So far, SSDs have been safe from the stock issues plaguing the best graphics cards, with some even being very reasonably priced at the moment – as we found in our WD SN550 review, the SSD offers 1TB of storage for around just $100 / £100. The wide availability of the NAND flash memory modules that make up the best SSDs for gaming made many believe that storage prices would continue to plummet throughout 2021, but the shortage of another component could mean the opposite.
SSD controllers – the chip that bridges the gap between the flash memory and the input/output of the SSD – are in tight supply, according to a report from Digitimes. If true, this is likely to result in depleting stock and, therefore, potential price rises across the board.
Demand for SSDs is higher than ever right now, too, with both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X making the switch to solid state storage, and an increasing amount of games, such as Cyberpunk 2077, recommending SSDs in their system requirements. However, with supply running ‘tight’ right now rather than there actually being a lack of supply, the current price for SSDs continues to be low. We’ll have to see how that changes in the coming months.
Fortunately, Nvidia’s graphics card stock is expected to improve in a few months, and the same goes for AMD’s cards.
Let’s hope that when the latest graphics cards become readily available at MSRP, the inevitable influx of new PC builds doesn’t mean that the extra demand placed on SSDs will exceed their supply, leading to inflated prices for everyone.