Team Group has launched the world's first liquid-cooled M.2 SSD, which we first saw earlier this year at Computex. The Cardea Liquid SSD features a self-cooling liquid design that the company says has been proven to lower operating temperatures by up to 10 degrees Celsius.
The Cardea Liquid SSD complies with the M.2 2280 form factor, but due to its liquid cooling system, the drive measures 83.9mm long and 14.1mm high. It communicates with your system through a typical PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and respects the NVMe 1.3 protocol. Due to the liquid cooling aspect of the drive, the Cardea Liquid is recommended for desktop computers. It certainly isn't going to fit in a laptop.
Team Group's patented self-circulation cooling system consists of transferring the heat from the SSD to the aluminum alloy heatsink through silicone thermal conductive pads. The heatsink is actively cooled with liquid through a convection process. The drive has a translucent indicator on the left of its transparent body so you know when to adjust the balance between the coolant and air. The black sliding rail gives you access to a screw inlet so you can add more coolant or replace the default blue coolant with another color. Team Group notes that you should only use the brand's special coolant and avoid using tap water or distilled water as it will reduce the cooling system's efficiency.
| Model | Product Number | Capacity | Sequential Read | Sequential Write | Random Read | Random Write | Endurance |
| Cardea Liquid 1TB | TM8FP5001T0C119 | 1TB | 3,400 MBps | 3,000 MBps | 450,000 IOPS | 400,000 IOPS | 1,665 TBW |
| Cardea Liquid 512GB | TM8FP5512G0C119 | 512GB | 3,400 MBps | 2,000 MBps | 350,000 IOPS | 300,000 IOPS | 800 TBW |
| Cardea Liquid 256GB | TM8FP5256G0C119 | 256 GB | 3,000 MBps | 1,000 MBps | 200,000 IOPS | 200,000 IOPS | 380 TBW |
Team Group backs its Cardea Liquid SSD with a limited three-year warranty. The manufacturer offers the SSD in three capacities: 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. The 1TB drive has the highest specifications of the trio. It boasts sequential read and write speeds of 3,400 MBps and 3,000 MBps, respectively. Random read and write performance is rated for 450,000 IOPS and 400,000 IOPS, respectively. The 1TB model has a 1,665 TBW (terabytes written) rating.
The 512GB model offers sequential performance in the range of 3,400 MBps reads and 2,000 MBps writes. Random read and write speeds go up to 350,000 IOPS and 300,000 IOPS, respectively. Team Group rates the 512GB model for 800 TBW. Lastly, the 256GB model delivers sequential read and write speeds of 3,000 MBps and 1,000 MBps, respectively and random read and write speeds of 200,000 IOPS. It has an endurance of 380 TBW.
Team Group didn't reveal the Cardea Liquid's pricing or availability.
