Nextorage’s NEM-PAC 2TB is a heatsink-equipped PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD that the company says supports PlayStation 5 storage expansion and desktop installations with sufficient clearance.
Storage reviewer Shane Downing reported strong application-storage results and cool operation in testing, alongside lower power efficiency than competing drives. His sustained-write results showed a substantial speed reduction after the drive’s fast write cache filled.
Specifications and hardware
The NEM-PAC range includes 1TB, 2TB and 4TB models. Downing reported that he had not found the 4TB version available at the time of his review.
Nextorage rates the 2TB model for sequential reads of up to 7,400 MB/s and writes of up to 6,400 MB/s, with random-access ratings of 800,000 read IOPS and 1,050,000 write IOPS. The higher 1,000,000 random-read IOPS rating applies to the 4TB model. The 1TB version has a lower sequential-write rating of 4,800 MB/s. Nextorage says performance depends on measurement conditions and is not guaranteed.
Nextorage’s instruction manual lists endurance of 1,500TB written for the 2TB model, equivalent to 750TBW per TB of capacity. Its limited warranty lasts five years from purchase or until the maximum write allowance is reached, whichever comes first. The endurance rating does not establish the reliability of an individual drive.
Downing identified a four-channel, DRAM-less Silicon Motion SM2268XT2 controller and Samsung 236-layer TLC flash in the reviewed 2TB sample. The single-sided drive contained four NAND packages.
PS5 compatibility and installation limits
Nextorage says it tested PS5 compatibility using console software version 23.02-08.20.02. The company states that the product was not developed under Sony Interactive Entertainment’s licensing program and does not guarantee compatibility or performance for every game.
Sony recommends sequential-read speeds of at least 5,500 MB/s for PS5 expansion SSDs and requires effective heat dissipation. It cautions that third-party drives may not match the console’s internal storage performance in every game, even when their advertised read speeds exceed that recommendation. Sony also states that PS5 consoles do not support Host Memory Buffer.
Nextorage specifies dimensions of approximately 24.4 × 10.5 × 80.5 mm, excluding maximum protrusions. It says the heatsink must not be disassembled and that the product cannot be used in laptop computers.
Gaming, applications and file transfers
Downing reported that the NEM-PAC finished around the middle of the comparison group in the 3DMark Storage Benchmark, which tests gaming activities including loading, saving, installation and gameplay recording. His PCMark 10 application-storage results placed it ahead of several comparison drives.
The comparison group included the Addlink A93, Biwin Black Opal NV7400, TeamGroup MP44, Inland TN470, WD Black SN7100, Crucial P310, Silicon Power UD90 and Kingston NV3.
In DiskBench testing with a mixed 50GB dataset, Downing reported high read and write transfer rates, while copying data within the drive was less competitive. ATTO and CrystalDiskMark results showed weaker sequential performance at low queue depths, although 4KB random-read latency at queue depth one was below 44 microseconds.
Sustained-write performance
The drive uses an SLC cache to accept incoming writes faster than its underlying TLC flash can sustain. In Downing’s sustained-write testing, the 2TB sample maintained more than 6.43 GB/s for over 95 seconds, with an estimated cache size of 610GB to 615GB.
Once the cache was exhausted, reported direct-to-TLC write speed fell to approximately 845 MB/s. During cache folding, when cached data was moved into TLC storage while further writes arrived, performance averaged about 552 MB/s. The advertised peak write rating therefore does not describe performance throughout a prolonged write workload.
Power consumption and cooling
Downing reported lower power efficiency than peers in the comparison. He described idle power draw as similar to the Kingston NV3 and average and maximum power draw as high.
He also reported cool operation with the supplied heatsink. Temperature testing monitored the drive’s primary composite sensor at an ambient temperature of about 22°C. The review’s general testing notes specify active cooling unless otherwise noted; results depend on the environment and workload.
