Ram prices (both DDR4 and DDR5)

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#3442622 11-Dec-2025 09:11

maoriboy:

What effect will this have on the smaller computer stores? I suspect there will be a few that just get priced out of the market due to dropping demand and skyrocketing prices of components.

It will cripple the home-build sector for the next 1-2 years,

I suspect the major manufacturers are locked in with multi year supply contracts so its less likely we will see a similar increase in sealed unit pricing (laptops/tablets/all in ones etc)

But its very clear that the memory component manufactures are rubbing their hands with glee and are very happy for the high prices to continue, by only ramping up production gradually,

https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/memory/memory-crisis-and-sky-high-dram-prices-could-run-past-2028-as-samsung-and-sk-hynix-opt-to-minimize-the-risk-of-oversupply/

Unless the AI or cloud computing/data centre market topples over I have a nasty feeling that this level of pricing could simply be the cost that home computer assemblers are going to have to pay for their "hobby"

cddt

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#3442633 11-Dec-2025 09:47

wellygary:

Unless the AI or cloud computing/data centre market topples over

I think this is what will happen. The massive data centre capex which is taking place will need incredible revenues to justify. And right now those revenues don't seem to be materialising, and with open weight models just one step behind the companies making the investments don't have a moat...

Also an interesting read: https://petewarden.com/2025/11/29/i-know-were-in-an-ai-bubble-because-nobody-wants-me-%f0%9f%98%ad/

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SpartanVXL

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#3442634 11-Dec-2025 09:55

The quick price increases here are usually ‘we don’t have stock, we’ll charge you heaps to order it’ pricing. The more costly or uncommon SKU’s will be really expensive or not stocked at all. We will get b-f grade stock come in priced as premium kits, always happens in NZ.

wellygary

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#3442642 11-Dec-2025 10:25

cddt:

I think this is what will happen. The massive data centre capex which is taking place will need incredible revenues to justify. And right now those revenues don't seem to be materialising, and with open weight models just one step behind the companies making the investments don't have a moat...

In the medium to long term yes, But as a great economist once said "In the long Run we are all dead"

Whether AI tips over next month or next year, it isn't going to bring ram prices down next week when you want it...

wellygary

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#3442644 11-Dec-2025 10:28

SpartanVXL:

The quick price increases here are usually ‘we don’t have stock, we’ll charge you heaps to order it’ pricing. The more costly or uncommon SKU’s will be really expensive or not stocked at all. We will get b-f grade stock come in priced as premium kits, always happens in NZ.

We are a tiny speck in a small global memory spot market , and there are huge long term contract commitments being made... we're all bidding for the same left over scraps...

Its just like when the dams ran dry, the Gentailers will shield their customers , while those exposed to the spot market get burnt to the ground..

CrushKill

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#3442815 11-Dec-2025 16:54

IronH:

my 64GB RAM kit has gone up more than $1000. $348 in sept, today it's $1372 (G.Skill Ripjaw M5 Neo). That's a 4x price increase in 3 months.

Other stuff also seems to be going up, my nvme drives went up $300, cpu went up $110, motherboard up $35 etc. There was an announcement last week that AMD is increasing it's pricingg. GPU's are also set to go up again very soon. RTX Super series looks like it's postponed indefinitely. Consoles are likely going to go up, and anything else that needs memory, like TV's and virtually every tech product. Tech media are warning that 2026 is going to be a pretty horrible year for tech enthusiasts.

What I'm interested in knowing is what will happen if someone needs to RMA their RAM. Would a supplier replace it or try to choose to refund because it's a significantly lower cost when they can sell the kit for a lot more. Touch wood I won't need to find out.

This is wierd, becasue mothersboard sales are down 50% and in the US they are bundling heavily discounted boards with other components, just to get rid of them.

High RAM prices will also kill sales of all the other components, as it is REQUIRED for a PC to function.

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CrushKill

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#3442816 11-Dec-2025 16:55

Rust:

Early Monday morning I was looking online at a 64gb kit from ExtremePC for $806. When I went back at lunchtime to see if it was still available the price had gone up to $989.

Not cool ExtremePC.

This is scummy. All the RAM currently on sale was bought at the old pricing from suppliers.

richms

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#3442817 11-Dec-2025 16:58

CrushKill:

Rust:

Early Monday morning I was looking online at a 64gb kit from ExtremePC for $806. When I went back at lunchtime to see if it was still available the price had gone up to $989.

Not cool ExtremePC.

This is scummy. All the RAM currently on sale was bought at the old pricing from suppliers.

Not necessarily, it could be on consignment.

Richard rich.ms

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#3442823 11-Dec-2025 17:36

richms:

CrushKill:

Rust:

Early Monday morning I was looking online at a 64gb kit from ExtremePC for $806. When I went back at lunchtime to see if it was still available the price had gone up to $989.

Not cool ExtremePC.

This is scummy. All the RAM currently on sale was bought at the old pricing from suppliers.

Not necessarily, it could be on consignment.

At both times the website stated 5+ in-stock, 0 stock at supplier.

Suggests it was current local stock.

richms

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#3442828 11-Dec-2025 18:13

Rust:

At both times the website stated 5+ in-stock, 0 stock at supplier.

Suggests it was current local stock.

That is where its located, not who owns it at the time.

Richard rich.ms

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#3442830 11-Dec-2025 18:31

richms:

Rust:

At both times the website stated 5+ in-stock, 0 stock at supplier.

Suggests it was current local stock.

That is where its located, not who owns it at the time.

I see what you're saying. Hadn't considered that. Still irksome, but accept it may have been beyond ExtremePC's control.

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IronH

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#3443462 13-Dec-2025 09:07

Handle9:

fe31nz:

I thought the choice of replace or refund was up to the owner, not the seller.

It is.

Another issue could be whether a replacement kit is actually in stock. I've noticed a lot of the other 64GB kits I was looking at when I bought my DDR5-6000 in September are no longer available, not even from the retailers supplier, and who knows if/when some of them will get replenished (crucial RAM is going to be a huge question mark next year). You can ask for a replacement, but your exact kit may not be in stock, so you may have to wait months for a replacement to arrive, or, the retailer you bought it from may say that there is no substantially similar product of similar or equal value available to give you as a substitute, eg I was looking at buying a 96GB DDR5 kit in September, but the place I would have bought that from now doesn't have any 96GB kits available. Meaning the only option would likely be a refund, or a very long wait of unknown duration. If you take the refund, you'll be out of pocket. That 96GB kit, had I bought it in September would have cost me ~$450, buying a replacement elsewhere would now cost $2200!

noroad

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#3443464 13-Dec-2025 09:44

Here's another thing I noticed yesterday when looking for additional Enterprise SSD drives. There are none available anywhere, they are just gone entirely off the world market. A few months ago there was plenty of sata ssd drives in general, now almost nothing.

vexxxboy

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#3445456 18-Dec-2025 16:56

vexxxboy:

Can confirm this , my son bought 2x16GB ddr5 for $182, the same product is now $286 . That was March

Looked today and the same product is now $580

Common sense is not as common as you think.

GV27

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#3445479 18-Dec-2025 20:24

https://overclock3d.net/news/gpu-displays/nvidia-plans-heavy-cuts-to-gpu-supply-in-early-2026/

It gets better. Now we're going to see a pivot away from supplying the market with enough gaming spec graphics cards, presumably so that can also be gobbled up by AI/Data centre processing demands.

Gaming rigs for $10K are going to become the norm, not the fringe outliers.

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