Jesper Berg
Announced in early 2023, the Teamgroup T-Force Cardea Z540 is a high-end M.2 SSD compatible with the PCI-Express 5.0 interface. Like most of its competitors in 2023, it uses the Phison PS5026-E26 controller and 232-layer TLC NAND memory from Micron.
Specifications: Cardea Z540 Vs. Crucial T700
| Specifications | Teamgroup Cardea Z540 2TB | Crucial T700 2TB |
|---|---|---|
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface/ Protocol | PCIe 5.0 x4/ NVMe 2.0 | PCIe 5.0 x4/ NVMe 2.0 |
| Controller | Phison E26 | Phison E26 |
| DRAM | 4GB LPDDR4 | 4GB LPDDR4 |
| Memory | 232-layer TLC (2000 MT/s) | 232-layer TLC (2000 MT/s) |
| Sequential Read | 12,000 MB/s | 12,400 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 10,000 MB/s | 11,800 MB/s |
| Random Read | 1.4M IOPS | 1.5M IOPS |
| Random Write | 1.5M IOPS | 1.5M IOPS |
| Endurance | 1,400 TBW | 1,200 TBW |
| Warranty | 5-Year | 5-Year |
Teamgroup’s T-Force Cardea Z540 is only available in one 2 TB capacity at launch and its specifications place it among the fastest SSDs in 2023. The drive’s main competitor (as of mid-2023) is the Crucial T700, which is the only drive that can match and exceed the Z540’s sequential performance, if only by a small margin.
With sequential read performance maxing out at 12,000 MB/s, the Cardea Z540 is still faster than Phison E26-based competitors such as the Inland TD510 or Aorus Gen5 10000. These earlier models use slower NAND and as a result, they are capped at sequential transfer rates around 10,000 MB/s.
All of them are nevertheless faster than leading Gen4 SSDs, which are interface-limited to around 7,500 MB/s. Of course, any theoretical transfer rates beyond Gen4 interface speed only apply to Gen5-enabled systems starting with Ryzen 7000 chipsets such as B650 or certain Intel Z790 motherboards.
Random performance, which tends to correlate better with real-world performance, is also high but does not differ as much from high-end Gen4 SSD like the Samsung 990 PRO. Maximum 4K write performance reaches 1.5 million IOPS, which is slightly behind the 990 PRO’s 1.55 million IOPS figure.
Teamgroup highlights that the T-Force Cardea Z540 is equipped with a thin graphene heat spreader, which is intended for use in combination with an integrated motherboard heat spreader. According to Teamgroup, this will lower the operating temperature by 3-5°C compared to using the motherboard heatsink alone.
Controller and NAND
All early Gen5 SSDs use the same Phison E26 (PS5026-E26) controller – a high-end 8-channel chip designed for use with a DRAM cache and high-speed NAND. This situation is an echo of early Gen4 SSDs, which were all based on the same Phison E16 controller and offered about the same performance.
Although competing controllers from Silicon Motion (SM2508) and InnoGrit (IG5666) are available, Teamgroup and other manufacturers have opted to use the E26 in their first PCIe 5.0 products.
A noteworthy difference is that the Teamgroup T-Force Cardea Z540 is faster than earlier competitors like the MSI Spatium M570 Pro and Corsair MP700. This is likely a result of using faster NAND memory chips. All early PCIe Gen5 use 232-layer TLC NAND from Micron, but the manufacturers initially only had access to NAND rated at 1600 MT/s speeds, whereas the technology is capable of reaching 2400 MT/s.
Endurance and Warranty
In terms of warranties and endurance, the T-Force Cardea Z540 is only available in a 2TB capacity with an endurance rating of 1,400 TBW (terabytes written) and/or a 5-year limited warranty. This is in line with industry standards for consumer SSDs.
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