Compare TeamGroup Z540 1TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB: prices, speeds, $/TB. Which to buy in May 2026? Full spec breakdown.
Both the TeamGroup Z540 1TB and Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB sit in the Gen 5 category at 1 TB, so the matchup turns on controller efficiency, cache topology, and current pricing rather than raw class differences.
Hardware-wise, the TeamGroup Z540 1TB runs on the Phison E26 — the first widely-deployed Gen 5 controller, capable but thermally demanding. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB pairs the dual-mode Samsung Piccolo silicon that uniquely runs PCIe 5.0 x2 or PCIe 4.0 x4.
Price separates these two meaningfully. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB costs $129.00/TB versus $189.00/TB for the TeamGroup Z540 1TB — a 32% premium that needs justification in real benchmarks, not just spec-sheet bragging.
Read speeds favor the TeamGroup Z540 1TB: 12,400 MB/s versus 7,250 MB/s for the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB, a 42% advantage. Sequential-heavy workloads notice; transactional workloads don't.
The TeamGroup Z540 1TB writes about 47% faster (11,800 MB/s vs 6,300 MB/s). Whether that matters depends entirely on what you write to the drive — gameplay capture and large project saves benefit, browsing and gaming do not.
The TeamGroup Z540 1TB carries a dedicated DRAM chip for FTL (Flash Translation Layer) mapping; the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB relies on HMB (Host Memory Buffer), borrowing 64 MB from system RAM. The practical gap shows up only under sustained random write loads.
Heading to a PlayStation 5? Both drives drop into the console's M.2 bay and report identical real-world benchmarks since the PS5 caps storage at PCIe 4.0 speeds. The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB wins this matchup on $/TB. Heavy write workloads — video editing, RAW photo libraries, backup operations — favor the TeamGroup Z540 1TB's 11,800 MB/s sustained write speed. Both drives use the 2280 form factor, which is too long for Steam Deck or ROG Ally — you'd need a 2230 variant if either manufacturer offers one, or a dedicated handheld-format drive instead.
Pick the TeamGroup Z540 1TB if you value meaningfully faster reads (12,400 MB/s), higher sustained writes (11,800 MB/s), and a dedicated DRAM cache chip. The TeamGroup Z540 1TB wins on $/TB because it pairs DRAM-less MAP1602 silicon with low-margin distribution. Performance is fine for OS and gaming, weaker only on sustained random writes.
Pick the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB if you value the lower retail price ($129 vs $189), and better $/TB economics ($129.00/TB). Among Samsung's lineup, the 990 EVO Plus is the only consumer drive that physically supports dual-generation PCIe — same hardware, different bus speed depending on platform.