SSD Price Comparison

SATA SSDs: 500-560 MB/s, €0.05-0.08/GB, perfect for upgrading old PCs and general use. NVMe PCIe 3.0: 1500-3500 MB/s, ideal for gaming and content creation. PCIe 4.0: 5000-7000+ MB/s, best for professional workloads, 4K/8K video editing, and future-proofing. Most users benefit from NVMe PCIe 3.0.

TBW (Total Bytes Written): Lifetime write capacity. 150-600 TBW for consumer SSDs means 150-600 TB can be written before wear-out. DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day): How many times the drive capacity can be written daily for 5 years. 0.3 DWPD is typical for consumer use, 1-10 DWPD for enterprise. Modern SSDs far exceed typical usage.

SSDs maintain consistent performance until near end-of-life. Performance can slow when drive is 80 percent+ full due to reduced over-provisioning. QLC NAND may slow down during sustained writes but recovers quickly. SLC cache helps maintain fast writes for typical workloads. Keep 10-20 percent free space for optimal performance.

OS only: 250GB minimum. OS + programs: 500GB-1TB. Gaming rig: 1-2TB (modern games are 50-150GB). Content creation: 2-4TB. Professional workstation: 4TB+. Server applications: 1-8TB. Always leave 10-20 percent free space for wear-leveling and optimal performance.

SLC: 1 bit/cell, fastest, most durable, expensive (enterprise only). MLC: 2 bits/cell, good balance (mostly discontinued). TLC: 3 bits/cell, good performance/price ratio, most common consumer SSDs. QLC: 4 bits/cell, highest capacity, lower cost, but slower writes and shorter lifespan - good for read-heavy workloads.

Enable TRIM command, keep firmware updated, maintain 10-20 percent free space, avoid full disk encryption if possible, disable hibernation file, move page file to HDD if you have one, enable AHCI mode in BIOS, and avoid unnecessary defragmentation. Modern operating systems handle most optimizations automatically.