Amazon is selling the 2TB version of the world’s fastest PCIe NVMe SSD (that's commercially available) for $212.99 after a 15% coupon applied to one item; this has to be one of the best Black Friday HDD and SSD deals around.
The Teamgroup Cardea T-Force Z540 (TM8FF1002T0C129) is a Gen5 model with a Phison E26 SSD controller that allows it to reach up to 12.4/11.8 GB/s on read/write speeds respectively. It also features a thin graphene heatsink to dissipate the heat generated. Teamgroup states that the drive comes with a 5-year warranty and includes what it calls an “exclusive patented intelligent monitoring software”.
TechRadar has not tested the Teamgroup Cardea Z540 but our sister publication Toms Hardware has, where the reviewer, Shane Downing, gave it a rare perfect 5/5 and an editor’s choice badge. He said that it “is the fastest SSD we’ve tested to date, reaching impressive numbers with few drawbacks. It needs a heatsink, and power consumption remains high, but it’s a consistent performer.”
You will, of course, need to have a compatible motherboard in order to make the most out of this speed, especially if you want to use it for creative tasks (photography, video editing etc). At its best, the drive should comfortably outperform Samsung’s best selling SSD, the 990 Pro, by as much as 66% on read and write speeds.
The Z540 is available in 1TB and 2TB models (the smaller model being slightly slower than the bigger one). If you fancy a more capacious Gen5 SSD or want one with a bundled heatsink, then the Crucial T700 is your perfect choice; the 4TB version with a heatsink costs $400, down 37% for Black Friday. That’s even cheaper than the model without heatsink. Go figure.
