Is RAM price ever gonna go down?

[jk441]

I kinda need to update/upgrade my PC and looking at RAM prices just makes me sad...

You guys think RAM prices will ever drop back to some sensible prices in the near future?

[samcool55]

Will it drop? Yes.

When? Probably not much in the next 6 months.

 

So, if you need it now, get it now.

If you can wait at least a year, wait, but a year is long.

[dionkoffie]

Just took a look at my local webshop for prices. I can kinda see where you're coming from. 8GB DDR4 is starting from 75 euros here. No idea why it's expensive, but I don't think it's gonna drop anytime soon. Difference between an 8gb DDR4 and DDR3 is roughly about 25 euros (based on my local webshop with the cheapest one I could find).

If you really wanna save money on ram, try finding a used pair of sticks. 

[NMS]

Well according to some charts, we're at the peak atm, or still rising.

https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/

But my bet is not sooner than half a year and even then the prices won't drop to what they used to be.

[Agonizel]

40 minutes ago, jk441 said:

I kinda need to update/upgrade my PC and looking at RAM prices just makes me sad...

You guys think RAM prices will ever drop back to some sensible prices in the near future?

DDR4 will not drop until at least 2020 when DDR5 should be out for consumers.
- The smartphone market, the server market and the prebuild market (Dell, HP,...) are prioritary for RAM manufacturers
- The RAM market is an oligarchy, which means there are only very few manufacturers, which in turn means that competition is almost absent. RAM has 3: Samsung, micron and Hynix. They are currently under investigation for Price Fixing. The RAM market has already be caught price fixing
- The new standard isn't 8GB anymore, but 16GB DDR4 RAM, which makes demand rise even more.
- RAM manufacturers invested in changing their process of production for DDR5, which restricts the production capabilities of DDR4.

The reason why RAM prices are currently stagnating is because of the lack of the complementary product that are GPUs. GPU prices skyrocketed, very few people are building PCs currently. CPU, motherboard, PSU, etc. prices decreased quite a bit in the last few weeks/months because demand is low for those products as custom PCs are less attractive to build nowadays because of the bloated GPU prices.

In august, when new GPUs will be released, if PC building takes up again, RAM prices will rise from their stagnation until at least 2020 if we're lucky.

[Froody129]

New factories are being built. The price is just going to keep going up so if you’re going to buy just buy now. 8gb is still functional but it won’t be for too much longer 

[lewdicrous]

If we find a new material or a new patch of resources then maybe, but until then, we gotta rely on supply & demand.

[iiNNeX]

Probably not since more and more devices are moving to DDR4, just accept it and buy the ram you need, It's what I did.

[jk441]

On 2018. 3. 19. at 11:26 PM, HappyDog_420 said:

They are currently under investigation for Price Fixing. The RAM market has already be caught price fixing

I was hoping at least something from this when I heard the new a few months back but sadly looks like it'll take a while for anything to affect the prices just by the investigations?

[Agonizel]

5 minutes ago, jk441 said:

I was hoping at least something from this when I heard the new a few months back but sadly looks like it'll take a while for anything to affect the prices just by the investigations?

Those investigations are tricky. Even the investigators find instances of price fixing, they still have to prove it; and that's very difficult. If there is indeed illegal commercial behavior and if it ever comes to court, the time the case settles we'll be at DDR5 already

My suggestion: buy 2nd hand, it's just RAM, so it's not the riskiest purchase.

[Murasaki]

12 minutes ago, HappyDog_420 said:

My suggestion: buy 2nd hand, it's just RAM, so it's not the riskiest purchase.

Exactly what i had in mind, unlike other components, ram going bad isn't as common (even rare)

[jk441]

looks like ebay it is

[HunterScott]

On 19/03/2018 at 9:53 AM, dionkoffie said:

Just took a look at my local webshop for prices. I can kinda see where you're coming from. 8GB DDR4 is starting from 75 euros here. No idea why it's expensive, but I don't think it's gonna drop anytime soon. Difference between an 8gb DDR4 and DDR3 is roughly about 25 euros (based on my local webshop with the cheapest one I could find).

If you really wanna save money on ram, try finding a used pair of sticks. 

RAM has throttled in price because of an international lack of RAM, with most of it being bought by the likes of Samsung and Apple for their devices (phones; TVs; laptops etc)

[mbaqu]

it has dropped, a little bit, in my country. Team Elite SODIMM DDR4 2400 16gb, it peaked at IDR 2.5mil ($174) in may and now its IDR 2.2 mil ($153). dunno whether it'll keep going down or will creep up again. but since i desperately need an upgrade i bought a used SK Hynix ram instead tho, saved around $40

[truedestroyer2]

On 3/19/2018 at 5:48 AM, jk441 said:

I kinda need to update/upgrade my PC and looking at RAM prices just makes me sad...

You guys think RAM prices will ever drop back to some sensible prices in the near future?

The price for 16 gb of ram is currently around 160$ depending on the company and speed