Compare TeamGroup Z540 1TB and Samsung 990 PRO 1TB: prices, speeds, $/TB. Which to buy in September 2026? Full spec breakdown.
TeamGroup Z540 1TB vs Samsung 990 PRO 1TB pits two different generations against each other at 1 TB. The question isn't which is faster on paper — that's settled — it's whether the bandwidth gap shows up in your specific workload.
Hardware-wise, the TeamGroup Z540 1TB runs on Phison's E26 silicon, which kicked off the consumer Gen 5 era and typically requires a heatsink. The Samsung 990 PRO 1TB pairs Samsung's 8nm Pascal controller, the silicon powering the 990 PRO line.
On sequential reads the TeamGroup Z540 1TB pulls ahead by 4,950 MB/s (12,400 MB/s versus 7,450 MB/s). That matters for moving large files but rarely shows up in game loads.
Write speeds skew toward the TeamGroup Z540 1TB: 11,800 MB/s sustained against 6,900 MB/s. Content creators feel this; gamers do not.
PS5 owners get no measurable benefit from either drive's peak speed because Sony's internal NVMe controller throttles to ~5,500 MB/s; treat TeamGroup Z540 1TB and Samsung 990 PRO 1TB as interchangeable here and let price decide. The leap from Gen 4 to Gen 5 doubles peak throughput on paper but produces single-digit-percent improvements in game load times, OS boot, and most productivity benchmarks. The Samsung 990 PRO 1TB is the better default unless you have a specific workload that needs the extra lanes. Video editors will gravitate toward the TeamGroup Z540 1TB for its write headroom (11,800 MB/s sustained). Project saves and proxies move faster, which compounds across a workday. Heads-up — these are full-length 2280 drives. Steam Deck and most current handhelds require shorter 2230 modules, so check capacity-specific 2230 variants if that's your target platform.
Market context: the TeamGroup Z540 1TB ranks #4 of 6 Gen 5 1 TB drives we track by $/TB, while the Samsung 990 PRO 1TB ranks #2 of 4 Gen 4 1 TB drives. Neither is a value leader right now — if $/TB is your priority, check the cheaper alternatives below before committing.
As of September 7, 2026, these tracked drives undercut both the TeamGroup Z540 1TB and Samsung 990 PRO 1TB on $/TB:
Pick the TeamGroup Z540 1TB if you value meaningfully faster reads (12,400 MB/s), and higher sustained writes (11,800 MB/s). The TeamGroup Z540 1TB captures the value tier well: same NAND class as flagships, paired with a DRAM-less controller that costs less and uses HMB for the address-mapping table.
Pick the Samsung 990 PRO 1TB if you value the lower retail price ($240 vs $253), and better $/TB economics ($240.00/TB). Samsung's PRO line has the longest track record for firmware reliability — over a decade of consumer SSDs with global RMA support.