 million hour MTBF rating.

Against the Kingston FURY Renegade, WD Black SN850X, and Crucial T500, the NM790 holds its own on raw speed and actually beats most of them on endurance at 3000 TBW. The Samsung 9100 PRO is a different beast entirely since it's a Gen 5 drive, but you'll pay a lot more for that. The Micron T710 is a closer match on specs, though it has DRAM and typically costs more. Where the NM790 falls behind is brand trust and availability. WD, Samsung, and Crucial have years of reviews and firmware updates behind them. Lexar is still building that track record here.

Pricing is all over the place. In the US, you'll see this drive listed anywhere from USD 690 to USD 850 depending on the retailer. That's a USD 160 spread for the exact same product, so shopping around matters. Best Buy tends to have the lower end of that range, and they offer price matching if you find it cheaper elsewhere. In Canada, the gap is even wider at CAD 790 to CAD 1,135. For a 4TB Gen 4 drive with this speed and endurance, the lower end of those ranges is reasonable. The higher end is not.

The Lexar NM790 is a 4TB PCIe 4.0 drive that hits 7400 MB/s reads and 6500 MB/s writes without a DRAM cache. It leans on HMB 3.0 to borrow system memory instead, which keeps power draw down and the price lower than you'd expect for this much capacity. On paper, it's a big, fast, efficient drive for desktops, laptops, and PS5s.

But the numbers tell a more interesting story. Our database puts its speed, capacity, and endurance all in the top 10 percent of drives we track. Affordability and social proof, though, are near the bottom. That's a weird combo, and it means this drive is excellent hardware with almost no reputation behind it yet.

Skip this if you need proven long-term reliability from a brand with years of firmware updates and a big support network. WD, Samsung, and Crucial all have that. Also skip it if you do heavy sustained write workloads like constant video editing or database work, since the DRAM-less design can show its limits there. And if you're on a tight budget, the affordability score here is rough.

If you want a 4TB PCIe 4.0 drive with top-tier speed and endurance, and you don't care about having a DRAM cache, the NM790 is a solid pick. It's especially good for laptops thanks to the lower power draw, and it slots right into a PS5 without issues. Just make sure you buy from a retailer with a good return policy, because Lexar's support network isn't as established as the big names.