Why are SSDs so expensive?

[rvg90]

I am currently using an old WESTERN DIGITAL WD10EARS-00Y5B1 HARD DRIVE and i am a gamer and i screen capture a lot but my FPS drops most of the time and i was told that it's better to do that in a separate hard drive, and from what i read it seems that SSDs are much faster and better but while looking for something decent @ $100 the best i could find is an 64gb 6gb\s SSD? are these prices normal?

 

[cobot]

SSDs are more expensive because they are simply more expensive to produce per mb than good ol' HDs.

This article is a few months old now but should help you in choosing an ssd.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html

I must say though, using an ssd only for print screens seems like a bit of a waste. Would you be planning to install your OS on it as well?

 

[hunuok]

Compared to mechanical HDDs, they are in terms of capacity.

But, they have come down as more people embrace SSDs.

My two 120GB Vertex 3 were nearly $500 each just over a year ago. Now they are about $150 each. Just the way it is.

FYI, SSDs won't increase your frame rates. Only loading times.

 

[Eric L]

If all you can find is 64G drives for $100, you haven't been looking very hard. I've seen 120-128G drives for $100ish, and sometimes 128G drives for $70 on sale.

 

[mad-max79]

A current good offer for a <100$ is the Samsung 830, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
It is fast and reliable. SSDs are best when it comes to random access operations.

 

[mafisometal]

I am currently using an old WESTERN DIGITAL WD10EARS-00Y5B1 HARD DRIVE and i am a gamer and i screen capture a lot but my FPS drops most of the time and i was told that it's better to do that in a separate hard drive, and from what i read it seems that SSDs are much faster and better but while looking for something decent @ $100 the best i could find is an 64gb 6gb\s SSD? are these prices normal?

SSD's are faster, but it doesn't change much. Remember that hard drives work with the RAM in caching information. When you run screen cap programs like FRAPS, it utilizes RAM and VRAM. Initial load on screen capping use up LOTS of RAM and VRAM because it has to save all the data constantly while encoding special codecs so that it may be readable afterwards. Encoding uses up a lot of resources because it will have to reload the frames twice. Once for the capping, and once again for the encoding. This means that it will save two files at the same time. This is a HUGE hog on performance and i'm definitely certain that its causing the FPS drops.

Now, when it comes to buying SSD, Newegg has deals during the week for 120GB for <$100. Vertex and Corsair seem to be great deals. If you can't find much, try looking for factory refurbished SSD's. I've got 2 x 120GB Corsair Force III's that were refurbished and i've had them now for about a year and i've bought them both for <$100. They still perform at tip top. Since they're SSD drives, they have less parts and nothing is mechanical in there is moving so they should last longer than a typical HDD.

 

[rvg90]

Thanks for the reply, guess i'll have to wait till i upgrade my GPU because i wanted something massive(1TB or so) and they are so damn expensive.

But wouldn't any new HDD be a big improvement on mine?

 

[rvg90]

Best answer selected by rvg90.