What's up with ram prices?

Insanties_birth

Insanties_birth

Insanties_birth

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Why are ram prices shooting up so much? Not on this site alone but in general. It's strange when there's nothing new being done with them, I bought a rig 7 years ago with 4gb ram and they're still stuck on 2gb sticks.
Anyway would it be better to just bite now or will these prices go down eventually? Seems ridiculous if they can keep them up.
 
I'm just wondering if there is anything actually up with the ram industry or is this just price gouging? And will it end at some point?

I only just started getting interested in PC gaming after years of being a console gamer and I find ram prices have gone up without any reason (seemingly) and other stuff are apparently going up and up. I just hope they go down eventually or I might be put off.
 
Same here I paid 60 odd for a set of Corsair Dominators 2*2gb kit and now I can't really touch them now. It such a pity that everything is going up.. Blame recession :(
 
Yep, RAM (especially DDR2) is such an expensive component again, cost of silicon or dwindling stocks of DDR2?
 
most the memory manufactures switched from ddr2 to ddr3 production so you would expect prices to fall.

i think they are all just beeing greedy it really annoys me when you read a motherboard/cpu review and they are all like with ram prices really cheap right now it makes sense to just grab 6gb for 60$ you look at the date and want to cry
 
I got 4gb of Kingston HyperX in April 09 it cost me £30.43 +vat for 2x2GB
Now its £79.99.
 
The rapid price increase is due to the economic crisis causing manfufacurers to reduce production, thus reducing supply to keep prices artificially high! They apparently made overly pessimistic predictions for sales during this period and slowed down production. It is the same for almost all components to one degree or another, but RAM pricing has always been more volatile than any other component I can think of...

The diamond industry is the most obvious example of this technique being used repeatedly for decades. Read about how De Beers holds back the diamond stock and releases it as a slow trickle to the Hatton Garden re-sellers:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...r-row-gail-counsell-investigates-1551152.html

'Like many aspects of the industry, the way in which rough diamonds are sold is steeped in tradition and tightly controlled. De Beers realised back in the Thirties that the industry had to tread a delicate path between maximising sales and destroying the mystique which justified far higher prices for gem diamonds than for industrial stones, and that the key was co-ordinated action by producers - a cartel, in other words.

Nearly all the world's gem diamonds are mined in a handful of countries - Australia (which produces the most, but also the poorest quality), Zaire, parts of the former Soviet Union and Botswana / South Africa.

So the company persuaded the other diamond producers to funnel almost all their sales of rough diamonds through one organisation, the Central Selling Organisation, run by De Beers. The CSO fixes a set price for its diamonds - no matter what their origin - which varies only according to quality, and attempts to match supply and demand to avoid undermining its price structure.

Primary access to the stones is tightly controlled. Diamonds are offered at 10 'sights' or sales a year in London. Only a limited number of 'sight-holders' are invited - as few as 220 names are on the list, though not all will be asked each time.

Sight-holders cannot specify what they will be offered. When they arrive, they are escorted into a room and given a small packet; a sort of diamond lucky dip containing a mixture of rough stones chosen by De Beers. They cannot pick and choose from this selection; it is all or nothing. What they do not want for their own use they must resell.'
 
Although the above is true, prices of DDR should fall considerably within the next year. Reasons:

Manufactures are discontinuing DDR2, and will be producing only DDR3 - DDR2 prices will go up - DDR3 price should come down.

Manufactures are employing more staff to up production - more production, prices should go down.

Manufactures have created several new facilities housing multiple R&D and manufacturing plants - more research and more manufacturing, prices should come down.

Manufactures are switching production to 2x nm. - Meaning more chips can be fitted onto each waffer - saving the manufacture a LOT of money, prices should come down.


So there you have it, if people spew any more about DDR manufactures being hurt by the recession/over production in the coming year it is complete BS. Try to remember that they have also made several brand spanking new facilities, along with employing more staff. Where did they get that money to expand? - Your pockets. They aren't suffering at all it's complete BS, it's what's known in modern society as greed :o.
 
Sounds like a lot to do with production and sales, I hope it does improve like Vortx said as if it's like the diamond industry where they keep the prices up I'll be screwed. I'd get them anyway but it's bad to have to jump in if the prices will go down.
 
Nothing new here, RAM prices have always been extremely volatile.

Personally I thought it was underpriced a year or so back, i.e. you could get the 'normal' amount of a RAM for a new build (4GB) for under £50. Traditionally it's normally been at least 50% higher than that over the years (e.g. say £75 for 512mb back in 2002).
 
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