SSD Prices in Free-Fall: The Next DRAM?

[btarunr]

Hard drive prices refuse to budge after last year's floods that struck manufacturing facilities in Thailand, even as manufacturers turn record profit. The solid-state drive market, on the other hand, is finally rolling with competition, high volume production, and advancements in NAND flash technologies. With memory majors such as Hynix adding new NAND flash manufacturing facilities to their infrastructure, SSD is expected to finally get its big break in the mainstream market.

SSD prices, according to price aggregators, are on a free-fall. Models which once held relative pricing as high as $2 per gigabyte, and going deep within the $1 mark. For example, Crucial's widely-praised M4 256 GB SSD has a price per GB of 'just' $0.82, and a market price around $200, something unheard of, for a 256 GB SSD with transfer rates of over 500 MB/s. With SSD major OCZ Technology releasing new generations of drives under the Vertex 4 and Agility 4 series that use Indilinx processors, older Vertex 3 and Agility 3 models are being phased out, some of these are seeing sub $1/GB prices. Intel is also responding to market trends, with prices of its SSD 520 series dropping sharply. Find a boat-load of stats at the source.



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[rodneyhchef]

Excellent, these are starting to come down into the mainstream arena. A 256gb drive would do nicely for an OS and a few games.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

A 256gb drive would do nicely for an OS and a few games.

agreed, I wont use anything less than 200GB for my OS and stuff. Thats the only reason i havent bought one yet as the prices for 200GB+ SSDs were pricey for the last cpl of years. I think I may finally get one this fall/winter.

 

[Solid State Brain]

So, does this mean that after hitting rock bottom prices (supposedly soon), they will start rising twice as fast because they were excessively low?

(Remember the 2010 DDR2 bubble?)

 

[mcloughj]

Despite owning 2 120Gb SSDs I'd noticed how the prices were making me ponder buying a single 240GB drive when I build my new build.

Hope it continues!

 

[Deleted member 3]

So, does this mean that after hitting rock bottom prices (supposedly soon), they will start rising twice as fast because they were excessively low?

(Remember the 2010 DDR2 bubble?)

No, compare it to memory as a whole. ie one would easily pay €100-€200 for 512MB modules in the past. Prices went down and capacity went up. You now get 4GB modules for €25. The fact that it moved from SDR to DDR to DDR2 and then DDR3 isn't relevant. Memory became cheaper, as does storage in SSD form. The only difference is that interfaces for storage are mostly backwards compatible, memory isn't.
I guess the minimum price will eventually stagnate due to production costs, personnel, shipping, etc but capacity will keep increasing thus price per GB will drop.

 

[rpsgc]

Anything that means cheaper prices for us (and sticks it to the greedy HDD manufacturers) is awesome news.

I can't wait for them [HDD manufacturers] to start seeing their "record profits" evaporating as more and more people turn to SSD.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

the crucial M4's are just amazing bang for buck. Not as fast as the sandforce 2281 drives but its still makes my pc go like a rocket none the less.

 

[Salsoolo]

what i was waiting for!
glad i didnt join the club early

 

[m1ch]

WTB Crucial m4 256GB in Europe for cheap, any ideas? Looks like this sweet 200$ deal is only availble in US so far

 

[rpsgc]

WTB Crucial m4 256GB in Europe for cheap, any ideas? Looks like this sweet 200$ deal is only availble in US so far

Like this?
http://www.pixmania.pl/pl/pl/9760815/art/crucial/wewnetrzny-ssd-m4-256-gb.html

 

[Hustler]

Give me 256Gb for $100 and i'll go for it...until then, no thanks.

And I'm still not convinced of their reliability, many forums i visit seem full of people having problems with them.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

I can't wait to see the HDD duopoly fucktards bite the dust.

 

[1rkrage]

Give me 256Gb for $100 and i'll go for it...until then, no thanks.

And I'm still not convinced of their reliability, many forums i visit seem full of people having problems with them.

those with issues are usually the loudest. meanwhile the ones having no issues are happily treading and enjoying their fast read speeds

 

[m1ch]

Like this?
http://www.pixmania.pl/pl/pl/9760815/art/crucial/wewnetrzny-ssd-m4-256-gb.html

Thanks for the reply, but its still like 60$ more than in US, which is quite a bit, considering the drive is 200$... European Amazon(s) wont price match :shadedshu

 

[Velvet Wafer]

awesome, time to get me my second Vertex 3 128gb for just 100€!

 

[rpsgc]

Thanks for the reply, but its still like 60$ more than in US, which is quite a bit, considering the drive is 200$... European Amazon(s) wont price match :shadedshu

There's this thing called VAT, you know...

Give me 256Gb for $100 and i'll go for it...until then, no thanks.

And I'm still not convinced of their reliability, many forums i visit seem full of people having problems with them.

256Gb for $100? No problem.
256GB for $100? Not gonna happen. You might as well wish for a $500 GTX 690.

And their reliability is just fine. Apart from some shoddy products (mainly from OCZ) there's not really a problem with reliability. And you can't really compare low speeds and the occasional BSOD with full HDD failure.

 

[Grings]

Never mind 256gb drives, i wanna see 512gb+ ones get affordable

 

[naoan]

There's this thing called VAT, you know...



256Gb for $100? No problem.
256GB for $100? Not gonna happen. You might as well wish for a $500 GTX 690.

People used to say the same things with platter drives...

And I have no doubt that years from now, there will be GPU faster than GTX690 for less than $500. It's just a matter of time.

 

[RejZoR]

I've seen 256GB SSD's (Samsung 830) for around 150 bucks. I've got only Crucial M4 128GB 3-4 months ago for such price...

 

[manofthem]

Never mind 256gb drives, i wanna see 512gb+ ones get affordable

Amen to this, I would love to find a 512+ at a great price, a perfect game drive.

I've seen 256GB SSD's (Samsung 830) for around 150 bucks. I've got only Crucial M4 128GB 3-4 months ago for such price...

You talking $150 for a new 256 830? I havent seen that kind of price ever, but Man if that's true I overpayed most definitely!

 

[Mussels]

i noticed this trend in aus, we're just seeing $1 per GB prices here now.

 

[Pioneer.twelve]

I have two 120SSD's but would like to buy a 256 sometime around July 4th when sales go on.

 

[m1ch]

There's this thing called VAT, you know...

Its not bec of VAT, just annoying, temporary price diff. and I want my ssd now!

 

[NinkobEi]

There's this thing called VAT, you know...



256Gb for $100? No problem.
256GB for $100? Not gonna happen. You might as well wish for a $500 GTX 690.

And their reliability is just fine. Apart from some shoddy products (mainly from OCZ) there's not really a problem with reliability. And you can't really compare low speeds and the occasional BSOD with full HDD failure.

Considering 256GB drives were $300 6-weeks ago, and now they are $170, I would say in the next year or so we'll see them at $100. I guess they are getting the manufacturing process down.