TeamGroup's 14.3 GB/s PCIe 5 SSD Aims to Take the Consumer Speed Crown

T-Force Z54A
T-Force Z54A (Image credit: TeamGroup)

TeamGroup has revealed the T-Force Z54A PCIe 5.0 SSD, which will undoubtedly shame even the best SSDs. With its sequential read and write speeds of up to 14.2 GB/s and 11.5 GB/s, respectively, the T-Force Z54A is set to become the fastest consumer PCIe 5.0 SSD once it hits the retail market.

Unlike other PCIe 5.0 drives that employ the Phison PS5026-E26 controller, the T-Force Z54A leverages a competing solution: the IG5666 controller from InnoGrit. Adata's Project Nighthawk and Project Blackbird SSDs utilize the same controller, but TeamGroup is the first vendor to announce a finished product. There's also a third player out there — Silicon Motion has the SM2508 and SM2504XT controllers that will power upcoming PCIe 5.0 SSDs. However, those will come in late, as they're slated for a fourth-quarter release.

Judging by TeamGroup's provided performance numbers, the Innogrit IG5666 controller delivers higher performance than the Phison PS5026-E26 controller. The screenshot shows the T-Force Z54A hitting sequential read speeds of up to 14,365 MB/s and write speeds of up to 11,547 MB/s. It outperforms the Crucial T700, which is the fastest E26-powered drive with 12.4 GB/s of sequential writes and 11.8 GB/s of sequential reads.

The E26 controller can hit speeds of up to 14 GB/s when paired with NAND, which runs at 2,400 MT/s. Unfortunately, thus far, no consumer PCIe 5.0 SSD has been shown to possess that bin. Even Crucial, a subsidiary of Micron, has only been able to deck the T700 with 2,200 MT/s NAND, restricting the SSD from hitting the maximum potential of the E26 controller. Our sources have told us that the IG5666 controller beats the E26 controller even if the latter is attached to 2,400 MT/s NAND.

There is virtually no public information on the Innogrit IG5666 controller. However, TeamGroup's press release confirms that the IG5666 controller is a product of the 12nm process node and supports 2,400 MT/s NAND, just like the rivaling E26 controller. In addition, the controller seemingly has a unique code-correction technique to extend the longevity of the NAND and a decoder for a low-power mode. TeamGroup didn't specify whether the T-Force Z54A has 2,400 MT/s NAND.

The product render for the T-Force Z54A shows a bare drive without any bulky heatsinks or cooler. But like any other PCIe 5.0 SSD, the drive will likely thermally throttle if you run it without a heatsink, though you may get away with it under standard usage. Still, more intensive workloads will likely impact the drive's performance, so consumers should use the motherboard's integrated M.2 heatsink or an aftermarket cooler with bare drive PCIe 5.0 SSDs. There's a reason why TeamGroup showed off an upcoming 360mm AIO liquid cooler with an M.2 module to liquid cool the T-Force Z54A.

TeamGroup didn't reveal the pricing or availability for the T-Force Z54A, but we'll likely learn more about the IG5666-powered PCIe 5.0 SSD at Computex 2023. Today's press release was probably just a tiny teaser to excite consumers for the upcoming show.

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • Elusive Ruse
    Why on earth would you call your AIO "Siren"? What's next? Iron Maiden gaming chair?
    Reply
  • Ivanpua
    Improve price/capacity. Speed is just fine!
    Reply
  • ThisIsMe
    Yeah, let me know when they have an 8+ TB SSD for less than $200 with at least decent pcie gen 3 speeds. Not buying another 1-2 TB drive just because it’s a little faster than what I have now. Maybe for new builds, but even then the price for such trivial real world performance gains is just silly.

    The upgrade market is saturated with similar SSDs. Making them a little faster while charging more, requiring gaudy heatsinks, and using more power is just not going to cut it. Marketing 101: if the customers say they want something sell them that. Don’t try to dazzle them with products you proclaim to be shiny when you’re forced to use smoke and mirrors to make it appear that way.
    Reply
  • Friesiansam
    Elusive Ruse said:
    What's next? Iron Maiden gaming chair?
    And why not? Just watch out for the spikes as you sit down...
    Reply