In short, the wear on SSDs from normal use is negligible. Damage from heavy use or misuse, while significant, is still within a manageable range.
It is well known that SSD lifespan is generally measured by write volume, as read operations do not impact their longevity. From the moment you start assembling a gaming PC, an SSD typically undergoes the following write wear:
- Installing the OS and drivers: For example, installing Windows 10 Pro for Workstations generally consumes about 60-70GB of write lifespan.
- Installing essential software: A simple setup like a Chromium-based browser, image viewer, PDF reader, Office 2019, music player, and video player usually consumes about 5-20GB of write lifespan.
- Installing games: Using Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Grand Theft Auto V, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and Cyberpunk 2077 as examples, installing these four games occupies around 380GB of space. However, due to the process of downloading, unpacking, and installing (followed by cleanup), the actual write wear is typically less than twice the installation size, depending on file compression rates.
During gaming, configuration files and save data are either stored in C:\user\documents or the installation directory. Writes only occur during saving, and these writes are minimal, involving small, fragmented files that rely more on the SSD’s 4K random read/write performance than capacity.
Outside of gaming, writes occur mainly during updates, with wear similar to installing new games.
Game-related activities like scene transitions, mission launches, and map loading primarily involve read operations. These rely on 4K random read performance, as they often deal with a large number of small files like sound effects and textures, rather than sequential read speeds.
From the perspective of normal usage, SSD lifespan wear remains negligible. Normal wear should not be equated with significant damage.
As for heavy or improper usage, it is manageable due to the robustness of modern SSDs. Taking the Samsung 980 250GB SSD as an example, it has a warranty of 5 years or 150TBW (terabytes written). This means that even if the time frame is within 5 years, exceeding 150TBW will void the warranty.
In reality, the write endurance of such drives often exceeds 150TB. Assuming 4 full drive writes per month, it would take approximately 12 years to reach the 150TB threshold. Actual lifespans can be even higher, making it challenging to “kill” an SSD through consumer-grade workloads. These effects can be mitigated further by opting for higher-capacity drives and maintaining proper usage habits. However, the aforementioned figures are rough estimates and not rigorously precise.
That said, this does not justify skimping on a high-quality SSD in favor of cheap, low-grade drives. Besides poor build quality, performance drops, and instability, their most critical flaw is the risk of data loss. While some users claim success with such drives, relying on luck is not a reliable strategy. Data loss can lead to significant regret.
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