Introduction
TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan 1000GB SATA3 TLC SSD
TeamGroup puts out a new series Vulcan SDDs. Yes, back to SATA3 (but really there's nothing wrong with that). Available in volume sized up-to 1TB we check out the new T-Force Vulcan 1TB SSD.
NAND flash memory (the storage memory used inside an SSD) has become cheaper thanks to the new 64/96-layer fabrication and this year we already heard about 128-layer NAND nodes as well as QLC NAND. Next, to that we see incredibly fast PCIe 4.0 performing NVMe SSDs as well ass many other developments in the NAND flash storage industry. Today we go back to a regular SD series, based on SATA3. The TeamGroup SSD series is a new TLC written SSD. MLC writes 2 bits per cell, TLC 3 bits per cell and QLC four bits per cell. You can see both the complication and advantage here, you can store more data in the NAND cells, increasing volume sizes. But you can also see a performance hit with an increasing write bottleneck (which you can buffer with SLC cached, DRAM or Host Memory Buffer on NVMe). Endurance is also a factor, there should be less of it however with modern age wear and care technologies it still is not an issue. We'll talk a bit more about that on the next page though.
It's safe to say, therefore, that I don't expect the product I have here today to be setting any speed records. In terms of raw specifications, the Vulcan will not rock anybody's world. The use of NAND memory, to be specific, is 64 layer 3D TLC NAND, and the controller is the now equally ubiquitous Silicon Motion SM2258. As I said, this will not set the world on fire. However, we can be sure of (at least) competitive performance with the vast majority of other consumers SSDs out there that use a similar setup. Team Group claims 560MB/s read and 500MB/s write, which is entirely in line with what I'd expect. Proper volume SSDs at acceptable prices with good performance and low access times. Not one test system in my lab has an HDD anymore, everything runs on some form of NAND storage, while I receive and retrieve my bigger chunks of data from a NAS server here in the office. The benefits are performance, speed, low power consumption, no noise, and good reliability.
Available in capacities of 250 GB, 500 GB, and 1TB, these drives are fitted with vertically stacked NAND from (we assume) Micron (also referred to as 3D NAND). It is paired towards a Silicon Motion SM2258 controller. TeamGroup guarantees this SSD for 3 years under warranty. Have a peek and then let's head onwards into the review.
