Question Several questions about buying NVMe SSDs.

[knowledge2121]

I want to purchase a cheap 4TB NVMe "Dump" drive + another cheap 2TB NVMe SSD for my other older PC. I have some questions:

• Should I look at P/E cycles or TBW to know how durable the drive is ? Does it even matter ? Should I even look at these specs ?
• Is it true that the controller and its firmware are also big factors when it comes to durability ? bad controller or firmware make the SSD wear out faster ?
• Does TLC vs QLC matter ? TLC is more durable ?
• Should I pick a TLC drive with a worse controller or a QLC drive with a good controller ? Teamgroup MP34 vs Crucial P3 plus ?
• Which NAND flash manufacturer is the best ? Samsung > SK Hynix > Micron > Kioxia > YMTC ?
• Should I worry that some SSDs do not have dedicated DRAM ? What role does the DRAM play ? Does having DRAM affect performance or durability ?
• Which one of the following drives do you recommend considering all of the questions/concerns above :?

- Teamgroup MP33 - no DRAM - TLC
- Teamgroup MP34 - DRAM - TLC
- Teamgroup MP44 - no DRAM - TLC
- Teamgroup T-Create Classic gen3 - no DRAM - TLC
- Crucial P3 Plus - no DRAM - QLC
- Lexar NM790 - no DRAM - TLC

Any other recommendations ? (remember that I want cheap 1x4TB + 1x2TB drives)

I have good SSDs for my main usage:

My office build (i7-13600K):

• Samsung 870 Evo 500GB
• 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB
• Crucial MX500 1TB

My Gaming build (i9-14900K):

• Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
• Samsung 990 Pro 4TB
• The cheap 4TB dump drive that I am after

My old build(i7-7700K):

• Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
• Seagate 1TB HDD
• Crucial P1 500GB
• The cheap 2TB drive that I am after.

 

[Ralston18]

Are you planning to store important data on the drives?

What is your budget?

 

[knowledge2121]

Are you planning to store important data on the drives?

What is your budget?

No, these will have unimportant data on them. Data that can be retrieved easily. Budget is $170 CDN and below.

These drives will be storing games.

I have good SSDs for my main usage:

My office build (i7-13600K):

• Samsung 870 Evo 500GB
• 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB
• Crucial MX500 1TB

My Gaming build (i9-14900K):

• Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
• Samsung 990 Pro 4TB
• The cheap 4TB dump drive that I am after

My old build(i7-7700K):

• Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
• Seagate 1TB HDD
• Crucial P1 500GB
• The cheap 2TB drive that I am after.

 

[Ralston18]

Basically, as I undertand it all, you are looking for expendable drives...

And, just to maintain some perspective, how often are you willing to replace expendable/cheap drives when they fail?

After purchasing and perhaps repurchasing 2 or 3 cheap drives the cost may exceed the amount to purchase a quality drive to begin with. Then again, statistically quality drives can and do fail.

Just keep the potential trade-offs in mind.