WATCH OUT FOR RAM PRICES!

PCUser · Nov 25, 2025

jimbo45 said:
Just do due diligence search.
There;'s plenty of cheap DDR5 RAM around if you need it.
I'm not getting involved in poilitics here -- it's after all a Windows technical Forum - but look to who's in charge of your country and what their policies are on these issues.

I recommend ANYBODY with access to BBC iPlayer to look at the series Civilisations --rise and fall and start with the first episode -- ROME -- in around 390 A.D that empire had almost the identical problems that Europe (EU) / UK and USA in particular are having today.

Not getting any more involved - but if you can get access to the program well worth a watch. !!

Cheers
jimbo

@jimbo45 You're 100% correct on the latter.

P.S. Getting Civilisations Rise and Fall S01E01 Rome now, thanks for the recommendation.

dacrone · Nov 25, 2025

BamaInArk said:
The sudden RAM price increase has been going on now for several weeks. Multiple "PC Tech" channels have been discussing this. In general RAM prices have more than doubled. Of course this all has to do with AI facilities buying up most of the RAM.

technically its because the manufacturers are putting all effort/labor costs into producing the necessary ram for those devices (that host the AI services/platforms) and not producing ram for consumer/end user PCs at the rate they were before. just supply and demand. it'll come full circle soon enough.

gunrunnerjohn · Nov 25, 2025

PCUser said:
That's like saying imagine buying a 75" flat screen in 2005. Ridiculous.

Part of this ridiculousness is due to the insanely stupid tariffs, inflation, demand and the holidays, etc. It's a crap cocktail of sorts.

Actually, a far greater impact is the massive AI buildup, they're sucking all the oxygen out of the RAM/SSD market for the massive datacenter builds.

neves · Nov 25, 2025

The IT hardware "Cartel" is at it again: DRAM market is extremely concentrated - only a handful of companies (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, plus a few smaller ones) produce most of the world’s DRAM. Because of that concentration - these firms have a clear monopoly like - pricing power. When supply is tight, they can raise prices significantly - and downstream retailers have limited alternative sources. Something similar happened back in 2016 - 2018 - when DRAM prices nearly tripled - as part of what’s often called a “DRAM supercycle.” That period ended up with lawsuits and accusations of price-fixing against the major DRAM makers. Given the current environment - with AI server providers placing large long-term orders (often at higher margins) - DRAM makers have a strong incentive to prioritize those clients. That, in effect... reduces the supply for individual consumers - which pushes retail RAM prices up, even if “raw supply” (total DRAM output) increases slightly or stays flat. This is not strictly market manipulation - but it is a business decision that disadvantages consumers by design. Such dynamics easily foster a “fear of shortage” among resellers and retailers - compelling them to hoard stock or raise prices “because supply is tight” - even if actual scarcity may be induced partly by their own actions (or by upstream prioritization). A lot like - what happened in the GPU market during the early pandemic years and what followed... till present time.

PCUser · Nov 25, 2025

neves said:
The IT hardware "Cartel" is at it again: DRAM market is extremely concentrated - only a handful of companies (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, plus a few smaller ones) produce most of the world’s DRAM. Because of that concentration - these firms have a clear monopoly like - pricing power. When supply is tight, they can raise prices significantly - and downstream retailers have limited alternative sources. Something similar happened back in 2016 - 2018 - when DRAM prices nearly tripled - as part of what’s often called a “DRAM supercycle.” That period ended up with lawsuits and accusations of price-fixing against the major DRAM makers. Given the current environment - with AI server providers placing large long-term orders (often at higher margins) - DRAM makers have a strong incentive to prioritize those clients. That, in effect... reduces the supply for individual consumers - which pushes retail RAM prices up, even if “raw supply” (total DRAM output) increases slightly or stays flat. This is not strictly market manipulation - but it is a business decision that disadvantages consumers by design. Such dynamics easily foster a “fear of shortage” among resellers and retailers - compelling them to hoard stock or raise prices “because supply is tight” - even if actual scarcity may be induced partly by their own actions (or by upstream prioritization). A lot like - what happened in the GPU market during the early pandemic years and what followed... till present time.

@neves Also notice that the SAME EXACT DDR5 RAM on Amazon US is more expensive than Amazon UK.

DJNelson · Nov 25, 2025

PCUser said:
@DJNelson Rebuilding laptops is the way to go! I do it too, and notice . . . we're both Dell Precision guys lol

Their build quality makes all the difference.

Wasn't always that way, but they're much, much better than they were 20 years ago.

neves · Nov 25, 2025

PCUser said:
@neves Also notice that the SAME EXACT DDR5 RAM on Amazon US is more expensive than Amazon UK.

Those are regional pricing policies/differences - influenced by multiple factors, such as: different supplier contracts - different costs of labor, logistics, taxes - different market demand and competition, not to mention - currency exchange fluctuations. Also... Amazon - US, UK, DE, etc. operate as separate business units - with their own merchandising, pricing teams and supply chain arrangements. So yeah, they also function somewhat like separate companies - even though they are all Amazon subsidiaries. I've seen the opposite as well (exactly the same products - yet, around 30% higher prices) - during the time (years) i lived in UK.

elbmek · Nov 25, 2025

PCUser said:
Are the prices of RAM affecting how you shop or upgrade your PCs?

