The market isn't apparently ready for lower capacity storage drives, but for most, lower RAM capacity is still acceptable.
Lexar Says Demand for Smaller Capacity SSDs Have Dwindled While Smaller RAM Capacity RAM Kits are Still Popular
Not every component has the same influence when it comes to building a PC. While RAM and SSDs have both gone insanely expensive in recent months, their influence varies when it comes to what gamers prefer. RAM shows a clear impact in gaming and non-gaming workloads, but storage drives contribute much except for faster loading times. Irrespective of that, faster SSDs are always a priority for users, especially gamers, who would rather choose a fast NVMe SSD than a traditional hard drive.
Capacity is crucial, though, and with games becoming larger and more intensive, most users prefer to settle for higher-capacity memory and SSDs. For gaming, anything under 16 GB is seen as less preferable, but surprisingly, gamers are willing to settle for lower-capacity RAM when it comes to choosing between a low-capacity RAM and a storage drive. This was revealed in an interview with Lexar by Digital Foundry, which revealed a surprising market pattern.
Lexar's EU General Manager, Grace Su, reportedly told Digital Foundry that after transitioning to a lower-density flash memory for RAM kits and storage drives, it witnessed an unusual trend. While the lower capacity RAM kits saw a decent demand as expected, lower capacity storage drives reached a "fraction" of the demand that they expected. The report didn't reveal the RAM kit capacities users are willing to settle for, but considering the entry-level market is still dominated by 8 GB DDR5/DDR4 RAM modules, it's likely that 8 GB sticks continue to sell well.
On the other hand, users are reluctant to buy 256 GB or 512 GB SSDs. Most avoid sub-Terabyte storage drives, and while Lexar finds it surprising, there is a simple reason for that. Even though gamers can easily upgrade both RAM and SSDs by adding another module or drive, it's easier for them to add another RAM module than to settle for a lower-capacity SSD that gives them inadequate space for storing their games and other data.
Considering a user builds a PC from scratch and, due to budget constraints, cannot afford two drives at the moment, would likely settle for 1 TB SSD as a significant portion is usually allocated for the OS, which leaves less for personal data. This leaves 256 GB and 512 GB SSDs with less space for games that can easily gobble up hundreds of Gigabytes these days.
News Source: Digital Foundry
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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