When you're choosing a new SSD, you probably focus on the PCIe interface, transfer speeds, and price to make your decision. However, there are other important SSD specs to consider before you drop $100–$150 on an SSD. Perhaps the most important, and often overlooked, specification of these is DRAM. Being a dedicated cache memory that speeds up your SSD, DRAM can prove highly useful in certain scenarios. You should avoid DRAM-less SSDs if you have the budget for a DRAM SSD.

Why does DRAM even matter?

High-speed memory buffer

The way your CPU accesses data works in a hierarchical manner. Whenever it needs a piece of information, it first scans the RAM for it. If it doesn't find it there, it proceeds to the SSD cache before eventually scanning the drive's regular NAND flash. This cache memory, if available on your SSD, is slower than the RAM, but significantly faster than the SSD's flash memory in terms of data access. An SSD with DRAM stores the mapping data in this cache memory, informing the SSD where the frequently accessed data is located on the physical NAND flash.

Now, having DRAM on an SSD doesn't improve performance universally on your computer. For instance, most games won't benefit from DRAM, since games are read-heavy instead of being write-heavy. However, if you're running productivity workloads like video editing, streaming, and database management, DRAM can tangibly boost performance. Most users will not notice a drop in performance with a DRAM-less SSD, but it still might be getting less and less worthwhile to opt for those drives, which brings me to my next point.

DRAM SSDs aren't that much more expensive

Not the place to pinch pennies

One major reason to opt for DRAM-less SSDs used to be the lower cost. These cheaper drives use Host Memory Buffer (HMB) to fulfill the same function as that of DRAM. HMB is nothing but the system RAM of the PC, which introduces extra latency compared to the dedicated DRAM on the SSD itself. The absence of a DRAM chip made these SSDs more affordable for the average user, but the price gap has been decreasing lately.

Today, you can find DRAM SSDs, such as the XPG Gammix S70 Blade, for around $90 for the 1TB model, whereas a popular DRAM-less SSD like the WD Black SN7100 will cost you around $75. The difference isn't negligible, but it's also not something worth sacrificing DRAM over. Depending on your use case, you might not need the extra performance of a DRAM SSD, but that doesn't mean you would never be able to make use of it. DRAM SSDs, even outside of productivity, can offer performance benefits to the average user, which brings me to my last point.

You might not miss DRAM right now, but you will

Every system can benefit from DRAM

Even if you conclude that a DRAM SSD won't introduce any appreciable performance benefits in gaming or day-to-day use, there are still incentives to buy one. For instance, DRAM SSDs can be faster than DRAM-less ones in games with procedural generation, base building, and strategy mechanics. The constant need to write new data to the storage makes these games ideal candidates to leverage the DRAM on the SSD.

Moreover, having DRAM on your SSD can improve the boot time as well, although the difference might not be drastic. You might also get to appreciate the benefits of DRAM if you dabble in non-gaming workloads later. And DRAM also happens to be better for your SSD's lifespan, since the drive becomes better at wear leveling. The presence of the mapping table on the SSD itself makes it faster for the drive to move data around to avoid excessive degradation of a few cells. It also prevents unnecessary rewrites of the NAND flash by storing frequently needed data on the DRAM.

DRAM-less SSDs are becoming less attractive

There was a time when DRAM-less SSDs were cheap enough to let go of the benefits of DRAM. Most users won't even notice the difference in most applications. However, with DRAM SSDs becoming affordable and more users being aware of the importance of DRAM, there's little reason to save $10–$15 by getting a DRAM-less SSD. Even if you don't run productivity workloads on your PC, DRAM SSDs can help you boost performance in some games, improve boot times, and make your SSD last longer.