Introduction
We’ve got another TEAMGROUP SSD review for you today, this past summer we reviewed the brand-new T-Force Vulcan 500GB 2.5 SATA SSD. That was our first look at a TEAMGROUP SSD. We really liked that SSD; it Is geared toward the gamer who wants the fastest read speeds from a SATA 2.5” SSD. It has a really classy look to it, one of the best looking 2.5” SSDs we’ve ever encountered actually. Make sure to check out the review.
Now it is time to scale it up, as we take a look at another TEAMGROUP SSD, but this time in the M.2 format running the NVMe protocol and supporting PCI-Express 3.0 x4 transfer speeds. We are going to review the TEAMGROUP MP34 M.2 PCIe SSD in the 512GB variant (P/N TM8FP4512G0C101) Model TM8FP4512G.
But wait, this SSD was released in earlier 2019 you say, well yes, but now it has updated components that make it much more competitive! It also has a new longer warranty now, instead of 3 years it is now a 5-year warranty! With a new controller and DDR4 onboard, it is poised to take the MP34 performance higher and better than ever and compete with today’s PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs on the market.
While the list price for this SSD is $79.99, it’s actually on sale discounted at Amazon right now for an appealing price of $62.99. At this price, the MP34 is only $10 more than the 500GB T-Force Vulcan SATA SSD above, which is a great value. Let’s see how this updated SSD performs.
TEAMGROUP MP34 M.2 PCIe SSD
If you navigate to TEAMGROUPs M.2 SSD category, you will find its M.2 solid state drive line of SSDs. These SSDs are geared to be ultra-thin designs while providing stable and fast transmission speeds and high-speed performance. This means they can be installed in any PC and don’t require massive heatsinks that take up space. They are very thin and easy to install, yet retain performance. These SSDs are not to be confused with TEAMGROUP’s T-Force Gaming line of SSDs which offer more robust offerings and features with larger thick heatsinks and higher performance, and PCIe 4.0. These are basically two different classes, and naturally pricing differences.
You will find that TEAMGROUP has other models here in the MP33 (standard and Pro version), MS30 SATA, and an M.2 Lite SATA SSD. The MP34 is actually the fastest SSD out of the bunch with the highest potential read and write speeds. It is offered in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. However, if you need over that capacity the MP33 PRO offers a 2TB model, but its performance is lower than the MP34.
Speed Ratings
We are therefore reviewing the faster model today, with the MP34. However, even within that performance will be different based on the capacity of the MP34 SSD. For example, the 256MB variant of the MP34 has a max rated read speed of 2700 MB/s and a write speed of 850 MB/s. The 512GB MP34 has a max rated read speed of 3000 MB/s and a write speed of 1700 MB/s. Finally, the 1TB MP34 has a max rated read speed of 3000 MB/s and a write speed of 2600 MB/s.
Therefore, the 1TB is fastest on write speed, and the 1TB and 512GB share the max rated read speed. The 256MB variant is the slowest on read and write. Note that these numbers are reported from Crystal Disk Mark from TEAMGROUP. Other benchmark applications may yield different results. This information is what is reported right on the back of the box for the MP34 SSD.
Here are the basic specifications. This is an M.2 SSD supporting the NVMe 1.3 protocol. It runs at PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. It is an M.2 2280 SSD and fits in that size slot. This SSD uses a new generation of 3D flash memory. It operates at a DC voltage of +3.3V and 2.5A and temps from 0c up to 67c. It measures 80mm in length, 22mm in width, and 3.8mm in height. It has a 5-year product warranty and free technical support service. Terabytes Written are 256GB model >380TB, 512GB model >800TB, and 1TB model >1,660TB. It has an MTBF of 1,800,000 hours.
New Components and Pictures
The MP34 has a blue PCB, which makes it unique and it’s a nice shade of blue as well, not too gaudy. The PCB on ours is stamped APK7566A1VB00A REV. A. The front has the sticker on it as usual, and the back has two of the flash modules on it on this 512GB version. The flash modules are 128GB apiece and TEAMGROUP branded.
There’s something interesting about this MP34, it’s been updated from the original. The new MP34’s shipping now have a new controller onboard compared to the original release of these SSDs a year ago in 2019. It also seems to now be using DDR4 DRAM onboard instead of the older DDR3L DRAM when these were originally reviewed in 2019.
If you read some older reviews [here] [here] and [here] from 2019, you will note that the MP34 had a Phison PS5012-E12 controller on the original revision as well as NANYA DDR3L DRAM. Well, that has been changed. New shipping MP34’s now have a Silicon Motion controller onboard today. Not only that but the DDR3L DRAM has been upgraded to newer Samsung DDR4 modules. In addition, the 3D flash has been upgraded from Toshiba BiCS3 to TEAMGROUP branded 64-layer 3D NAND flash memory modules.
Our 512GB MP34 SSD is using a Silicon Motion SM2262ENG controller versus the Phison E12 controller. What this means is that older reviews are no longer up-to-date, this controller should perform differently allowing the SSD to achieve performance in certain situations that exceed the older models. The Silicon Motion SM2262ENG controller utilizes a Dual ARM Cortex CPU and is an 8-channel PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 1.3 controller. It supports 8 gigabit-per-second lanes of simultaneous data flow coupled with 8 NAND channels. It supports DRAM and SRAM ECC. The theoretical maximum potential of the controller itself is 3500 MB/s sequential read and 3000 MB/s sequential write. It supports DDR3, DDR3L, LPDDR3, and DDR4. It also supports AES encryption and TCG protocol.
The TEAMGROUP MP34 does have DRAM onboard for caching, so it is high-performance and mitigates the issues with TLC based flash. Our MP34 512GB SSD seems to be using Samsung DDR4 DRAM K4A8G165WB-BCRC (B-die), which is a big upgrade from the NANYA DDR3L DRAM used prior. This memory runs at 2400Mbps which is faster than the previous NANYA DDR3L at 1866Mbps and runs at a lower voltage and temp domain compared to the NANYA DDR3L. Our SSD should run cooler and faster than previous reviews.