Alright, picture for a moment that you're some kind of ye olde monarch and I'm your weird little guy advisor whispering in your ear: Something troubles me, sire. As a wise ruler, I'm sure you are already aware that the SSD prices have not been…let us say 'favourable' as of late. But hark, look here milord/milady/mi-they-dy—for I have secured a sensibly priced SSD for thee. All you need do is…
Absolutely nothing. I promise! There are no tricks here—you really can just pick up a 1 TB Lexar NM790 NVMe SSD for less than $118 from Amazon. Okay, yes, I suppose that does mean aligning yourself with the Bezos empire once again, but with the memory apocalypse upon us and thoroughly ravaging the realm of SSDs, perhaps needs must, your majesty.
I can attest that the Lexar NM790 remains a most valiant and speedy SSD, however. Indeed, for a time, it was a familiar face at the best SSD for gaming roundtable—until it was usurped by newer, more ambitious recruits. Who? Oh, I couldn't possibly say, sire. Though the Lexar does share the same memory controller and flash memory as the Team Group MP44, our current reigning 4 TB champion, you can be sure both SSDs are alike in swiftness.
You know, I thought I was gonna drop the weird little guy act somewhere around here, but I think I'm having too much fun—besides, I already have a wardrobe filled with black clothing, so truly this was a part made for me. At any rate, while I draft up an email officially requesting my job role be changed to 'PC Gamer's weird little guy,' let's delve a little deeper into specs.
Allow me to speak plain: The Lexar NM790 is a PCIe 4.0 drive turning in a still very respectable sequential read/write performance of 7400/6500 MB/s. It's not as fast as some PCIe 5.0 drives for sure, but it's definitely fast enough while also being nowhere near as pricey (though Phison's E37T controller may soon redress that balance).
Our Jacob loved the 4 TB version of this SSD in his Lexar NM790 SSD review, but that doesn't mean the 1 TB model doesn't have room to shine. Granted, you've got maybe only enough room for your OS and maybe a few games on top at most—though if you're as obsessed with visual novels and deckbuilders as I am, then 1 TB will prove more than enough space.
There's also the added bonus that the Lexar NM790 won't be sweating bullets under pressure. Jacob writes, "This drive is cool under load. While copying our 30 GB test folder—a moderately intensive workload—I measured it at only 57°C max. That's pretty much its base level with an ambient temperature of around 23°C.
When transferring over 200 GB of data in one steady stream, which you may not do all that often in real-world use, I measured the temperature at 72°C. That's an admirable temperature from a drive with no active cooling solution and high speeds."
Alas, if only I could keep my cool so admirably while scheming…what, milord? Oh, nothing. It was but the ramblings of yet another weird little guy—do not trouble yourself. Now, if you could but sup from this cup of…what's in it? Mate, it's just water. You really ought to take your hydration more seriously, your highness.
1. Best overall:
WD_Black SN7100
2. Best budget:
Biwin Black Opal NV7400
3. Best PCIe 5.0:
WD_Black SN8100
4. Best budget PCIe 5.0:
Crucial P510
5. Best 4 TB:
TeamGroup MP44
6. Best 8 TB:
WD_Black SN850X
7. Best M.2 2230:
Lexar Play 2230
8. Best for PS5:
Silicon Power XS70
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