When/why did computer RAM get so expensive again?

[Bottom Feeder]

I bought 4gb of DDR2-800 for the wife's desktop not three months ago for less than $45 from Newegg. Now the exact same part number is almost $90.

Did all the hoopla about 64-bit Windows 7 drive the price up? I thought Vista's memory demands brought the price down a few years ago, didn't it? I can see the pricing gradually doing up over time, but doubling in three months? Yikes.

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[Kaiser]

It hit rock bottom this (EDIT: last) year (had to happen sometime) and started going back up a few months ago. Standby for the Max PC article on the subject that I read back then...

EDIT:

DRAM Prices Continue to Increase

Posted 09/09/09 at 08:19:24 AM by Paul Lilly


We've been saying for months now that it's only a matter time before DRAM prices go back up and it will no longer be possible to pick up a high capacity kit with just the loose change in your pants pocket. That time hasn't quite come yet, but according to data by DRAMeXchange, prices for 1Gb DDR2 and 1Gb DDR3 are steadily increasing.

As it currently stands, 1Gb of DDR2 runs $1.53 while a Gb of DDR3 costs $1.66. That doesn't sound like much (and it isn't), but those prices represent increases of 8.5 percent for DDR2 and 5.1 percent for DDR3.

Meanwhile, contract prices for 2GB DDR2 and 2GB DDR3 sticks have shot up $27.50 and $29.50, respectively, in just the first half of September, and we still have the rest of the month to go.

Once again, if you've been eying a memory upgrade, you may want to bite the bullet rather than continue to play Russian Roulette with market prices.

DRAM Prices Rising Into the Double Digits

Posted 11/04/09 at 03:47:17 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The DRAM market slumped to a 15-year nadir last year. But it is now moving briskly on the road to recovery. According to DRAMeXchange, contract prices for 1Gb DDR2 and 1Gb DDR3 chips shot up by 15.7% and 10.9%, respectively, in the late part of October. Nanya Technology's vice president and spokesperson Pai Pei-Lin expects an encore from the DRAM market in November. He believes November will bring yet another double-digit rise in contract quotes for DRAM memory.

[Kiel]

The switch in the market from DDR2 to DDR3, probably.

[StuBeck]

DDR2 is old news, so its more expensive, its more that the industry shifted to DDR3 than RAM prices as a whole went up.

[Kaiser]

See above. Conversely, there's this:

DRAM Prices Poised to Fall in 2010

Posted 11/17/09 at 11:36:20 AM by Paul Lilly

Talk about déjà vu. it's been a rough year-plus for DRAM manufacturers, who have had to contend with an oversupply of chips, falling prices, and a global recession on top of it all. At least one vendor said the DRAM market was the worst he'd seen it in 15 years. So it's a little bit curious that after finally showing signs of a rebound, memory makers appear stoked about an expected reduction in production costs in 2010.

It would make sense, provided the savings aren't passed on to the consumer, but that's usually not the way it works. Nevertheless, as memory makers compete with each other in a race to shrink dies, production costs are set to go down pretty significantly, DigiTimes reports.

Samsung has already adopted a 56nm process for over half of its DRAM output and has been churning out DDR3 chips using 40nm technology in small volume since the fourth quarter. By the second half of 2010, Samsung is expected to be heavily focused on 40nm.
Eplida and Nanya are also flirting with shrunken dies. And according to a recent iSuppli report, the worldwide DRAM industry has the manufacturing capacity to last through 2012.

It all sounds positive, until you consider the current condition of the memory market. But hey, from a consumer side, this is gravy. Bring on the faster, less expensive DDR3 modules.

[Reflex-Arc]

I can't remember what I payed for my last memory upgrade.

[Tgui]

No kidding, mail in rebate included my 4 gigs ddr2 was 65 bucks.

[drrice]

Originally Posted by Tgui

No kidding, mail in rebate included my 4 gigs ddr2 was 65 bucks.

