Lexar Play SE 4TB SSD Review: An Oddball Performer
▼ Summary
– The Lexar Play SE is a 4TB, PS5-compatible SSD designed as a budget-friendly secondary or games drive, not a primary storage solution.
– It uses a DRAM-less design with Intel 144-Layer QLC flash and leverages the Host Memory Buffer (HMB) feature instead of dedicated DRAM.
– The drive features a capable heatsink and is powered by an InnoGrit IG5236 controller, achieving sequential speeds up to 7,000/6,000 MB/s.
– It carries an unusually high endurance rating of 800TBW per TB, which is at TLC flash levels and double the typical expectation for a QLC drive.
– The drive includes a 5-year warranty and comes with Lexar’s DiskMaster (SSD toolbox) and DataShield (encryption) software utilities.
The Lexar Play SE 4TB SSD presents itself as a specialized storage expansion, particularly for the PlayStation 5, but its internal hardware tells a more complex story. This drive is a curious case, offering a high capacity at a budget-friendly point while making significant compromises under its capable heatsink. It functions adequately as a secondary drive for games or media, but its underlying technology prevents it from competing as a primary, high-performance solution.
On paper, the specifications seem robust for a PCIe 4.0 drive, with sequential read and write speeds up to 7,000 MB/s and 6,000 MB/s, respectively. It carries a strong five-year warranty and an impressive endurance rating of 3,200TBW, which is unusually high for its type. However, a deeper look reveals the core of its budget nature: it utilizes a DRAM-less design relying on Host Memory Buffer (HMB) and is built with QLC NAND flash memory. This combination inherently limits sustained write performance and overall responsiveness compared to drives with dedicated DRAM and TLC flash.
The drive employs an InnoGrit IG5236 controller, a component historically paired with DRAM for higher-end models. Its use here in a DRAM-less configuration is one of the drive’s notable oddities. The flash memory is identified as Intel’s 144-Layer QLC, an older, more affordable type that helps achieve the 4TB capacity in a single-sided design. This choice aligns with the drive’s positioning as a cost-effective storage upgrade rather than a speed demon. The high endurance rating is a welcome surprise for QLC, though for a drive primarily intended for game storage, a largely read-heavy task, it serves more as a marketing highlight than a critical daily performance feature.
Lexar provides supporting software, including the Lexar DiskMaster toolbox for drive management, health monitoring, and secure erase functions, and Lexar DataShield for added data encryption.
Physically, the Play SE is well-equipped for its intended use. It comes with a PS5-compliant heatsink that is both effective and appropriately sized for the console’s expansion slot. The single-sided PCB design is clean and facilitates installation.
In essence, the Lexar Play SE 4TB carves out a specific niche. It is a competent, high-capacity storage expander for gamers needing more space for their PS5 library or for a desktop PC acting as a secondary drive. Its strengths are its capacity, warranty, and included heatsink. Its weaknesses are inherent to its QLC flash and lack of DRAM, which manifest in slower write speeds and reduced performance under heavy, sustained workloads. It represents a pragmatic choice for budget-conscious buyers prioritizing sheer storage space over peak performance, standing as an oddball product that makes the most sense only in its 4TB configuration.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware)
