Back in 2023, T-Force by TeamGroup, introduced its first Gen5 SSD solution, the CARDEA Z540. Based on the Phison E26 controller, this SSD offered up to 12.4 GB/s speeds, making it a solid option back then. At the moment, there are plenty of Gen5 SSD controllers in the market, Phison has its new E28 and E31T, the SMI SM2508 is doing great, and InnoGrit along with Samsung has their own solutions offering really fast storage capabilities on NVMe products.

TeamGroup has also streamlined its product family over the years, now leveraging The G-series branding in "GE", "GC", "GA". The "GE" series offers up to 14 GB/s speeds, the "GA" series offers up to 12.5 GB/s speeds, and the "GA" series offers up to 10 GB/s speeds. There's also the "G" series SSDs but these are Gen4 based and offer up to 5 GB/s speeds. As these controllers and NAND Flash improves, the speeds for Gen5 SSDs will continue to be uplifted further, and T-Force has been upgrading their products with solid releases all year round.

For today's review, we will be taking a look at T-Force's GC PRO SSD. Our sample is a 2 TB model which retails for $179.99 US.

The T-Force GC PRO 2 TB Gen5 SSD is part of the high-end T-Force series, it sits right below the flagship "GE" series. The T-Force GC PRO Gen5 SSDs are based on the NVMe SSD form factor and feature the YMTC 232-Layer 3D TLC NAND flash which offers larger capacities of up to 4 TB. The T-Force GC series SSDs are based on the Innogrit IG5666 controller which is in use by some high-end Gen5 drives at the moment.

FEATURES

• Gen5 Is beyond Limits, Offering Next-gen Speed Performance
• Multi-core Solution for Performance Evolution
• Data Security Isolation Mechanism
• New Generation Error Correction Technology
• Patented graphene heatsink for enhanced heat dissipation and system operating stability
• S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring System
• Be Eco-friendly and Conserve the Earth
• Patented Graphene Heat Sink
• Invention patent number in the US: US11051392B2
• Innovation patent number in Taiwan: I703921
• Utility model patent number in China: CN 211019739 U
• Patented S.M.A.R.T. Software
• Innovation patent number in Taiwan: I751753

As for the specs, the T-Force GC PRO NVMe SSDs will come with the standard NVMe 2.0 PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface in the M.2 2280 form factor. It will feature 1 TB, 2 TB, and up to 4 TB capacities with a rated speed of up to 12.5 GB/s (Sequential Read) and 11.0 GB/s (Sequential Write). T-Force also ships the drivers with a Graphene pad which we have seen to offer up to 3-4C temperature reduction versus standard drivers that have stickers on top of the PCB. As for heatsink variants, T-Force doesn't offers them, but they do offer cooling solutions which we recently tested here , offering good value and performance.

Note - The 2 TB model that we tested had a peak sequential read speed of 12,500 & a write speed of 11,000 MB/s. The endurance was rated at 1200 TBW. The prices are as follows:

• GC PRO 1 TB - $85.99 US
• GC PRO 2 TB - $179.99 US
• GC PRO 4 TB - $336.99 US

The T-Force GC PRO SSD comes in a fairly standard and small package with a black and red color scheme. The labels do a great job at telling what SSD you are getting since the capacities, speeds, and warranty are clearly mentioned along with a picture of the device itself.

The T-Force "G" series SSD series box includes a warranty booklet, the Graphene heatpad, and the SSD itself. All drives are held within a plastic shell container.

Out of the package, all T-Force GC PRO series SSDs come in the standard M.2 2280 form factor and feature a black PCB which is great since some mainstream drives come with blue-colored PCBs.

The SSD doesn't feature any sticker, but the Graphene heatpad can easily be attached to it.

The T-Force GC PRO 2 TB features the InnoGrit IG5666 Gen5 SSD controller along with four YMTC 232-layer 3D TLC NAND Flash modules and two SK Hynix DDR4-3200 DRAM modules with 2 GB capacity. The bottom side of the PCB has a regular sticker.

Our test platform for this review consisted of an Intel Core i9-13900K processor which ran at stock clocks on the MSI Z790 ACE motherboard. The platform was coupled with 32 GB of DDR5 memory from G.Skill (Trident Z5/ 16 GB x 2) and the MSI MEG Ai1300P PSU. For graphics, I used the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X. This rounds up as a high-end platform for tests with modern-day SSDs. The MSI Z790 ACE specifically houses a single Gen 5.0 x4 NVMe slot that sources its lanes from the Raptor Lake CPU.

Wccftech SSD Test Setup For Gen5:

First up, we have the official performance stats for these drives as listed by their manufacturers. You can compare these stats with the rest of the drives I tested in the following chart:

AS SSD Benchmark download is a Windows 10 utility software program that tests the performance of solid-state drives. With its help, you can find out the speed of all installed SSDs and take care of any issues that the tests may reveal. The free app performs three separate tests to provide you with conclusive evidence of your driver's general behavior while it copies, reads, and writes data.  The app determines the access time of an SSD, along with its speed and performance capabilities

As the industry’s leading provider of high-performance storage & network connectivity products, ATTO has created a widely accepted Disk Benchmark freeware software to help measure storage system performance. As one of the top tools utilized in the industry, Disk Benchmark identifies performance in hard drives, solid-state drives, RAID arrays, as well as the host connection to attached storage. Top drive manufacturers, like Hitachi, build and test every drive using the ATTO Disk Benchmark.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturer's RAID controllers, storage controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), hard drives, and SSD drives, and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

CrystalDiskMark is a disk benchmark software. It measures sequential reads/writes speed, random 512KB, 4KB, 4KB (Queue Depth=32) reads/writes speed, selects test data (Random, 0Fill, 1Fill),

To test the maximum average transfer speeds of the drives, I used a 100 GB file to test the limits.

The PCMark 10 Storage benchmark is designed to test the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, and a selection of popular games. You can test the system drive or any other recognized storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 10 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices.

Team Group's T-Force SSDs have been outstanding throughout our reviews, and with the GC PRO, the manufacturer takes one step ahead by offering top-notch specifications, and performance, at an affordable price point that is around $100 US cheaper than most flagship 2 TB Gen5 drivers out in the market.

This is all thanks to the combination of Innogrit's IG5666 Gen5 controller and YMTC NAND Flash. If you want to go the more budget route, than the GA series still offers a lot of performance with 10 GB/s speeds while flagship capabilities are offered with the GE series and its 14 GB/s capability. That makes the "GC" PRO series a good middle ground offering.

In terms of pricing, the 2 TB GC PRO retails for $179.99 US, while the 1 TB variant retails for $85.99 US, making it a sub-$100 US offering. That's some solid value given most of the Gen5 offerings out in the market. The closest 2 TB option is the Crucial P510 which is around $210 US. That drive is also great but in terms of value, the GC PRO by Team Group sets a new benchmark of affordability in the Gen5 SSD segment.