PNY slashes their XLR8 CS3030 warranties following demand from Chia miners
PNY slashes their XLR8 CS3030 warranties following demand from Chia miners
Miners of the cryptocurrency Chia are using SSDs to mine the currency at a fast rate, destroying the NAND within consumer-grade drives within weeks of operation, adding additional demand to the SSD market while effectively destroying product in the name of cryptocurrencies. Unlike the hardware used in GPU-based cryptocurrency mining, there is no realistic prospect of reselling SSDs that were used for Chia mining.
PNY Reacts
Like many other SSD manufacturers, PNY has started to reduce the endurance ratings of their consumer-oriented SSDs to combat these two factors. Today’s low supply market makes it challenging for SSD manufacturers to replace their products, and Chia miners are attempting to place extra strain on PNY’s support services.Â
In the case of their XLR8 Gaming CS3030 SSD, PNY has decreased the endurance ratings of their SSDs from 800/1665 TBW (Terabyte Written) for their 500GB and 1TB models to 170/360 TBW. These changes represent decreases in SSD/NAND endurance of 78.75% and 78.38%, respectively.Â
While these endurance reductions are large, both drives still have their five-year warranties. With these new TBW ratings, PNY’s XLR8 CS3030 drives can still have their full capacities rewritten every 5-6 days while staying under their TBW rating throughout their 5-year warranty. For 1TB SSD users, this will be a difficult task, as how often do most PC users write over 1TB of data in a week?Â
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Even so, a downgrade is still a downgrade, and heavy SSD users may need to reconsider their choice in SSD storage. Â
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In a statement to TechPowerUp, PNY has said the following, explaining their changes to their warranty structure.Â
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  The changes PNY made to its XLR8 CS3030 SSD’s warranty policy were driven by two factors, the uptick in demand for using high-speed, consumer-grade SSDs for Chia farming, and the industry-wide shortage of NAND. These changes were published and made public on the company’s website in both the warranty section as well as the CS3030 product spec sheet on May 17, 2021.
Why TBW was added to PNY’s CS3030 SSD warranty:
The onset of Chia farming has many PC component brands rethinking their warranties, as consumer-grade hardware is not typically under the type of intense write use that is synonymous with Chia farming. The write activity required to farm Chia coin can wear out typical consumer-grade SSDs in a matter of weeks. Because of this, PNY, like others, introduced a Terabytes Written (TBW) policy to its SSD warranty. For consumers using these SSDs as intended, the warranty time (years) period will likely run out before they hit the TBW thresholds.
Why the CS3030 TBW rating was reduced:
Due to an industry-wide shortage of NAND, PNY qualified additional NAND options for the XLR8 CS3030 SSD. While the read/write performances met or exceeded published specs, some of the TBW endurance was lower thus PNY set its warranty threshold and updated the sell sheet based on the lowest TBW rating of those qualified options. For consumers using these SSDs as intended, the warranty time (years) period will likely run out before they hit the TBW thresholds.
PNY’s SSD warranty coverage:
Drives sold prior to May 17, 2021, correspond to the previously posted warranty, whereas drives sold on May 17, 2021, and later correspond to the latest warranty and TBW thresholds. Again, most consumers that use these drives as intended will likely exceed the warranty time (years) period before crossing the TBW threshold.
PNY, understandably, wants to avoid fulfilling the warranties of Chia miners. Simply put, they are a leech on the storage market that are needlessly destroying product for the sake of potential profits. While Chia markets itself as a “green” cryptocurrency, the currency creates an insane amount of waste in the form of damaged/worn out SSDs.
A lot of time, effort and materials go into the production of SSD storage, and seeing new drives destroyed within mere weeks is sickening. Can Chia be considered “green” when it is producing mountains of electronic waste?
While we do not like PNY’s reaction to Chia miners, we see the merit in their actions. We dislike the fact that this move harms regular consumers, but action needed to be taken to counter this new form of cryptocurrency.Â
Thankfully, those who purchased SSDs before May 17th will have their full warranties fulfilled. Sadly, new purchasers of PNY’s CS3030 SSDs will not be so lucky.Â
You can join the discussion on PNY Slashing their XLR8 CS3030 SSD warranties on the OC3D Forums.Â