SSD prices continue to fall, with no clear bottom in sight. We reported in March that prices have dropped by 15 to 30 percent since January. Now, after tracking over 60 common SKUs, we observe that the average price has reduced by roughly 25% in the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities, with an average cost per GB of just 6 cents. A high-performance PCIe 4 drive can cost significantly more than a traditional SATA or PCIe 3.0 SSD.
The reason for the price decreases is well known. According to Analyst Group TrendForce, the average selling price of NAND Flash memory, which SSDs rely on, declined 15 percent in Q1 of 2023, with a further drop of 8 to 13 percent after Q2 is completed. Meanwhile, enterprise SSD revenue decreased 47.3 percent in Q1.
At this point, prices have dropped so far that 1TB is no longer the sweet spot for mainstream PCs. You can get a budget-conscious, PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive like the WD Black SN770 for as little as 5 cents per GB, or roughly $50 to $60, with a rated sequential transfer speed of 4,000 to 5,000 MBps for both reads and writes, but no built-in DRAM cache.
Better performance can be obtained for 6 to 8 cents per GB. The top-performing PCIe 4.0 drive, Samsung’s 990 Pro, was $169 in March, but it’s now only $84.99. For that fee, you get sequential transfers rated at 7,450 and 6,900 MBps, respectively.
You can acquire an inexpensive PCIe 4.0 SSD with a capacity of 2TB for less than $100, with most high-performance variants costing between $120 and $160.
The WD Black SN850X for $134 or the somewhat older Samsung 980 Pro for $116 are the best deals among high-end drives. Sabrent appears to be clueless of the market, since their Rocket 4 Plus-G continues to cost $199, $40 more than its closest competition.
A 4TB SSD is finally affordable to a large number of users. However, if you want great performance, you’ll have to invest $300 or more. The WD Black SN850X offers the best performance value in this capacity at $299, or 7 cents per GB.
Drives with the PCIe 5.0 interface have begun to hit the market in recent weeks, and as the cutting edge of storage technology, they are expensive. On Amazon, the cheapest PCIe 5.0 drive we’ve seen is Inland’s TD510, which costs $269 for 2TB and $177 for 1TB. However, if you live near a Micro Centre, you may get one for $229 or $134.
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