Wednesday, April 3rd 2019
PC Memory Prices in Free Fall, Time to Upgrade
Prices of PC DDR4 memory modules are normalizing to 3-year lows as the pre-Summer PC upgrade season looms and several AAA game launches line up. 8 GB (2x 4 GB) dual-channel DDR4 memory kits have dropped to around USD $50 on popular PC component retailers such as Newegg, 16 GB (2x 8 GB) kits can be had for $80 at DDR4-2667 speeds. Premium 16 GB dual-channel kits (DDR4-3200 and above) start at $99. Premium 16 GB kits with RGB embellishments now typically start at $120.
Perhaps the biggest news from these memory price drops come in the form of capacity. 32 GB dual-channel (2x 16 GB) memory kits now start for as little as $144, for a kit with two dual-rank DDR4-2667 modules. Premium 32 GB kits, with RGB lighting and speeds as high as DDR4-3000 now start at $180. HEDT builders also have reason to cheer, as 32 GB quad-channel (4x 8 GB) kits start for as little as $150, and premium kits with DDR4-3000 frequency can be had for as little as $184. Newegg and the US aren't the only places you can find sharp drops in memory prices. Even across the big pond in Germany, we've been tracking significant drops in memory prices, with 16 GB dual-channel kits starting at 79€, premium 16 GB kits around 100€, 32 GB kits at 160€, and premium 32 GB kits around 190€.
Memory prices showed an upward trend since the start of 2017 as the industry witnessed DRAM shortages. Some companies such as Samsung even put out brazen statements that it favors memory prices remaining high as it lets them be profitable and offset losses from their NAND flash portfolio. Market regulators around the world, including the Chinese, found massive evidence of price-fixing among DRAM makers, threatening them with heavy fines and market-access denial. The DRAM industry showed early signs of buckling to pressure from regulators as they revised their Q1-2019 outlook to expect fall in revenue from DRAM, signalling drop in DRAM prices.
Perhaps the biggest news from these memory price drops come in the form of capacity. 32 GB dual-channel (2x 16 GB) memory kits now start for as little as $144, for a kit with two dual-rank DDR4-2667 modules. Premium 32 GB kits, with RGB lighting and speeds as high as DDR4-3000 now start at $180. HEDT builders also have reason to cheer, as 32 GB quad-channel (4x 8 GB) kits start for as little as $150, and premium kits with DDR4-3000 frequency can be had for as little as $184. Newegg and the US aren't the only places you can find sharp drops in memory prices. Even across the big pond in Germany, we've been tracking significant drops in memory prices, with 16 GB dual-channel kits starting at 79€, premium 16 GB kits around 100€, 32 GB kits at 160€, and premium 32 GB kits around 190€.
63 Comments on PC Memory Prices in Free Fall, Time to Upgrade
It's good to see that RAM is finally starting to trickle back down in price.
My plan is to buy a 32GB kit once prices get back down to how they were in 2016.
www.gsmarena.com/samsung_to_miss_market_expectations_in_q1_2019-news-36226.php
And even then you buy used memory to cut prices even further.
So if 32GB kit is £80 in shop's you will get them used for around £50-60 depending on speed of course.
Also some thing that is note worthy is that as soon as DDR5 is introduced and manufacturers start move over to DDR5, prices of new DDR4 will stabilize or ever increase so buy your DDR4 memory before that happens.
Use dramexchange.com to predict when prices hit rock bottom, they can ahead of time reliably predict when prices are about to increase by watching supply and demand on the spot market.
"Data-intensive applications like big data analytics and machine learning will be key drivers for the adoption of DDR5, with enterprise close behind.”
Maybe you mean that DDR5 won't arrive in consumer systems before two year and yes that could be correct BUT the raging CPU war between AMD and Intel could force an earlier adoption of DDR5 in the consumer segment driven by competition where a longer period of co existens with DDR4 and DDR5 will take place until DDR5 over takes DDR4 completely.
Well at least 32Gb+ won't be such a bank breaker as it has been... Gives you a reason to do stupid things doesn't it when things are a bit cheaper? :)
Yes I meant to say DDR5 won't be mainstream before 2021, though if it comes in phones (LPDDR5) then it'll be "mainstream" slightly earlier.
If Intel gets their game together, they'll release Ice Lake by the end of this year. The next CPU from them will come at least a year after that. AMD is just about to release Zen2. A Zen2 refresh will probably follow next year and the first chance they have to tinker with the memory controller will be one year after that.
It has been hinted the consumers will be able to buy DDR5 in 2020, but right now I don't see that happening.
It's going to happen, ships have started to be tapped out. But don't make your RAM purchasing plans based on DDR5 just yet.
I'd say LPDDR5 is a key component in their plans to move away from x86, even if it takes more time than some of us expected.