Conclusion
In this review, we took a look at the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB Graphene Heatsink SSD. This is a PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe 1.4 SSD based on the Phison E18 controller and Micron 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash with a 2GB DRAM cache onboard. It has a rated read speed of 7,400MB/s and a write speed of 7,000MB/s with an endurance of 1400TBW. 
This new A440 PRO model upgrades the TLC NAND flash over the previous A440 model, and also offers two cooling options with either a graphene heatsink (heat spreader) or an integrated aluminum heatsink, expanding its flexibility for installation into desktop, laptop, or the PS5. TEAMGROUP also offers the CARDEA A440 PRO in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB and even 8TB capacities for incredible storage space.
Cooling
In the above temperature graph, you can see the temperature difference between just having the graphene heat spreader installed alone (bottom) and then with the motherboard’s M.2 heatsink applied on top of it (top). With only the graphene heat spreader installed on the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD, the temperature can get up to 79c, possibly even hotter in confined or smaller spaces like a laptop. This can cause thermal throttling in the most severe cases. The graphene heat spreader is helping, it would be hotter without it, but it’s nowhere near as good as a physical aluminum heatsink.
The best combo is to install your motherboard’s M.2 heatsink along with the graphene heat spreader, this brought our temps down to 61c and made it the coolest SSD on this graph. The temperature reduction is quite large and very noticeable. This means that you will simply not run into thermal throttling issues on a desktop PC. 
If you are installing the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD into a desktop PC, then we recommend also utilizing your motherboard’s M.2 heatsink with the graphene heat spreader, or getting the one with the integrated aluminum heatsink. If you do not have a motherboard M.2 heatsink, or you are installing it into a laptop where there is no space, then you can use just the graphene heat spreader in these cases. It is better than having nothing to cool the SSD with. 
SSD S.M.A.R.T. TOOL
TEAMGROUP offers its SSD S.M.A.R.T. TOOL software to manage the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD. From the interface, you can view SSD information such as firmware version, transfer mode, capacity, health status, temperature, and S.M.A.R.T. status. There is also a built-in benchmark to make sure your drive is performing as it should, with a quick test and longer test of performance. We are glad to see the software shows drive health and temperatures, but it does seem to lack a way to check for firmware updates or install new firmware, and there is a lack of a secure erase or secure wipe feature.  
Final Points
The TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD had some interesting results. At first, it seemed as if this particular SSD was falling behind in performance, with lower scores than the comparisons in PCMark 10. However, that seems to be due to a lower access time, and sequential speeds that seem to fall slightly under compared to other SSDs of the same generation. However, where the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD makes up for that is in its random read and write performance.
Specifically its random write performance where it seems to perform very strongly. We saw this replicated in PassMark, as well as CrystalDiskMark. We also experienced solid file copy performance across the SSD, as well as game load times that were excellent. It was about middle ground in workstation application performance. Overall, performance is strong in some areas, and a bit weaker in others, but on the whole, it’s an SSD that will get the job done very well. If your main drive is gaming, the TTEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD is a great SSD for a gaming build with solid endurance ratings. 
If you are space-limited, the Graphene Heatsink option is a good fit, but do expect potential throttling in stressful use. If you are on a desktop, go ahead and install your motherboard M.2 heatsink, or better yet just get the aluminum heatsink version of this SSD and be done with it. Overall, the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO 2TB SSD can be worth it, for the right use cases. Whether you need fast performance in space-constrained scenarios, or you can spare a little room, TEAMGROUP gives you both options with its cooling solutions. You can also get this drive in up to an 8TB capacity, which really gives you a lot of options for storage at a very fast speed, in a slim form factor with the graphene heatsink.
