This bargain 1TB SSD is the perfect blend of size and performance, and is a steal at just $60

An image of the Team Group T-Force Cardea A440 SSD against a coloured background

(Image credit: Team Group)

You've possible never heard of the name Team Group before, but it's a company that's been producing and supplying DRAM modules and flash memory for the commercial and consumer PC industry since 1997. These days, it has a solid reputation and its SSDs are especially good.

This T-Force Cardea A440 model is a perfect example of that. On paper, you're not getting anything very special, compared to the competition, but the components are all top-notch. We were mighty impressed with the drive when we first tested the 2TB version, and our only issue was that it was a bit pricey back then. Fast forward a couple of years and the prices of flash memory and SSDs have shrunk dramatically.

Underneath that beefy heatsink are a collection of 96-layer TLC flash chips made by Micron, 2GB of SK Hynix DDR4-3200, and an E18 controller from Phison. Those are perfectly decent parts and although TLC (triple-level cell) isn't the fastest flash storage out there, it's more than good for most users' needs. To get anywhere near the A440's maximum performance, it will need to be installed in a PC that fully supports PCIe 4.0; it will still work in an older PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot, but the peak data speeds will be half as fast.

There are much faster 1TB SSDs on the market (check out the very best SSDs for gaming here), but they all cost more than the T-Force Cardea A440. Team Group's drive isn't just good value for money, it's just a good SSD full stop. If you're looking to replace a small, old M.2 drive or switch everything to NVMe, then I don't think you'll be disappointed in the least with this one.

Nick, gaming, and computers all first met in the early 1980s. After leaving university, he became a physics and IT teacher and started writing about tech in the late 1990s. That resulted in him working with MadOnion to write the help files for 3DMark and PCMark. After a short stint working at Beyond3D.com, Nick joined Futuremark (MadOnion rebranded) full-time, as editor-in-chief for its PC gaming section, YouGamers. After the site shutdown, he became an engineering and computing lecturer for many years, but missed the writing bug. Cue four years at TechSpot.com covering everything and anything to do with tech and PCs. He freely admits to being far too obsessed with GPUs and open-world grindy RPGs, but who isn't these days?