Today, we are exploring the Lexar PLAY 1TB NVMe SSD. This small drive stands out due to its M.2 2230 size, which is distinct from the norm of M.2 2280. If you aren’t aware, the numbers 30 and 80 represent the drive’s length in millimeters. Consequently, a 2230 drive is less than half the size of a 2280 drive, making this particular drive incredibly compact. Lexar presents this drive as PLAY, geared primarily towards devices like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally.
The petite Lexar PLAY 1TB is designed as a single-sided M.2 2230 (30mm) form factor.
Onboard, the drive uses a Silicon Motion SM2269XT controller. We’ve seen this controller earlier in the Solidigm P41 Plus, and at that point, the drive’s performance gave me mixed reactions. The P41 Plus was matched with QLC NAND, but the PLAY uses Micron-branded TLC, so I am presuming the PLAY would perform better. That said, the SM2269XT is made for DRAM-less drives, and yes, the PLAY does not come with a DRAM cache.
The reverse side of the Lexar PLAY 1TB has a product label.
Specifications of Lexar PLAY 1TB SSD
The Lexar PLAY comes only in a 1TB capacity.
Read speeds of 5200 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 4700 MB/s may not be the highest for a Gen 4 drive, but they far exceed what a Gen 3 drive can provide. The form factor warrants not aiming for 7 GB/s. The acceptable durability is 600 TBW, which is typical for a 1TB drive and should be sufficient considering the target audience of this drive. Wrapping up the specifications is a standard 5-year warranty. If this drive was a 2280 size, these specifications wouldn’t stand out. However, there’s less competition in the 2230 form factor realm.
Basic information about the SSD, including confirmation that it runs at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds using NVMe 1.4, can be obtained from CrystalDiskInfo.
Configuration of Test System
The following set-up has been used for this test:
- Motherboard: MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (12C/24T)
- RAM: 2x 16GB DDR5-6000 UDIMMs
Our testing uses the Lexar PLAY 1TB as the boot drive for the system, installed in the M.2_1 slot on the motherboard. This slot supports up to PCIe Gen 5 x4. The drive is filled to 85% capacity with data, and then some is deleted, leaving around 60% used space on the volume. Special note: the M.2_1 slot on this board does not natively support 2230-sized drives, so I just rigged it into place. It does not affect my testing, but it was worth noting.
Next, we are going to get into our performance testing.
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