If so, how?

Boy am I glad I got myt 32 RAM when I did, for the time being I can relax - at least whilst the pc plays by the rules :ffs:

Scannerman · Nov 25, 2025

I don't think I'll be buying much this Black Friday. I was getting components for less this month before the Black Friday thing began. This only proves what a scam Black Friday has become. If consumers buy into the hype the prices will only continue to skyrocket. For those who don't need AI (Co-Pilot) or any of the other intrusive bloatware DDR4 RAM will serve well enough in most scenarios.

Of course, for those who are keen on bleeding edge early adoption perhaps blades are the thing for them.

Scott · Nov 25, 2025

Mine costs $400US more than I paid for it last year

badrobot · Nov 25, 2025

I just built a new PC a few weeks ago and was so lucky to snag this last stock of Kingston Fury 6000 CL30 32GB DDR5 RAM for only $215 CAD. Then prices sky rocketed a few days after that!

gunrunnerjohn · Nov 25, 2025

It's getting crazy out there!

For one computer I bought a 32GB DDR5 kit this April for $95 on Amazon. I just checked the same memory, it's $299!

For my main computer, I bought a 64GB DDR4 kit for $104, now the same kit is $475!

Scannerman · Nov 25, 2025

Insane. Time to boycott the manufacturers.

x509 · Nov 25, 2025

dacrone said:
technically its because the manufacturers are putting all effort/labor costs into producing the necessary ram for those devices (that host the AI services/platforms) and not producing ram for consumer/end user PCs at the rate they were before. just supply and demand.

Of course supply and demand, plus manufacturer choices in what to build.

dacrone said:
it'll come full circle soon enough.

I'm not sure that most people can wait "soon enough," given the forecasts for AI datacenter builds. If/when the AI bubble bursts, then RAM will get cheap again soon. Of course, if you just lost your job when the bubble burst, then low RAM prices won't matter to youl

PCUser · Nov 25, 2025

Scannerman said:
I don't think I'll be buying much this Black Friday. I was getting components for less this month before the Black Friday thing began. This only proves what a scam Black Friday has become. If consumers buy into the hype the prices will only continue to skyrocket. For those who don't need AI (Co-Pilot) or any of the other intrusive bloatware DDR4 RAM will serve well enough in most scenarios.

Of course, for those who are keen on bleeding edge early adoption perhaps blades are the thing for them.

@Scannerman RE: Black Friday, Agreed, me too. I will DEFINITELY be watching THAT YouTube video! Thanks for sharing!

jimbo45 · Nov 26, 2025

It happens with a lot of other commodities - even such things as if you have kids look at holiday prices / flights in and out of term times.

I believe this whole thing is called "Dynamic Pricing" . --Typical "U.S consultant speak". - e.g "Let GO" instead of "Firing" etc.

I doubt if consumer grade DDR5 is used for these new large data centres - so there's no manufacturers conspiracy theorems going on here. If these are the only companies who can make this stuff then other people need to learn PDQ on hw to do it. !!!

Cheers
jimbo

abactuon · Nov 26, 2025

jimbo45 said:
I recommend ANYBODY with access to BBC iPlayer to look at the series Civilisations --rise and fall and start with the first episode -- ROME

Individuals who lack access to a BBC player are advised to consult Cicero's second Philippic.

Scannerman · Nov 26, 2025

jimbo45 said:
It happens with a lot of other commodities - even such things as if you have kids look at holiday prices / flights in and out of term times.

I believe this whole thing is called "Dynamic Pricing" . --Typical "U.S consultant speak". - e.g "Let GO" instead of "Firing" etc.

I doubt if consumer grade DDR5 is used for these new large data centres - so there's no manufacturers conspiracy theorems going on here. If these are the only companies who can make this stuff then other people need to learn PDQ on hw to do it. !!!

Cheers
jimbo

Admittedly they would not do it if they didn't think the market could bear it. NVIDIA and AMD did the same thing with graphics cards. Nonetheless price hikes like this are insanely high. These increases amounting to 3X the standard cost only months ago are beyond the pale. The only way to deal with it is to refuse to pay the asking price. The consumer must vote with their wallet or prepare to pay more and more and more the same way they did with graphics cards. The consumer has two choices: Boycott or get fleeced.

cheaterslick · Nov 26, 2025

Most laptops come with soldered RAM now, so if you want to upgrade, you have to buy a whole new machine.

DJNelson · Nov 26, 2025

If I wanted to max out the memory in my laptop:

WATCH OUT FOR RAM PRICES!

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I recommend ANYBODY with access to BBC iPlayer to look at the series Civilisations --rise and fall and start with the first episode -- ROME -- in around 390 A.D that empire had almost the identical problems that Europe (EU) / UK and USA in particular are having today.