To take M.2 SSD drives to new heights, memory maker Teamgroup is attaching an all-in-one liquid cooler to one of its potential products.
The T-Force Cardea Liquid II, unveiled during a Thursday livestream event, uses a “looped water cooler” similar to the AIO coolers for desktop CPU processors.
“PCIe interfaces have been developing rapidly, resulting in faster speeds, but also more intense heating problems,” the company said in introducing the concept device, which was originally teased earlier this month.
Indeed, many current PCIe Gen 4 M.2 drives feature read/write speeds that max out at 7,000MB/s. However, the T-Force Cardea Liquid II looks poised to break the barrier, although Teamgroup didn’t offer any specs. “We strived for a low working noise, highly efficient liquid exchanges, and smaller in size,” it said.
Still, the obvious drawback to the cooling system is its ridiculous size, making it more difficult to install. But for now, Teamgroup isn’t ready to launch the component quite yet. The company says the SSD drive is still in the R&D stages, and it's looking for feedback from the public.
T-Force Cardea Aluminum A440 Pro
If that product is a little too overboard, Teamgroup also introduced another fast PCIe Gen 4.0 NVME SSD drive that nixes the water cooling.
The T-Force Cardea Aluminum A440 Pro instead relies on a sizable built-in heatsink to keep the storage drive cool. The same heatsink has been designed to facilitate more airflow through the aluminum fin channels, depicted below.
As a result, the product promises to reach read speeds of up to 7,400MB/s and write speeds at 7,000MB/s, despite the generated heat. Expect the device to reduce temperatures to 52.6 degrees Celsius. But there’s no word on when the product will launch.
During the livestream, Teamgroup also discussed a more conventional-looking NVME SSD drive that uses a smaller ceramic heatsink to keep the component cool. However, the T-Force Cardea Ceramic C440 can only reach read/write speeds of 5,000/4,400MB/s. It’ll come in 1TB and 2TB storage capacities and is already available for sale, starting at $139.
