Conclusion
.. Focussing on larger 1TB and 2TB capacities, entry into this realm of fast, spacious storage begins at £200.A few storage vendors have been eager to jump on the PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 bandwagon that's a perfect fit for a performance AMD build in 2020. The likes of Corsair, Aorus, Sabrent, ADATA, and TeamGroup use the Phison E16 controller allied to, usually, 96-layer NAND from Kioxia
TeamGroup's T-Force Cardea Zero Z440 is no different in this regard. Focussing on larger 1TB and 2TB capacities, entry into this realm of fast, spacious storage begins at £200. That outlay brings with it a drive that's great in sequential transfers and solid elsewhere, and there's little debate that going down this hardware route offers top-notch performance.
Yet compared to other PCIe 4.0 x4 drives using ostensibly the same hardware, the Cardea Zero Z440 is a bit slower in the intensive SPEC test, has perfunctory application support, comes in at a higher price than, say, the Sabrent or Corsair, and is available in fewer online stores. It's not a bad drive per se, yet it fails the match the overall proposition from its immediate competitors.
Bottom line: a fast 1TB drive built on proven Phison E16 and Kioxia technology, it needs to be closer to £150 for it to stand out amongst similar drives that offer that bit extra.
The Good The Bad Great sequential numbers
Five-year warranty Basic application support
Feels expensive
Not available in many stores
HEXUS.where2buy*
TBC.
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