TeamGroup has announced the T-Force Z54A PCIe 5.0 SSD. This definitely puts even the best of his SSD to shame. With sequential read and write speeds of up to 14.2 GB/s and 11.5 GB/s respectively, the T-Force Z54A will be the fastest consumer PCIe 5.0 SSD to hit the retail market.
Unlike other PCIe 5.0 drives that employ the Phison PS5026-E26 controller, the T-Force Z54A utilizes a competing solution, InnoGrit’s IG5666 controller. Adata’s Project Nighthawk SSD and Project Blackbird SSD utilize the same controller, but TeamGroup is the first vendor to announce a finished product. There is also his third player. Silicon Motion has SM2508 and SM2504XT controllers to power upcoming PCIe 5.0 SSDs. However, the release will be delayed as it is scheduled for a Q4 release.
Judging by the performance numbers provided by TeamGroup, the Innogrit IG5666 controller offers better performance than the Phison PS5026-E26 controller. The screenshot shows that the T-Force Z54A achieves sequential read speeds up to 14,365 MB/s and write speeds up to 11,547 MB/s. That beats the fastest his E26-powered drive, the Crucial T700, with 12.4 GB/s sequential write and 11.8 GB/s sequential read.
The E26 controller reaches speeds of up to 14 GB/s when paired with NAND running at 2,400 MT/s. Unfortunately, so far, no consumer PCIe 5.0 SSDs have been confirmed to feature that bin. Even Micron subsidiary Crucial can only pack 2,200 MT/s NAND in the T700, limiting the SSD from reaching his E26 controller’s full potential. Our sources say that the IG5666 controller will outperform his E26 controller, even if the latter is attached to his 2,400 MT/s NAND.
There is virtually no public information about the Innogrit IG5666 controller. However, TeamGroup’s press release confirms that the IG5666 controller is part of his 12nm process node and supports 2,400 MT/s NAND similar to his competing E26 controller. Additionally, the controller appears to have proprietary code modification techniques to extend decoder life for NAND and low power modes. TeamGroup has not revealed whether the T-Force Z54A will have 2,400 MT/s NAND.
A production render of the T-Force Z54A shows a bare drive without any bulky heatsinks or coolers. However, as with any PCIe 5.0 SSD, running the drive without a heatsink may thermally throttle the drive, although standard usage may avoid the issue. Still, more intensive workloads are likely to impact the drive’s performance, so consumers will opt for aftermarket coolers with motherboard-integrated M.2 heatsinks, or bare-drive PCIe 5.0 SSDs. is needed. There’s a reason TeamGroup showed off his upcoming 360mm AIO liquid cooler with his M.2 module liquid cooling his T-Force Z54A.
TeamGroup didn’t reveal pricing or availability of 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 small teaser to get consumers excited about the upcoming product. show.
