# Power Consumption HDD vs PCIe M.2 SSD



## nomdeplume (Feb 24, 2016)

Have a desktop so I'm not worried about idle states or sleep mode conservation.  What I'm wondering is the relative difference between the two at a theoretical max state.  Even better an average for the type of load they'd face streaming 4K video.  HDD in the new machine is going but I'm looking at all the angles before I grab a PCIe x4 to M.2 card.


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## arbiter (Feb 24, 2016)

nomdeplume said:


> Have a desktop so I'm not worried about idle states or sleep mode conservation.  What I'm wondering is the relative difference between the two at a theoretical max state.  Even better an average for the type of load they'd face streaming 4K video.  HDD in the new machine is going but I'm looking at all the angles before I grab a PCIe x4 to M.2 card.


it depends on HDD you get, WD blue drive max listed is about 5 watts, black drive they list as much as 10 watts. m.2 SSD is around 5-6watts (using samsung 850 evo and 950 pro) that is of coarse under load and useage.

power draw with diff HDD's will vary but 10watts is generally around top end less of hdd's.

blue: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771436.pdf
black: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771434.pdf
950 pro: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-V5P512BW
850 evo: http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/memory-storage/MZ-N5E500BW

4k video is a tough one probably should get least 500gb ssd if you do editing as high bitrate you will probably want speed for editing.


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## nomdeplume (Feb 24, 2016)

Thanks, I figured with the big push for efficiency currently that M.2 was considerably better at drawing less when less was being asked of it.  Idle requirements are tiny.  Real basic Seagate 500GB 7200 rpm that came with the computer is in there right now.  No editing or real intensive programs.  I've heard Chrome eats a lot of RAM so I maxed it out for W7.  

Only concern is the lack of being able to upgrade the 240w PSU in this SFF.  Already unplugged the optical drive.  Getting rid of everything in the other drive bays should open up a lot of headroom and keep the fans barely running.  Obviously bigger SSD's run faster so I was going to get at least a 500gb.  Might wait until someone opens up a good 4K streaming platform and see if 1TB are on the market.


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