Cost of SSDs

[toeknee182]

Hi All,

This is a trivia question for all the brainiacs on this forum. I am new here and although I have had an SSD in each of my builds since 2008 I still cannot figure out why a higher capacity SSDs coat more than smaller ones in term of $/GB. As an example if a 128GB SSD cost $100 the 256GB SSD of the same series costs $250 (prices are not exact)

Is it manufacturing cost? (Why)
Is it market demand? Although I see that higher capacity SSDs are more desirable and manufacturers can sell more of them if they were at a good price point than the smaller capacity ones.

Hmmmm...

Toe-Knee

 

[TemjinGold]

Give an example where this is actually true across the same SSD line.

 

[greenhawk]

could be any reason. could be the manufacture has a higher risk of making a dud with more chips on the board, the design could call for higher density chips which cost more to make vs using lower density ones.
could be the manufacture wanting the larger ones to be more desirable by costing more.

but as that is the price they ask for them, all you can do is take it or leave it. Nothing stopping you from raiding 2 smaller ones together (besides trim)

 

[Anteaus]

I didn't bother to look up any prices as I respond, but consider what you are talking about. Memory prices aren't linear relative to capacity. Generally, the higher the capacity of a memory chip (whatever the flavor), the more expensive it is to produce relative to a lower capacity chip. If you look at ram prices over the past 10 years you will see what I'm talking about, because SSDs generally follow the same trend.

Sometimes those numbers aren't far from each other, but with SSDs they are continously pushing the limits of memory density, and that technology doesn't come cheap.

 

[pyjujiop]

The higher density the memory chips you need, the lower the yields are. It's a lot easier to get 30 or 40 gigs into an SSD than it is find 250 gigs worth that will fit into the same enclosure.

 

[icanhascpu2]

The higher density the memory chips you need, the lower the yields are. It's a lot easier to get 30 or 40 gigs into an SSD than it is find 250 gigs worth that will fit into the same enclosure.

Do you not realize how much empty space is in even the 512GB enclosures? 😀?? Are you just making a joke?

Its marketing. They want their low-ends bought for various possible reasons, brand attachment, higher testing base (SSD is still beta to me) to catch bugs faster. Their are a lot of people who would not even consider an SSD, like me, unless the prices are low as a trial run. Not many people on the whole are going to dive right in buying a 512GB SSD, so the lower margins are more attractive and can sway people that are unsure (most people do not come to websites like this, they look at the price and think hmm my tech friend said SSD is zomg fast and this isnt that much..) People that know a bit better and have more experience will be willing to pay a bit more for the huge ones.

I believe when HDD is faded out and SSD is the norm this wont be the case anymore and large drives will have the smaller margins as it will be a tried and overwhelmingly accepted and used method of long term storage. Its the same sort of method you hear about getn hooked on weed. First little bit is free 😉

 

[kevinsbane]

Hi All,

This is a trivia question for all the brainiacs on this forum. I am new here and although I have had an SSD in each of my builds since 2008 I still cannot figure out why a higher capacity SSDs coat more than smaller ones in term of $/GB. As an example if a 128GB SSD cost $100 the 256GB SSD of the same series costs $250 (prices are not exact)

Is it manufacturing cost? (Why)
Is it market demand? Although I see that higher capacity SSDs are more desirable and manufacturers can sell more of them if they were at a good price point than the smaller capacity ones.

Hmmmm...

Toe-Knee

It's in how they're used. Many people use SSD's in a situation where RAID is impractical, and anyways, JBOD and RAID-0 drastically increase your chance of something happening (from very small to small). Using 2x small SSDs is more annoying than one large ssd (usually).

But most importantly, many SSDs are used in a situation where two SSD's are impossible: laptops. When you are required to replace a single HDD with a single SSD, the only way to get the storage you need/want is to buy a bigger single SSD: it's a cornered market. Either pay the premium for more space, or forget it. I suppose it is a little like why the highest performing video cards are so much more expensive than the next highest performing card, but instead of performance being the metric that people look at, capacity is.

 

[VirtualLarry]

But most importantly, many SSDs are used in a situation where two SSD's are impossible: laptops. When you are required to replace a single HDD with a single SSD, the only way to get the storage you need/want is to buy a bigger single SSD: it's a cornered market.

that makes the most sense

 

[exdeath]

Doesn't matter. The only SSD you should be considering are 240/256 GB class drives as they are at the center of the performance bell curve until we get faster controllers with more channels. 128 and 512 GB SSDs are slower than the same companies 256 GB drives.