# Team Group P30 480GB — Budget PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD (2026)

The Team Group P30 480GB is a no-frills PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD aimed at budget builders and older system upgrades, where its 2,500 MB/s reads deliver a meaningful leap over SATA without the cost of PCIe 4.0 hardware.

Quick answer: The Team Group P30 480 GB fills a narrow role: a budget NVMe drive for PCIe 3.0 systems that delivers the fundamental speed jump from SATA without asking the buyer to pay for PCIe 4.0 hardware they cannot use. It is best suited for breathing new life into an older desktop or laptop, serving as a secondary game drive, or acting as the system disk in a cost-optimized build. Skip it if you need documented endurance ratings, confirmed NAND type, or long-term warranty coverage — the WD Blue SN550 and Kingston A2000 offer more transparency and a 5-year warranty at a comparable price. The P30's sparse official documentation is its main weakness; buyers who value knowing exactly what hardware sits inside their drive will find the information vacuum frustrating. For the buyer who just wants an NVMe drive that works and costs as little as possible, the P30 delivers the required baseline performance with the minimum necessary feature set.

## Specifications

| Specification | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Capacity | 480 GB |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x 4 |
| Controller | Silicon Motion SM2263XT |
| Memory type | 3D TLC |
| DRAM cache | HMB |
| Sequential read | 2500 MB/s |
| Sequential write | 1350 MB/s |
| Random read IOPS | 180000 |
| Random write IOPS | 140000 |
| Endurance | 1660 TBW |
| MTBF | 2 |
| Warranty | 3 years |

## Performance

Team Group rates the 480 GB P30 at up to 2,500 MB/s sequential reads and 1,350 MB/s sequential writes on the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. These are modest numbers by PCIe 3.0 standards — drives like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus push past 3,500 MB/s on the same interface — but they represent a four- to five-fold improvement over SATA III's 560 MB/s ceiling and are more than sufficient for general desktop responsiveness, application launches, and moderate file transfers.

The 480 GB capacity provides enough NAND dies to keep the controller fed at the rated sequential numbers for typical consumer workloads. Sustained write performance past the drive's SLC cache — the size of which Team Group does not publish — will settle at native NAND speeds, but for the boot-drive and general-application workloads the P30 is designed for, the cache is unlikely to be a limiting factor in day-to-day use. Users who need consistent high-throughput writes for video editing or large data ingest should look higher in Team Group's product stack, such as the MP33 or MP34 series.

For its target audience — users upgrading from SATA or HDD storage in PCIe 3.0 systems — the P30 clears the bar for what makes an NVMe upgrade worthwhile. Boot times, application launches, and file operations all benefit from the lower latency and higher throughput of NVMe, and the P30 delivers that baseline improvement without the premium attached to higher-spec drives.

## Endurance, TBW & Warranty

Team Group backs the P30 with a 3-year limited warranty, which is standard for entry-level SSDs but shorter than the 5-year coverage offered by mid-range and premium products. The endurance figure listed in third-party databases is 1,660 TBW for the 480 GB model — a number that, if accurate, would represent enterprise-class endurance and is likely a data-entry artefact at the source level. Typical endurance for a 480 GB-class consumer SSD in this price tier would be 150 to 300 TBW. Given the absence of corroborating documentation from Team Group, this endurance figure should be treated as unverified. The MTBF is rated at 2 million hours, a population-level statistic that reflects expected reliability under normal operating conditions rather than a guarantee for individual units. Warranty claims are handled through Team Group's standard RMA process; buyers should retain proof of purchase, as the 3-year window is tied to the original sale date.

## Pros and Cons

**Pros:**

- 2,500 MB/s reads, a clear upgrade from SATA III
- Single-sided M.2 2280 PCB fits in thin laptops
- 480 GB capacity suitable for OS plus moderate storage
- 3-year warranty with standard RMA process
- PCIe 3.0 x4 interface with wide motherboard compatibility
**Cons:**

- NAND type not publicly documented by manufacturer
- Controller and DRAM configuration not disclosed
- Endurance rating unverified and potentially incorrect
- Write speed modest at 1,350 MB/s for PCIe 3.0
- Sparse official documentation versus competing drives


## Verdict

The Team Group P30 480 GB fills a narrow role: a budget NVMe drive for PCIe 3.0 systems that delivers the fundamental speed jump from SATA without asking the buyer to pay for PCIe 4.0 hardware they cannot use. It is best suited for breathing new life into an older desktop or laptop, serving as a secondary game drive, or acting as the system disk in a cost-optimized build. Skip it if you need documented endurance ratings, confirmed NAND type, or long-term warranty coverage — the WD Blue SN550 and Kingston A2000 offer more transparency and a 5-year warranty at a comparable price. The P30's sparse official documentation is its main weakness; buyers who value knowing exactly what hardware sits inside their drive will find the information vacuum frustrating. For the buyer who just wants an NVMe drive that works and costs as little as possible, the P30 delivers the required baseline performance with the minimum necessary feature set.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Is the Team Group P30 480GB good for gaming?

