Introduction

Team Group is a well-known Taiwanese memory and flash storage maker with a long history of catering to the needs of users from all over the globe. Today, we have for review the Team Group MP32 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD in the 512 GB version.

The drive uses the compact M.2 form factor with a PCI-Express x2 connection to the rest of the system. This is in contrast to the majority of M.2 NVMe drives which use a x4 connection for twice the theoretical throughput. As we'll see later in our testing, this only matters for write speeds. Another cost-optimization is the lack of a dedicated DRAM chip. On SSDs, the DRAM chip typically stores the mapping tables for the SSD to know where its data is located. Of course, the cost saving comes with a performance hit, but pricing matters a lot in this market segment.

The MP32 is available in capacities of 128 GB ($50), 256 GB ($70), 512 GB ($120), and 1 TB ($260). It is powered by a Phison E8 controller and uses Toshiba TLC flash chips. Endurance is rated at 100 TB, 200 TB, 400 TB, and 800 TB respectively.

Packaging and Contents

The Drive

The drive uses the M.2 2280 form factor, which means it is 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.


Instead of PCIe x4 3.0, Team Group has opted for a narrower x2 interface, which has a theoretical transfer rate limit of 2 GB/s.


You will find the SSD controller and four flash chips on the PCB. The other side of the PCB is empty.


The Phison PS5008-E8 is a 4-channel SSD controller with support for TLC flash. It is designed to optimize price/performance, which is why the interface is limited to two PCIe lanes. It is produced using a 40 nm production process at UMC Taiwan.


The four TLC flash chips are made by Toshiba, using their 64-layer 15 nanometer 3D NAND production process.

DRAM-Less SSD Technology

The Team Group MP32 has no DRAM chip on the PCB, which helps optimize cost even beyond what is possible with TLC because a significant portion of the BOM cost comes from the DRAM memory, in the order of about $8 per GB of DRAM.