Team Group MP44Q

The Team Group MP44Q is a 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with a ridiculous 10000 TBW endurance rating and solid, if not class-leading, performance. It's a great pick for gamers and workstation users who want a drive that will last practically forever. Just don't expect it to beat the Samsung 990 PRO or WD Black SN850X in raw speed.

Sequential reads are rated at 7000 MB/s and writes at 5900 MB/s. In our testing, real-world numbers tend to land a bit lower. One owner with an Asus TUF Gaming X570 board reported CrystalDiskMark results closer to 6500 MB/s read. That's still more than twice as fast as a typical PCIe 3.0 drive like the Samsung 970 EVO, but it's worth knowing the advertised number is a best-case scenario.

Random performance lands in the 79th percentile, which is solid but not spectacular. For everyday tasks like booting Windows, launching apps, or loading game levels, you won't notice much difference between this and a top-tier drive. The DRAM cache helps keep things consistent under sustained writes, which is more than you can say for some DRAM-less budget options. If you're moving huge files around all day, the 10000 TBW endurance rating means you can hammer this thing without worrying about wearing it out.

Stacked against the Samsung 990 PRO, the MP44Q loses on raw speed. The 990 PRO is consistently one of the fastest Gen4 drives on the market, and its random performance is in a different league. But the 990 PRO's endurance rating is around 1200 TBW for the 2TB model. The MP44Q offers more than eight times that. If you're paranoid about drive longevity, Team Group wins that argument easily.

The WD Black SN850X is another strong competitor. It's often cheaper than the MP44Q and delivers better sustained performance. The SN850X also has a better track record for firmware stability and customer support. The Micron T710 is worth a look too, especially if you can find it on sale. The MP44Q's main advantage over all of these is that endurance number and the included heatsink. Whether that's worth the trade-off in speed and brand reputation depends on what you're doing.

At $310 to $320 USD, the MP44Q is in a weird spot. You're paying flagship money for a drive that doesn't quite hit flagship speeds. The Samsung 990 PRO and WD Black SN850X are both in this price range and offer better real-world performance. But neither of them comes close to the MP44Q's 10000 TBW endurance. If you're someone who writes a ton of data, like a video editor or someone running a home server, that endurance rating might justify the price. For everyone else, it's harder to make the case.

The Team Group MP44Q is a 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD that sits in the PCIe 4.0 sweet spot. It's aimed at people who want fast storage without paying Samsung or WD flagship money. The spec sheet is solid: TLC NAND, a DRAM cache, and sequential reads up to 7000 MB/s. Our database puts it at 81.4 out of 100 overall, which is respectable for this price bracket.

Is the MP44Q good for gaming? Yeah, mostly. It's not the fastest Gen4 drive we've tested, but it's way beyond what most games actually need. Load times will feel snappy, and the 2TB capacity means you won't be uninstalling stuff every other week. The endurance rating is the real story here: 10000 TBW is absurd for a consumer drive. That's the kind of number you'd expect from a datacenter SSD, not something you grab off a Best Buy shelf.

One thing to note: the listed price is a bit all over the place. We're seeing it around $310 to $320 USD in the US, and about $405 CAD up north. That's not cheap for a 2TB Gen4 drive, especially when competitors like the WD Black SN850X and Samsung 990 PRO are in the same ballpark. But the MP44Q does come with a heatsink, which is nice if your motherboard doesn't have one built in.

Skip the MP44Q if you're building a portable rig or need a drive for a laptop with tight thermal constraints. Its portable use case score is a dismal 19.1 out of 100, which suggests it runs hot or draws too much power for compact enclosures. If you're after the fastest possible Gen4 drive for a high-end desktop, the Samsung 990 PRO or WD Black SN850X are better picks. And if you're on a strict budget, there are cheaper 2TB Gen4 options that sacrifice endurance for a lower price, which is a fine trade for most people.

Should you buy the Team Group MP44Q? If you need a drive that can take a beating and you don't want to think about write endurance ever again, yes. The 10000 TBW rating is genuinely impressive, and the drive is fast enough for gaming, general use, and most workstation tasks. The included heatsink is a nice touch for builds without motherboard cooling.

But if you're chasing the fastest possible Gen4 performance, look elsewhere. The Samsung 990 PRO and WD Black SN850X both outperform the MP44Q in real-world tests, and they're often priced similarly. The MP44Q is a good drive, but it's not the best value in its price bracket unless endurance is your top priority.