What's up with RAM prices?

[nate42nd]

This is a VERY popular memory kit I have used in my last few builds. It's the:

4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

It works VERY well in all Gigabyte DDR2 boards I have used. It's very stable up to 8GB and I have loved it. I have purchased 3 kits. All were between $50 USD and $60 USD.

I just got another kit and it's up to $94.99 ! It looks like demand must be up for this stuff. Is all DDR2 RAM going up like this? In 90 days it has almost DOUBLED in price! Is DDR@ going to keep going up? Anyone have any insight? Thanks.

Here's a link to a popular site and the item:

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Desktop Memory

[Ragdollcatman]

I've seen the same thing with some of the RAM I was looking at..

One day 6Gb of it was about £140 then suddenly shot up to £250!

[nate42nd]

I suppose it's mostly supply and demand like anything else but you would think DDR2 would be going down. I hope it does not continue this way, I will start doing all builds with DDR3.

[Psycho101]

DDR-2 will continu to become more and more expensive.

Many production lines are being switched to DDR3. Less RAM on the market = higher prices. Market forces dictate this unfortunately. As it gets even rarer, price will still rise, as in that case, manufacturers and retailers think "Hmm.. they must be desperate to have this old tech if they're considering buying it... lets charge them a shed load of money". Like high prices in a service station, if you really need something, the retailers will give you no choice but to have to buy it at that rip off price. I paid £3.50 for a small cup of coffee the other day because I wanted a coffee and had no choice.

Historically this trend has always occured with RAM. It happened when Normal SIMMS were being out produced by EDO SIMMS, when SDRAM took over, SIMMS shot up in price. Also when SDRAM was replaced with DDR-SDRAM and also when DDR2-SDRAM came out, the older tech increased in price. You can for example still buy DDR-SDRAM, but you'll pay about the same for 2G of it as you would for a 4GB kit of DDR-3.

This price strategy insures retailers make some money back if they have large inventories of older tech as well as encoraging the uptake of the newer generation of RAM.

I think myself lucky that the RAM market has stablised some what. In the 90's RAM prices changed on a daily basis. Nobody quoted prices for their RAM in catalogues and magazines etc, they told you to call them. The difference could be as much as £2-5 per megabyte, remembering that this is the time that 16MB of RAM was huge and most were running 4MB or 8MB.

[nate42nd]

Elpida and Memory and Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation also stopped selling DDR2 on the spot market to drive up the price and get all of us to switch to DDR3.