TeamGroup Delta MAX, the SSD with the largest RGB lighting area on the market

[Inkriql]

At the end of the summer, TeamGroup memory products specialist introduced its new family of SSDs, the Delta MAX, which presented as a novel feature the largest RGB lighting area ever seen in an SSD to date, to the point that it seems that have a screen on one of their faces. Today we will present our analysis of one of these TeamGroup Delta MAX, specifically the 500 GB model, which also stands out for being relatively affordable.

As for the technical aspect, this SSD comes in a 2.5 ″ format and SATA 3 interface, so it is capable of providing theoretical read and write speeds of 560 and 510 MB / s respectively, taking almost to the limit what This interface is able to provide. The manufacturer says it uses 3D NAND Flash memory chips, but does not say what type. Judging by their MTBF, they are surely TLC chips.

For this reason, this is the first SSD that, in addition to the usual SATA power and data connectors, also incorporates a micro USB connector to connect the SSD to an internal USB head of the motherboard, or even to an LED connector 3 pins if the board is compatible, although in this case the effects will not be configurable.

Finally, it should be noted that the SSD has what the manufacturer calls "Smart optimization", which consists of an internal intelligent algorithm to manage the garbage collection automatically and optimize its performance and durability. Similarly, it has ECC technology to improve its reliability, and supports TRIM optimization under Windows operating system. Finally, it also incorporates NCQ technology to improve the overall performance of the device.
Unboxing, analysis and first impressions

The TeamGroup Delta MAX is packed in a hard black cardboard box that opens in the form of a chest. On the main face we find a full-color image of the device, indicating its USB connection and its capacity, and leaving its characteristics related to RGB lighting to the rear, but no technical details.

When opening the box, we find the SSD covered with a transparent plastic, since the frontplate has a mirror effect and thus prevents it from getting dirty.

Let's see what accessories are included. We have on the one hand a brief instruction manual, along with a cloth wipe to clean the mirror surface of the frontplate, and a T-Force sticker.

In the instruction manual the manufacturer tells us the two ways to connect the USB of the SSD only.

Of course, the two types of cable that we can use are included: on the one hand, one from micro USB to 9-pin USB head of the motherboard, and on the other, from micro USB to three-pin RGB head.

Here we have the SSD, still with its plastic cover.

And here without her. You can see a dark violet color, with the T-Force logo in the center and the Delta MAX anagram in the lower right corner.

Look at the mirror effect.

The back is matte and the entire housing is metallic, which gives it greater resistance to impacts and, in addition, it will collaborate for passive cooling of the device, although it is true that this type of SSDs does not get too hot and never give problems Of temperature.

On the label we can find the serial number, model and certifications of the device. In addition, here it indicates that it is covered by a three-year warranty instead of the usual two.

In this part we can also see the SATA power and data connectors together with the micro USB on one side.

The bad part of this SSD is that it cannot be opened without damaging it. We would have to remove the front plate with a flathead screwdriver by pressing and running the risk of any of the tabs being damaged, and then carefully remove the ARGB LED lighting matrix and remove the four screws that connect the frontplate with the housing For this reason, we decided not to open it to see inside, since this would also void the device's warranty.

Having seen the 500GB Delta MAX SSD TeamGroup, it's time to connect and test it.

Just by connecting the SSD to the USB head, it will light up without even having connected the SATA cables. Here are a couple of images that show how it lights up in low light conditions.

It shows a little that the lighting system consists of LEDs placed on the sides, whose lighting rises to the center area through translucent tubes.

Here you can see how it looks in conditions with more light.

Frontplate detail.

Of course it looks very, very good, and really if you don't notice, you don't see those "tubes" of light on the edges.

This lighting is configurable with the motherboard software, as long as it is compatible (all major manufacturers have their software). In our case, with an MSI board, we use Mystic Light, but this software is so unfortunate that it does not even detect the device and, therefore, does not allow us to configure its lighting.

Let's now connect it to the PC to see what performance it brings us.
Testing and performance

For the performance tests of this SSD we have used the usual hardware of our test bench, together with the Windows 10 version 1809 operating system with all the updates installed:

    Intel Core i7-8700K.
    MSI Z370 Gaming M5.
    Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 3600 MHz (4 × 8 GB).
    EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 XC.

The first thing we have done just connect the SSD to the computer using SATA is to create a partition and format it in NTFS mode, leaving all the properties by default. Once this is done, we measure your typical transfer speed using Windows, copying an NVMe PCIe (source) SSD to this TeamGroup Delta M