DDR3 Supply is Finally Starting to Shrink

[AudiTTFan]

Summary

While the hardware community watches helplessly as DDR5 memory remains priced too high for most consumers, the price of DDR3 is also starting to rise as DRAM manufacturers shift their focus to DDR4 and DDR5. 

 

Quotes

Quote

In the midst of the gradual shift to DDR5, DRAM suppliers will also scale back the supply of DDR3 solutions, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. With Korean suppliers accelerating their withdrawal from DDR3 production, Taiwanese suppliers yet to kick off mass production using newly installed capacities, and Chinese suppliers falling short of their expected yield rate, the global supply of DDR3 solutions will undergo an impending decline.

 

My thoughts

As someone whose most powerful PC still uses DDR3, this came as a tremendous shock, primarily because I didn't know DDR3 still existed. Fortunately, the prices are still slightly lower than those of DDR4, and I doubt that my memory will break from simply hearing me talk about RAM failures the way DDR2 does. I don't think it'll be long until it gets more expensive in the secondhand market as well, although I feel like my SandyBridge-era motherboard will be dead before that ends up happening.

Sources

https://www.techpowerup.com/292708/trendforce-ddr3-consumer-dram-prices-expected-to-rise-by-0-5-in-2q22-due-to-rapidly-shrinking-supply

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ddr3-supplies-rapidly-shrinking-as-consumers-hold-onto-older-hardware

 

[Zodiark1593]

I doubt the supply was going into desktop modules, so much that these were going into Single Board Computers and other low end devices and applications. Probably a lot of smart TVs are using DDR3. I’d imagine a lot of lower end DSLR and compact cameras also use DDR3. And SSDs have been using DDR3 for some time as well. 

[dogwitch]

6 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

I doubt the supply was going into desktop modules, so much that these were going into Single Board Computers and other low end devices and applications. Probably a lot of smart TVs are using DDR3. I’d imagine a lot of lower end DSLR and compact cameras also use DDR3. And SSDs have been using DDR3 for some time as well. 

seems about right. i been watching a ton of upgrade videos. tons of nas dd3 up till 3 years ago manf. rest are going into wat you mention.

[Doobeedoo]

I expected it happed way back already.

[leadeater]

No! Not my DDR3, yes I'm using DDR3 still lol

[starsmine]

Im surprised they are still making ddr3. I just bought 16 gigs 5 months ago, and when I got it I found it to be new old stock from 2012

[GoodBytes]

Considering that apparently OEMs have good price on DDR5 (apparently costs a bit more than DDR4, but nothing like the price we see), I have a feeling that memory manufactures are just taking advantage of the market in the DIY space to increase their profits the most they can. Won't be surprised if there is price collusion not by RAM manufacture themselves, but rather by the assembler (Kingston, GSkill, Corsair, etc.). 

[IkeaGnome]

3 hours ago, leadeater said:

No! Not my DDR3, yes I'm using DDR3 still lol

Either I got a smoking deal, or it's happening quickly. I paid $26ish a sitck on Feb 19. Up to $40ish now.

Spoiler

 

[Fasterthannothing]

I thought they stopped making this awhile ago.

[Dominik W]

9 hours ago, leadeater said:

No! Not my DDR3, yes I'm using DDR3 still lol

Same boat. It's starting to fall apart haha

[AudiTTFan]

22 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

I doubt the supply was going into desktop modules, so much that these were going into Single Board Computers and other low end devices and applications. Probably a lot of smart TVs are using DDR3. I’d imagine a lot of lower end DSLR and compact cameras also use DDR3. And SSDs have been using DDR3 for some time as well. 

Same, I was thinking that aside from a few companies still making laptop DIMMs (mostly just AliExpress companies at this point) it would've had to be going into IoT devices and industrial embedded systems 

[suicidalfranco]

Good thing I upgraded my macbook Pro to 16gb years ago

 

[darknessblade]

Summary

DDR3 SDRAM set to get more expensive as Samsung and SK Hynix plan to cease making it.

 

Quotes

Quote

 Samsung and SK Hynix, the largest makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), plan to cease production of DDR3 memory, affecting inexpensive devices like routers that still use this type of memory. Micron and makers of specialty DRAM will maintain the production of DDR3 for the foreseeable future, but it is evident that it is time for DDR3 to leave the scene. 

