PCIe Gen 5 drives have arrived. But while peak speeds are up dramatically, the latest drives aren’t a huge step in other areas, like latency and random access. That’s why a value PCIe Gen 4 drive like the Lexar
NM790 still makes a lot of sense. Performance wise,
it’s usually on a par with other high-spec Gen 4 drives, but this 1TB model can be had for just $70. To achieve this price, it uses the lesserknown Maxio MAP1602 controller, and doesn’t have any DRAM cache at all. All in all, it’s very impressive for the money. $70,
www.lexar.com
• Reviewed: Maximum PC, September 2023