Why is RAM in general so expensive?

[Skybound]

I've been having my eyes set on a specific kit of ram for a while as I will be upgrading from DDR3 to DDR4 but what I just can't explain to myself is why it is so expensive at the moment. Does it have to do anything with the launch of Ryzen and the fact that AMDs old CPUs only used DDR3 and now use DDR4 and now a bunch of people are upgrading to it? I mean if you look at the graphs on PPP they show that they've been having their price increase over time. A couple of weeks ago you would be able to get a kit of 16GB for around $85-$95. Now they are north of $130 (or at least the kit I want) at the time of making this post.

[79wjd]

DDR3/4 got down to about $30/8gb around a year ago, but then there was some disaster (fire iirc) in one of the large NAND factories which caused prices to rise and then eventually they went down. But phones started using DDR4 and Memory manufacturers realized people would pay (after the original price hike in previous years). 

[RileyTheFox]

1 minute ago, Skybound said:

I've been having my eyes set on a specific kit of ram for a while as I will be upgrading from DDR3 to DDR4 but what I just can't explain to myself is why it is so expensive at the moment. Does it have to do anything with the launch of Ryzen and the fact that AMDs old CPUs only used DDR3 and now use DDR4 and now a bunch of people are upgrading to it? I mean if you look at the graphs on PPP they show that they've been having their price increase over time. A couple of weeks ago you would be able to get a kit of 16GB for around $85-$95. Now they are north of $130 (or at least the kit I want) at the time of making this post.

Memory has always been expensive, for what it is. But with the release of Ryzen, it certainly has increased 

[bgibbz]

Supply/demand. I'm sure the demand increased due to ryzen, and there was some factory issue that is causing a decreased supply. 

[mmaatt747]

there are many factors

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/heres-why-ddr4-ram-prices-have-spiked/

 

 

[mrzoltowski]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

DDR3/4 got down to about $30/8gb around a year ago, but then there was some disaster (fire iirc) in one of the large NAND factories and prices have been rising ever since...and well, here we are today.

Yup memory prices are governed by a lot of factors. Many believe that after the whole NAND supply issue happened, manufacturers saw that they could charge more and people would still buy it. It seems to be rising more and more. Its also to do with taxes and demand, etc etc.

[Skybound]

So it would be safe to assume then that it might take some time before we see prices to go down then?

[79wjd]

Just now, Skybound said:

So it would be safe to assume then that it might take some time before we see prices to go down then?

yes

[mrzoltowski]

Just now, Skybound said:

So it would be safe to assume then that it might take some time before we see prices to go down then?

Unfortunately yes, they seem to be on that curve, might be a seasonal thing too. They might drop in the summer.

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, mrzoltowski said:

They might drop in the summer.

Of course this is crystal ball territory, but I can't imagine why any memory manufacturer would want to lower prices around the summer -- right around when the R5/R3 are launching -- that's prime time to sell a bunch of DDR4. Then add to that the fact that the Note 8 and iPhone 8 will launch in summer/September~ and also likely use DDR4. 

[mrzoltowski]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

Of course this is crystal ball territory, but I can't imagine why any memory manufacturer would want to lower prices around the summer -- right around when the R5/R3 are launching -- that's prime time to sell a bunch of DDR4. 

True that, I just read this:

"

So what's the deal? We reached out to a few memory makers to find out. According to our sources, the DDR4 price increase is due to a number of factors, but primarily smartphones are to blame. Essentially, mobile phone production using DDR4 chips is on the rise. 

The most recent generation of smartphones from the last year or so have been utilizing DDR4 memory, such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the HTC One M9, but thus far that hadn't really affected RAM prices. But that's changed in recent days. The launch of the Google Pixel as well as the Le Pro 3 from LeEco, the Chinese hardware conglomerate currently moving in on the US technology market, has increased demand for DDR4 memory. Combine that with the recent Samsung Note 7 debacle—and the company scrambling to produce replacements for its exploding phones—and the DDR4 market is under more strain than ever.

"

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/heres-why-ddr4-ram-prices-have-spiked/

[Skybound]

Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully we see some price drops soon. Maybe if not enough people buy memory, more companies would be compelled to lower their prices in order to stay competitive.

[mariushm]

iPhone and other phones use LPDDR4 or LPDDR3, not DDR4. But still, all ddr4 come out the same production line.

 

A lot of manufacturers have moved to making flash memory (MLC , TLC)  and regular flash memory for cards and usb sticks as it's more profitable compared to regular ram.

Also DDR4 uses more wafer area compared to DDR3 so it's less profitable if you use same fabrication process, and it's also hard to achieve the higher frequencies DDR4 is known for at the low voltages (1.2-1.35v) without going to lower nm fabrication.

So a lot of manufacturers simply reduced production and took their time upgrading their manufacturing lines for DDR4 so there's a decrease in the amount of chips being made. Also keep in mind that some ram manufacturers like Micron for example shifted a part of their capacity to make GDDR5x and GDDR5 at the same time, instead of DDR4, and others may invest heavily in HBM (like Hynix and Samsung) which also take up a number of wafers in the manufacturing plant... so the production of ddr4 is lower and demand is relatively constant or increasing a bit with the launch of ryzen..

But i suspect there was a lot of stock as companies made a lot of ddr4 thinking windows 10 will make people to upgrade but and that didn't happen)