 

My thoughts

This was to be expected now that DDR3 is  2 generations old. If this also means that they can put the factories that produce DDR3 to use for the production of DDR5, prices of DDR5 might decrease, due the higher stock that is being produced

 

Sources

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-and-sk-hynix-to-cease-ddr3-production-shortly

https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/04/02/ddr3-soon-phased-out-in-2022-samsung-sk-hynix-cease-production/

[aisle9]

Buying brand new DDR3 hasn't made sense for the last several years. Cheap DDR3 is going to continue to be all over eBay, and $5 prebuilts stocked with DDR3 will be at garage sales for years to come. It's kind of sad to see DDR3 go, but it's also kind of surprising that it was still being produced for consumer use, and it's really not a big deal. If anything, maybe sell off any extra DDR3 you have lying around right after production ends. There tend to be bumps in pricing here and there, and the end of consumer production would be one of them.

[Needfuldoer]

There's plenty on the secondary market anyway, now that it's two generations old and DDR3 rigs are getting retired we don't really need more.

 

I loaded up my Ivy Bridge servers with ECC DDR3 for under $1.50/gig.

[da na]

46 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Buying brand new DDR3 hasn't made sense for the last several years. Cheap DDR3 is going to continue to be all over eBay, and $5 prebuilts stocked with DDR3 will be at garage sales for years to come. It's kind of sad to see DDR3 go, but it's also kind of surprising that it was still being produced for consumer use, and it's really not a big deal. If anything, maybe sell off any extra DDR3 you have lying around right after production ends. There tend to be bumps in pricing here and there, and the end of consumer production would be one of them.

Servers is why it was still being made. I'd say at least 1/3 of servers running worldwide use DDR3. 

It'll probably be a bit harder to find new RAM for my workstation now. 

[BondiBlue]

Most of my systems are DDR3 based, but I don't see this as a concern at all right now. There is PLENTY of DDR3 available on the used market, and plenty of it gets thrown away all the time as well. I can't keep track of how much DDR3 I've pulled from systems that were headed to be recycled, and for the most part there's nothing wrong with it. 

[AlTech]

This might cause problems for budget phones and some SBCs that use LPDDR3 because of SOC support. Super low end Qualcomm SOCs are still on LPDDR3 iirc.

[Bitter]

I bought all the large capacity DDR3 I needed ages ago in 1600 or 1866 because oddly 1866 was cheaper??? for some reason. I have 16GB 1866 in my HTPC and another 16GB split between a few other PC's, put 32GB in my dad's Haswell SFF HP build because it was under $100 for it! Did it need that much, nope. But it was cheaper getting 4x8GB than 4x4GB for some reason.

 

Last year I decided to stop buying anything needed DDR3, it's getting too dated now to be of use going forward.

[williamcll]

There's plenty of other (and new) DDR3 manufacturers out there.

[Bitter]

On 3/13/2022 at 8:06 AM, leadeater said:

No! Not my DDR3, yes I'm using DDR3 still lol

Same. i7 4950HQ desktop uses DDR3 1866, 16GB of the stuff. Thankfully I bought all I'll need a long time back when it was dirt cheap used. Waiting for the sake for DDR4 so I can get some better than 3600 C19 for my Ryzen. I just didn't know better!

[Elijah Kamski]

On 3/14/2022 at 12:06 AM, leadeater said:

No! Not my DDR3, yes I'm using DDR3 still lol

Lol, but seriously actually?

If so, rip my guy

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Elijah Kamski said:

Lol, but seriously actually?

If so, rip my guy

Yep, it's not like I've ever been CPU bound in any way that matters. CPU advancement up until Zen 3 has been irrelevant. I have 4930K quad channel G.Skill Trident 2400MHZ DDR3 CL10 10-12-12-31 1T so better than most DDR4 setups as it is, bandwidth and latency. Faster than Dual Channel DDR4 3600 

[BondiBlue]

1 hour ago, Elijah Kamski said:

Lol, but seriously actually?

If so, rip my guy

There are plenty of us DDR3 users still out there. Only one of my computers has DDR4 in it, and the rest are DDR3. Still have a couple DDR2 machines running, but they're getting close to being retired at this point. 

[Remixt]

My first gaming PC used DDR3 when it was brand new. Back when we had to deal with the cap on memory being only 4gb for windows xp.