Lexar Introduces Ares PRO Line of Flagship M.2 NVMe SSDs

Lexar has announced the launch of the Ares PRO line of flagship M.2 NVMe SSDs, designed for gamers and PC enthusiasts. These drives feature a PCI-Express 5.0 x4 host interface. While the company has not officially confirmed the specific combination of controller and NAND flash used in the Ares PRO, it is believed that the drive includes a DRAM cache.

The Ares PRO is available in three capacities: 1 TB, 2 TB, and 4 TB. All three variants offer impressive sequential read speeds of up to 14 GB/s, with varying maximum sequential write speeds. The 4 TB variant boasts sequential write speeds of up to 11 GB/s, the 2 TB variant up to 10 GB/s, and the 1 TB variant up to 7.5 GB/s.

When it comes to 4K random access performance, the three variants also differ. The 4 TB variant offers up to 2 million IOPS 4K random reads and up to 1.5 million IOPS 4K random writes. The 2 TB variant provides up to 2 million 4K random reads and up to 1.4 million 4K random writes. The 1 TB variant lags behind with up to 1.6 million IOPS 4K random reads and up to 1 million IOPS 4K random writes.

Endurance values for the Ares PRO line are impressive, with the 4 TB variant rated at 3000 TBW, the 2 TB variant at 1500 TBW, and the 1 TB variant at 750 TBW. While the drive does not come with an integrated heatsink, it does feature a graphene-based heat-spreader film.

Pricing and availability details have not been confirmed by Lexar, but the company is offering a 5-year warranty on these drives.