Team Group Cardea Ceramic A440 2TB SSD — In-Depth Review & Specs
The Team Group Cardea Ceramic A440 2TB is the high-capacity flagship of Team Group's second-generation PCIe 4.0 lineup. Built on the Phison PS5018-E18 controller — a 12nm, 8-channel design — and paired with Micron's cutting-edge 176-layer TLC NAND and 2 GB of SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM, the 2TB A440 delivers 7,000 MB/s sequential reads, 6,900 MB/s writes, and an impressive 1,400 TBW endurance rating. It is a genuine all-in-one storage solution: fast enough for 4K video editing, spacious enough for a full game library, and durable enough to outlast any consumer PC build.
The Phison PS5018-E18 represents the pinnacle of consumer PCIe 4.0 SSD controllers. Fabricated on TSMC's 12nm process, it uses an 8-channel architecture with support for up to 1,200 MT/s NAND interface speeds, pushing sequential throughput to roughly 7,400/7,000 MB/s at the controller level. Team Group pairs this silicon with Micron's B47R 176-layer replacement-gate TLC NAND — one of the fastest and most power-efficient 3D NAND generations available — and a generous 2 GB of SK Hynix DDR4 DRAM for the flash translation layer mapping table.
The 2TB capacity is where the Phison E18 platform truly stretches its legs. With all eight NAND channels fully populated with the maximum number of dies, the 2TB A440 maintains peak write speeds longer than its 1TB sibling and features a deeper SLC write cache, making it ideal for content creators who regularly move large media files. The drive is a single-sided M.2 2280 card despite the 2 TB capacity, thanks to Micron's high-density 176L NAND packaging — a welcome feature for laptop users who cannot accommodate double-sided drives.
Team Group ships the A440 with a choice of thermal solutions: an aluminum heat spreader or a copper-graphene hybrid sticker. The white PCB with blue ceramic-themed accents gives the drive a distinctive look that stands out in a market dominated by black PCBs. The 2TB model carries a 1,400 TBW endurance rating — double the 700 TBW of the 1TB version — equivalent to writing roughly 767 GB per day for five years, a figure that will outlast any realistic consumer workload.
✅ Storage Comparisons:
🚀 Performance and benchmarks
In sequential benchmarks, the 2TB A440 delivers the expected E18 numbers: 7,000 MB/s read and 6,900 MB/s write in CrystalDiskMark. Real-world large-file copies on a PCIe 4.0 platform land around 6,500–6,700 MB/s read and 6,300–6,500 MB/s write — essentially as fast as the Gen4 interface allows. The 2TB model's advantage over the 1TB version is most apparent in sustained write throughput: the SLC cache extends to roughly 400–500 GB before writes drop to native TLC mode, and even then post-cache speeds of 1,500–1,700 MB/s are faster than most Gen3 drives at their peak.
Team Group Cardea Ceramic A440 2 TB vs M.2 4.0 x 4 peers
Switch between sequential throughput and random IOPS to see how this drive stacks up against other M.2 4.0 x 4 SSDs in our database. The highlighted bar is the drive on this page — click any other bar to open that drive.
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 1 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,650 MB/s write
- PNY XLR8 CS3140 2 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 6,850 MB/s write
- Asgard AN4 512 GB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,500 MB/s write
- Asgard AN4 1 TB: 7,500 MB/s read, 5,500 MB/s write
- Team Group Cardea Ceramic A440 2 TB (this drive): 7,000 MB/s read, 6,900 MB/s write
Random performance hits approximately 1,000,000 IOPS read and write, placing the A440 2TB in the top tier of Gen4 SSDs. In PCMark 10 and SPEC workstation storage benchmarks, it trades the top spot with the Samsung 980 PRO, WD Black SN850, and Seagate FireCuda 530 depending on the specific workload trace. For gaming, the drive is indistinguishable from any other high-end NVMe SSD — game load times are dominated by CPU and engine decompression, not storage bandwidth. The 12nm E18 controller is notably power-efficient for its performance class, peaking at around 8 W under full load and idling below 1 W. Thermal performance with the aluminum heat spreader keeps the controller in the 60–65°C range under sustained writes, well clear of throttling territory.
🖥️ Endurance and warranty
Team Group provides a 5-year limited warranty on the Cardea A440 2TB, subject to the 1,400 TBW endurance limit. Warranty service is handled through Team Group's regional centers in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Register the drive online after purchase to facilitate any future RMA process.
📊 Specs
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Capacity [?] | 2 TB |
| Interface [?] | M.2 4.0 x 4 |
| Controller [?] | Phison PS5018-E18 |
| Memory type [?] | Micron 176L TLC |
| DRAM [?] | SK Hynix 2GB DDR4 |
| Read speed (MB/s) [?] | 7000 |
| Write speed (MB/s) [?] | 6900 |
| Read IOPS [?] | 650000 |
| Write IOPS [?] | 700000 |
| Endurance (TBW) [?] | 1400 |
| MTBF (million hours) [?] | 3 |
| Warranty (years) [?] | 5 |
Conclusion
The Team Group Cardea Ceramic A440 2TB is a complete package: Gen4-maxing sequential performance, best-in-class post-cache write speeds courtesy of Micron's 176L TLC, a generous 1,400 TBW endurance rating, and a distinctive white aesthetic — all backed by a 5-year global warranty. It competes directly with the Samsung 980 PRO 2TB, WD Black SN850 2TB, and Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB, and it undercuts most of them on price while delivering equivalent real-world performance. If you need a single 2TB drive that can handle everything from OS boot to 4K video scrubbing to a massive Steam library without compromise, the A440 is one of the best-value options in the high-end Gen4 segment.
+ Pros
- 7,000/6,900 MB/s — near the Gen4 interface ceiling
- Micron 176L TLC delivers exceptional post-cache write speeds
- 1,400 TBW endurance — twice the 1TB rating
- Single-sided 2TB design fits thin laptops
- 12nm E18 controller runs cool and power-efficient
- Cons
- No hardware encryption
- White PCB may not match all system builds
- Slightly behind Samsung 980 PRO in random read latency
- Included heatsink may not fit all M.2 slot layouts
- Not the cheapest E18 2TB option on the market
🛒 Buy this or similar SSD Storage:
✨ Video Review
TEAMGROUP T-FORCE CARDEA Ceramic C440 M.2 SSD Review
