INTRODUCTION

    Although it took some time for NAND controller manufacturers to resolve temperature related issues 2nd generation PCIe Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs have been slowly filling the market and even though most of them offer impressive read & write performance competition is always good for the end user. A few months back Lexar also released their NM1090 Pro Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSD and today I'm testing the 2TB capacity.

    For more than 25 years, Lexar has been trusted as a leading global brand of memory solutions. Our award-winning lineup includes memory cards, USB Flash Drives, card readers, solid-state drives, and DRAM. With so many options, it’s easy to find the right Lexar solution to fit your needs.

    The NM1090 Pro by Lexar is currently available in three capacities (1/2/4TB), with and without a heatsink (illuminated) and just like with most 2nd generation Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs currently in the market it uses the SM2508 NVMe 2.0 NAND controller by Silicon Motion (6nm lithography) which this time over is paired with Micron's 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash (B58R) and 2GB of LPDDR4 DRAM by FORESEE for the 2TB model. The Silicon Motion SM2508 NVMe 2.0 controller features an quad-core ARM Cortex R8 CPU with support for 4 PCIe lanes of 32Gb/s data transfer speed (Gen5 x4), 8 NAND channels with a speed of up to 3600MT/s per channel and packs various technologies including end to end data path protection, programmable firmware interface, SRAM ECC & CRC parity, Innovative LDPC ECC engine, embedded programmable RAID, real-time full-drive AES 128/256bit encryption, hardware SHA 256/384 and TRNG, secure boot for FW authentication, built-in smart clock-gating mechanism (highly efficient power consumption), ONFI 5.0 and Toggle 5.0 support and TCG Opal 2.0 compliance. When it comes to endurance Lexar reports an MTBF (meantime between failures) of 1.5 million hours for all models, TBW of 700/1400/2800TB for the 1/2/4TB capacities and covers the entire line with a 5-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Lexar uses a small black and gold box to ship their NM1090 Pro drive the front of which is taken by their logo, product picture, capacity and advertised performance.

Turning the box around we find a few words about the drive, contact information about Lexar and a cut out from where you can see the rear sticker of the drive.

Inside the box you'll find the NM1090 Pro Gen5 SSD, quick installation guide and warranty information paper and a small mounting screw.

THE NM1090 PRO 2TB

The NM1090 Pro 2TB follows the typical M.2 form factor (2280) and features a graphene sticker on top for improved heat dissipation.

Removing the sticker reveals the SM2508G NVMe 2.0 NAND controller by Silicon Motion, single 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM module by FORESEE and two Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules (Longsys rebranded).

On the other side of the drive, we find a sticker with the serial number and barcode.

Beneath the drive we find two more Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules so unfortunately the NM1090 Pro 2TB is not a single side model.

DISKMASTER

You can monitor and control some of the functions of the NM1090 Pro from Lexar's DiskMaster software.

The software allows you to do as other similar ones so you can check the drive status, SMART details, use secure erase, transfer data between drives, run a performance test, scan for errors, search for firmware updates and check information regarding the drive and your system.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   I've been using pretty much the same testing methodology for PCIe 3.0 Gen3 and PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSDs for far too many years now, so I decided to "tweak" it for PCIe 5.0 Gen5 models. Needless to say, Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs will be tested using one of my latest test rigs (Intel Core Ultra 285K / ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite) and unlike with both Gen3 and Gen4 SSDs I will not be using the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) 12 hour IOMeter benchmark since it proved to be rather heavy for early Gen5 SSDs (temperature issues). Instead, I decided to use the latest versions of 3D Mark, AIDA64, AS SSD, ATTO, Crystal Disk Mark, HD Tune Pro, HD Tach RW, Performance Test, IOMeter (4k Random Writes / 4k Random Reads – since September 2024 / SNIA Mixed) and Sandra Titanium for performance measuring and ForSpoken for all of you who might be wondering just how well Gen5 SSDs do in regard to Microsoft's DirectStorage API/Technology. Each test will be run a total of 5 times after which the average number will be recorded in each chart.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - SANDRA TITANIUM / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS - PERFORMANCE TEST / 3D MARK / FORSPOKEN

CONCLUSION

    Thanks to the SM2508 NAND controller by Silicon Motion the NM1090 Pro does very well in terms of performance and as expected exchanged blows with both the T710 by Crucial and GM9000 by Predator. Using 232-layer 3D NAND flash by Micron was a good choice although as we all know this is their previous NAND flash generation and not their current one (but again, very good). Temperatures were a bit higher compared to the other two models and yes, that could be because this is a dual-side model (also reduces compatibility with some systems). Unfortunately, once again available capacities is an issue. Seems that 2026 will get here and storage media manufacturers (at least most of them) will not have 8TB capacities in their SSD lineups.

    At the time of this review the NM1090 Pro 2TB retails for USD179.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 185.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so it’s priced very well. Again, however potential buyers need to take into account that this is a dual-sided M.2 NVMe SSD which will not be compatible with certain devices. That aside the NM1090 Pro delivers as advertised and for that it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Quality
- Top Performance (14000MB/s)
- Endurance (1400TBW)
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Available Capacities (Only Up To 4TB)
- Slight Thermal Throttling