The 14.3 GB/s PCIe 5 SSD from TeamGroup wants to be the fastest consumer drive

TeamGroup has introduced the T-Force Z54A PCIe 5.0 SSD, a storage device that is certain to put even the most impressive SSDs to shame. Once it is released to the general public, the T-Force Z54A will have sequential read and write speeds of up to 14.2 GB/s and 11.5 GB/s, respectively; as a result, it is poised to take the title of having the fastest consumer PCIe 5.0 SSD. The T-Force Z54A utilizes a solution that is in direct competition with the Phison PS5026-E26 controller, which is used by other PCIe 5.0 drives. Instead, it uses the IG5666 controller, which is manufactured by InnoGrit. TeamGroup is the first manufacturer to reveal a finished product, even though Adata’s Project Nighthawk and Project Blackbird SSDs both use the same controller. There is also a third player in the market, and its name is Silicon Motion.

Silicon Motion is the owner of the SM2508 and SM2504XT controllers, which will be used to power upcoming PCIe 5.0 solid-state drives. On the other hand, those will arrive very belatedly as their release is scheduled for the fourth quarter. According to the performance data that TeamGroup has published, the Innogrit IG5666 controller provides a level of performance that is superior to that of the Phison PS5026-E26 controller. The T-Force Z54A was able to achieve sequential read speeds of up to 14,365 MB/s and write speeds of up to 11,547 MB/s, as can be seen in the screenshot. It performs better than the Crucial T700, which is currently the fastest E26-powered drive with sequential write speeds of 12.4 GB/s and sequential read speeds of 11.8 GB/s.

When combined with NAND, which operates at a speed of 2,400 MT/s, the E26 controller is capable of reaching speeds of up to 14 GB/s. Regrettably, as of yet, there has been no consumer PCIe 5.0 SSD that has been shown to possess that bin. Even Micron’s subsidiary Crucial was only able to equip the T700 with 2,200 MT/s NAND, which prevents the solid-state drive from reaching the full capacity of the E26 controller. Crucial is a Micron company. According to the information provided to us by our sources, the IG5666 controller is superior to the E26 controller even when the latter is connected to 2,400 MT/s NAND. The Innogrit IG5666 controller has very minimal information that is available to the public. In contrast, a press statement issued by TeamGroup reveals that its IG5666 controller is a product of a 12nm production node and supports 2,400 MT/s NAND, just as its competitor, the E26 controller.

In addition, it would appear that the controller is equipped with both a decoder for a low-power mode as well as a one-of-a-kind code-correction method that can lengthen the NAND’s lifespan. There was no mention made by TeamGroup regarding whether or not the T-Force Z54A has 2,400 MT/s NAND. The product render for the T-Force Z54A depicts a drive that is completely bare, without any heatsinks or coolers that are overly large. yet, just like any other PCIe 5.0 SSD, the drive will probably experience thermal throttling if it is operated without a heatsink; yet, you might be able to get away with it if you use it for typical tasks. However, more demanding workloads are likely to have an effect on the drive’s performance. As a result, customers who purchase bare disk PCIe 5.0 SSDs should utilize either the M.2 heatsink that is incorporated into the motherboard or an aftermarket cooler. TeamGroup displayed a future 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler with an M.2 module so that they could liquid cool the T-Force Z54A. There is a good reason for this.