SSD Power Consumption: A Comprehensive Guide

SSDs are known for their better “Performance per Watt” ratio than hard drives. However, the peak power consumption of Gen 5.0 NVMe Drives can reach 12W.

Power consumption is directly related to the work done over time. The formula is “Power = Work/Time”. Power consumption will increase if the work (data transfer) increases (as it does with faster SSDs), and time remains constant.

For anything to happen inside an SSD, an electric current is required and in electronics, the formula here is “Power = Voltage x Current”. The data in an SSD is stored in the form of electric charge inside floating gate transistors or charge trap flash. Also, all the circuitry including the controller and DRAM use electric current to work. So, as the speed of the SSD increases, more current is required, and hence the power consumption increases.

Gen 5.0 SSDs like Seagate Firecuda 540, Aorus Gen 5 10000, and Crucial T700 Pro can consume more than 10 Watts during read/write operations. In ideal environments, power consumption is directly proportional to the performance of SSDs.

According to this study published in 2021, SSDs can consume significant power even during idle periods. Therefore, it is recommended that any available power management features or settings be enabled to transition the SSD to lower power modes when not in active use. Power saving modes and DevSleep are examples.

NVMe SSD Power Consumption

The power consumption of NVMe SSDs depends on various factors like the interface, speed, workload, etc. However, there are typical numbers (maximum and minimum) under which all the NVMe SSDs fall. Let’s have a look.

Let me give you an example. The Crucial T705 which is a Gen 5.0 SSD and one of the fastest drives in the world, is rated for 3.5A at 3.3V for approximately 11.55 watts. The Corsair MP700, when benchmarked, reached the maximum power consumption of 12.37 watts. Now, let’s come to the Gen 4.0 drives. The Samsung 990 Pro, which is considered a pretty efficient drive can consume up to 6 watts when put under stress. The KC3000 is perhaps the most power-hungry drive in the Gen 4.0 category reaching around 9 watts under heavy loads.

However, please note that the peak power consumption isn’t the only parameter that matters. The MB/s per watt is a much better way to understand any drive’s power efficiency. A bigger MBps per watt number always indicates your drive is much better at handling its load with less amount of power.

Comparing the average and maximum power consumption of SSDs in 2024

Where do the SSDs utilize their power?

SSD controller and the NAND Flash memory itself are the most power-hungry components in an SSD. During the data write and erase operations, a lot of current is required. Read operations tend to be more power-efficient. Also, for all the background processes handled by the controller including wear-leveling, error correction, provisioning, etc, additional power is required.

There are other things like DRAM, interface, and active circuitry on the PCB that need constant power to keep running. The amount of power needed for any task depends on the amount of data. SSDs have a high bandwidth and can write data serially in bigger chunks. You can say that SSDs come with a higher speed but with a compromise of higher power requirements. This results in higher temperatures as well but that is a topic for another day. For here, just know that the NAND Flash memory itself is the major contributor to the overall power consumption in your SSD.

The total amount of power consumed over a period of time for the same amount of data becomes almost equal. It is just that the SSDs have higher peak power consumption spikes and they get our work done. On the other hand, the slower SATA drives and hard drives will have lower peak power-consumption spikes but they take longer periods to store or read the same amount of data.

Factors Affecting SSD Power Consumption

You know that heavy read/write operations demand more power. But, why does that happen, and what actually determines which SSD will consume this much power?

The first factor is the type of NAND Flash. SLC NAND Flash has a straightforward design and working method. The time taken to read, write, or erase any memory cell is less because it has only two states i.e. “high” and “low”. Hence, SLC SSDs are more power efficient.

As we start to utilize a single cell to store multiple voltage states in MLC, TLC, and QLC SSDs, complex algorithms are required to store and read the data.

The size of the DRAM cache also contributes to the power consumption. Larger DRAM means more power requirements.

Power consumption is also dependent on how efficient your controller is. Because it has to keep running even when the SSD is idle, it has to be well-optimized for efficiency.

The interface and speed can be discussed together. The faster the interface, the higher the speed, and the more will be the power consumption.

Temperature is another big thing. When you use your drive for hours, it can reach its throttling point where the performance will degrade to compensate for that extra heat.

According to this research paper, the power consumption of SSDs varies significantly depending on the I/O request patterns. Random write requests with small I/O sizes and mixed random/sequential write patterns can degrade energy efficiency substantially.

Active vs Idle Power Consumption in SSDs

Active power consumption is a broad range of two types: Read power and write power. Writing data on SSDs needs more power because the existing data has to be erased first. Also, the charge must be created before the controller inserts them in floating gates. Read operation just makes sure the charge is trapped inside the cell to represent one or multiple bits.

Some important processes going on even when the SSD is idle are wear leveling, error correction, garbage collection, DRAM cache management, power state management, etc.

How to Optimize SSD Power Consumption?

Although SSDs are smart enough to handle their processes and adjust the power on their own, there are some ways to optimize the power consumption.

The first thing is to keep the firmware updated. Next, you can use your operating system’s power-saving modes.

Using TRIM is also helpful as it manages the deleted data and reduces unnecessary write operations. Some NVMe SSDs come with DevSleep which helps save more energy when the drive is idle. Limiting background processes and keeping the SSD temperature in check is also important. Using passive heatsinks with NVMe drives is a great way to tackle the heat in desktop computers.

Which SSD consumes the most amount of power?

High-performance NVMe drives especially the PCIe Gen 4.0 and Gen 5.0 drives consume the most amount of power during both active and idle states. Because the data transfer rate is higher, the required amount of charge and other components contribute to a higher power consumption.

The Enterprise SSDs, especially the ones designed for data centers also consume a lot of power. They are designed to handle a constant amount of high loads. Even a low-end enterprise SSD can consume up to 12 watts during normal workloads. These drives generally require some form of active cooling.

Power Consumption based on different parameters

• Looking at the NAND Flash cell types, SLC SSDs have the lowest power consumption
• Looking at the storage space, lower storage space drives generally have lower power consumption.
• Looking at the NAND Layering Type, 3D NAND consumes more power as compared to 2D NAND.
• NVMe Interface consumes more power as compared to the SATA interface.
• Drives with the M.2 form factor consume more power than the 2.5-inch and other form factors.
• Idle drives use less power as compared to working drives.
• DRAM SSDs consume a little extra power than DRAM-Less drives.
• SSDs with hardware encryption consume more power.

Most Power Efficient SSDs in 2024

The better the SSD’s internal design, the better would be its power efficiency. This all comes down to how close attention the brand pays to its drive. In our list of most power-efficient SSDs, you’ll find most drives also come on top in terms of reliability, performance, and user ratings. In fact, these are mainly the flagship drives from different brands. Let’s have a look at these.