[Hardware] Team Group T-Force CARDEA Z540 2 TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Review – Graphene Cooled For $259

[[X]pErT-]

Earlier this year, we got our first taste of the latest PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs, offering up to 10,000 MB/s read and write capabilities. These drives were first but we knew that faster drives would be entering the market sooner or later as the technology matured. Furthermore, Gen5 platforms are more accessible to a wider range of audiences with the introduction of mainstream AMD & Intel motherboards.

 

While offering 10 GB/s speeds as a start, SSD manufacturers have quickly started rolling out faster drives by optimizing thermal designs and utilizing enhanced NAND solutions. T-Force is beginning its very own Gen5 journey with the Cardea Z540 series which is designed to offer the best speeds possible given the current limitations of NAND flash.For today's review, we will be taking a look at the Team Group T-Force CARDEA Z540 2 TB SSD which is equipped with Phison's E26 controller and is aiming at the high-end storage segment. This SSD comes at a retail price of $259.99 US which is around where you'd expect 2 TB Gen5 SSD drives to fall.

 

Team Group T-Force CARDEA Z540 2 TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDThe Team Group T-Force CARDEA Z540 is part of the CARDEA Z5 lineup. The CARDEA family has been around for many years now and we have looked at many products within the lineup from Gen3 to Gen4 SSDs. Now, we are looking at the Gen5 series which is branded under the "Z5" SSD series.

 

The Team Group T-Force CARDEA Z5 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature the latest Micron 232-layer TLC NAND flash which offers larger capacities of up to 2 TB, twice the performance of Gen4 drives, & full compliance with Microsoft's DirectStorage API. The T-Force CARDEA Z540 SSDs are based on the high-end Phison E26 SSD controller which is in use by some of the fastest Gen5 drives at the moment.

 

T-Force has pushed the NAND speeds from 1600 MT/s to 2000 MT/s, allowing for higher read and write capabilities. We can expect further optimizations to these speeds in future Gen5 drives from T-Force.

 

https://wccftech.com/review/team-group-t-force-cardea-z540-2-tb-pcie-5-0-nvme-ssd-review-graphene-cooled-for-259/