The P30 480 GB is adequate for gaming, though it is not a performance-oriented drive. Its 2,500 MB/s sequential reads deliver game load times noticeably better than a SATA SSD and close to higher-spec PCIe 3.0 drives in most titles — the gap between 2,500 MB/s and 3,500 MB/s is rarely visible in real-world game loading. The 480 GB capacity provides room for the operating system and a moderate game library of four to six AAA titles. For a dedicated gaming drive, a 1 TB or larger SSD is preferable, but the P30 480 GB works as a system-plus-games disk in a budget gaming PC. The main concern is the undocumented endurance, which matters for a drive that will see frequent large game writes during installs and updates.

### Is the Team Group P30 compatible with the PS5?

No, the Team Group P30 does not meet Sony's PS5 expansion slot requirements. The PS5 requires a PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe drive with at least 5,500 MB/s sequential reads and a minimum capacity of 250 GB, while the P30 is a PCIe 3.0 drive rated at 2,500 MB/s. Even though the M.2 2280 form factor is physically compatible with the PS5 expansion bay, the interface generation mismatch means the console will reject the drive. Buyers looking for a PS5-compatible SSD should consider PCIe 4.0 options like the WD Black SN770 or Samsung 980 PRO.

### Does the Team Group P30 have a DRAM cache?

Team Group does not explicitly document whether the P30 includes a dedicated DRAM chip or relies on HMB (Host Memory Buffer). Given the drive's performance envelope — 2,500 MB/s reads and 180,000 IOPS random read — and its budget positioning, it most likely uses an HMB-based, DRAM-less controller architecture. HMB is sufficient for consumer boot-drive workloads and reduces bill-of-materials cost, though it adds microseconds of latency versus a dedicated DRAM cache under heavy multitasking. Without a teardown confirmation or manufacturer disclosure, the exact DRAM configuration should be considered unconfirmed.

### What is the endurance and warranty of the Team Group P30 480GB?

The P30 carries a 3-year limited warranty from Team Group. The endurance figure listed in third-party databases is 1,660 TBW for the 480 GB model — a number that, if correct, would represent enterprise-class endurance and is likely a data-entry artefact at the source level. More typical endurance for a 480 GB-class consumer SSD in this price tier would be 150 to 300 TBW. Without corroborating documentation from Team Group, the 1,660 TBW figure should not be relied upon for purchase decisions. Buyers who require a verified endurance rating should choose a drive with published specifications from the manufacturer, such as the WD Blue SN550 (300 TBW for 500 GB) or Crucial P2.

### Does the Team Group P30 need a heatsink?

No, the Team Group P30 does not require a dedicated heatsink under normal use. As a PCIe 3.0 drive with modest power consumption, it generates less heat than PCIe 4.0 or high-performance drives. Most desktop motherboards include an M.2 heat spreader or thermal pad that provides more than sufficient cooling for this class of SSD. In a laptop, the P30's thermal output is low enough that throttling is unlikely during typical consumer workloads. The drive does not ship with a heatsink, which is standard for entry-level M.2 SSDs.

### How does the Team Group P30 compare to the WD Blue SN550?

The WD Blue SN550 is a better-documented PCIe 3.0 NVMe drive that competes directly with the P30. The SN550 uses SanDisk and Kioxia TLC NAND with a DRAM-less controller, published endurance of 300 TBW for the 500 GB model, and a 5-year warranty — all significant advantages over the P30's 3-year warranty and unverified endurance. Sequential speeds are comparable at 2,400 MB/s reads and 1,750 MB/s writes on the SN550, giving it a modest write speed edge. For most buyers, the SN550's documented specifications, longer warranty, and WD's established support network make it the safer choice unless the P30 is available at a meaningfully lower price.

### Is the Team Group P30 480GB enough for Windows 11?

Yes, 480 GB is sufficient for a Windows 11 installation with room for essential applications and user data. Windows 11 requires 64 GB minimum, and the P30 provides roughly 447 GB of formatted capacity, leaving approximately 380 GB for applications, files, and system updates after the operating system footprint. This is comfortable for general productivity use — office suites, browsers, media players — and can accommodate a small game library. Users with large media collections, multiple virtual machines, or extensive development toolchains should consider a 1 TB or larger drive for additional headroom.

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Last updated: 2026-05-23. Source: https://ssdrive.net/team-group-p30-480-gb