I just picked up this deal. $56 for 4gb pc-6400 DDR2 Corsair memory w/ heatsink.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1692195

[Tgui]

Originally Posted by drrice

I just picked up this deal. $56 for 4gb pc-6400 DDR2 Corsair memory w/ heatsink.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1692195

D'oh.

[StuBeck]

Depending on what RAM you bought Tgui affects a lot. I was highly annoyed to find out our $1.5k workstations from Dell included DDR2 667

I remember that about 6 months ago I was looking at 4GB of DDR2 costing me $40 max for REALLY good RAM. Now DDR3 just makes sense for new purchases.

[ScubaruImpreza05]

Originally Posted by Reflex-Arc

I can't remember what I payed for my last memory upgrade.

I can, I got 8GB of 800 for $87 shipped. DDR3 at the time was nearly $100 for 4GB.

[Harv]

This is kind of the way it works from what I've seen in the past. New ram #1 comes out and is expensive due to demand and low supply. Fabs ramp up supply as more demand comes in and the price goes down as supply meets and outstrips demand. Then new ram #2 comes along and the cycle starts again with new ram #1 going down in supply and rising in price.

This is why I was able to sell my RDRAM for more than I paid for it two years later when I built a new machine.

[kilowhisky]

I thought it was because of the earthquakes and tsunami's in that area of the world. Right after they had those couple of big ones during summer the prices skyrocketed. This has happened before, it should come back down in a couple of months.

[nperkins]

kinda funny... i was JUST talking about this earlier today with some coworkers.

[KKoepp31]

Back in August of 2007
CORSAIR 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) for $26.99 (that went into the girlfriend's computer)

December of 2005
Rosewill 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 333 (PC 2700) for $33.84 (that went into my grandpa's computer)

February of 2004
CORSAIR XMS 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) for $133.00 (that went into my computer build)

Whoa, I didn't even realize that her and my computers both have basically the same memory in them. I've deemed her machine not usable as it is just too old and mine is reaching that point very quickly. I think I will steal her stick of 512 to see how much it will help out my machine. I might be able to squeeze another year out of it or will buy another 1gig stick if necessary.

I've been in the market for a laptop to replace all these old, junk machines. Is it worth getting a DDR3 machine over DDR2? I kind of need a machine capable of running Solid Edge and whatever else the rest of my schooling (engineering) will throw at me.

[StuBeck]

No, it isn't.

[UKscooby]

I wonder if it would be cost effective to make your own. There are reference circuits available, the mechanical specs are available and you can but the chips themselves. I bet in a qty of 100, the pcb's are less than $10 each.

[StuBeck]

Thats a big negative.

[rtmccormick]

Originally Posted by UKscooby

I wonder if it would be cost effective to make your own. There are reference circuits available, the mechanical specs are available and you can but the chips themselves. I bet in a qty of 100, the pcb's are less than $10 each.

i can't see it being profitable or cost effective enough to spend the time to do it at a low volume..

[nairbmik]

I'm stuck with my Dell Dimension 2350 with the lightning fast 2.2 GHz pentium 4 processor with standard 256 mb RAM Although, I upgraded my RAM as high as it could go, motherboard only accepts up to 1 GB. Hope these prices go down within the next year or so, I'm looking to build my own computer for the first time.

[zombiefeedingtime]

RAM!

duh duh-duh
duh duh-uh

LET THE BYTES BE BYTES

[Vostok 7]

ZOMG, RAM gets more expensive the older it gets?!?

Vostok 7

[Reflex-Arc]

Originally Posted by zombiefeedingtime

RAM!

duh duh-duh
duh duh-uh

LET THE BYTES BE BYTES

RAM in the place where I work
(Now face north)
Think about computing
wonder what you payed for it before

[vwzealot]

**remembers the good old days of having to save up $200 to upgrade from 2 MB to 4MB so I could play video games without rebooting the pc with a boot disk to free up conventional memory**

I have nothing to complain about pc wise right now =p

[zombiefeedingtime]

Originally Posted by Reflex-Arc

RAM in the place where I work
(Now face north)
Think about computing
wonder what you payed for it before

It's the RAMbal countdown!!