Are ram prices going to go down?

Posted by obtuseperuse@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 81 comments

I have been out of the game of PC hardware since 2022 when I built my current rig, however my ram (32gb ddr5 ~150 cad at time of purchase) has now died a rather sad death (done every single trick in the book to try to resuscitate, entire PC hard locks up in uefi or if it even manages to boot locks up halfway through test 0 of memtest86). All the prices I'm seeing for, well, literally any 32gb ddr5 kit are beyond astronomical, the same kit I have is now going for 600-700 cad depending on the retailer now and I am blown away. I heard the ai trend was killing memory prices, but I didn't realize it was this bad. Is there anything special going on right noe to inflate prices or is this just the new normal in 2026? Furthermore, is it reasonable to think prices will become more affordable at any point ?

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Maker99999@reddit

If you remember back to the initial crypto mining boom, GPU demand went through the roof. People started paying 50% above msrp to get them. Manufacturers saw that raised their prices on the next Gen to match what people were willing to pay during the shortage. Those prices never went back down, only up, because it was proven that was a price the market would pay.

Everyone spending $1k on ram today are just proving thats a price the market is willing to pay.

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Pretend-Ad-6453@reddit

i mean, GPU prices did sorta go down though

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Maker99999@reddit

A top end graphics card is 3-4x more expensive today than it was 10 years ago, even accounting for inflation. Even if you ignored the current AI chip scarcity markups, the 5090's msrp is double the 1080's msrp in real dollars.

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TheyTukMyJub@reddit

Right, but how much more computing power does a GPU possess now vs 10 years ago? And what VRAM is being used?

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Maker99999@reddit

Computing getting significantly more powerful over time has been the norm since the beginning of computing. It's not normal for prices to out pace inflation to get that increase. You wouldn't expect your laptop to cost $20k even though it's over 20x more powerful than my $2k laptop from 2006.

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SnooPandas2964@reddit

Yes, thats how things have been. But PCs were a new and rapidly evolving industry. And well, they're not as much anymore. The low hanging fruit has been picked and each new gen is either not getting much improvement or if it is, its because its using more silicon and more power which equals more money.

The ice engine took a similar course. They were improved a lot at first and also, the price came down due to scale, then improvements slowed down. Now, cars are sold more on their 'features'. And the price doesn't go down anymore.

Not a perfect analogy because cryptocurrency and ai... but I'm sure you get the idea. The pace of advancement can't come without cost forever when the technology matures, unless there is some huge breakthrough.

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CuteMaintenance2794@reddit

It's cause I'm building a new PC. GPU prices exploded when I built my last PC. I can never get in when prices are normal.

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Naojirou@reddit

This needs to be swung everywhere, even if it doesn’t change the outcome. I can just not upgrade my pc for the next 5 years fine, but the prices will soon affect other goods, so even if the ram prices somehow go down, goods that uses rams might just keep their prices…

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DJAksel@reddit

this is just how it works. in sweden now every part that you need is on sale because of the ram prices. motherboards, cpus, psu even gpus... so it effects the whole market. if u cant afford the god damn ram why should you even buy rest of the computer. its so stupid. i paid 1300kr for 32gb kingston ram to my wife. not the same ram is 7000 sek.. i cant justify that. even at low as 990kr on sale sometime. its insane

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obtuseperuse@reddit (OP)

God I do remember that. Makes me miss the days when top of the line was a 980ti at under a grand USD.

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HobbyGamer-07@reddit

Looks like it dropped now last time I checked it was more than 150 usd for 16gb 3200mhz now it dropped below 90

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simonnn666@reddit

Actually..Yes. They will go down, and it might be sooner than most people think. Since googles announcement of their opensource KV Cache and vector compression method TurboQuant, we've seen the big three ram companies take a modest dive in their stock prices. What this means is, AI data centers will need less ram, therefore more ram making it's way into the consumer market. This will be released opensource within a few weeks to a month and we have already seen other models out now.

However, many data centers have pre purchased ram for months to years in advance. So will the prices ever go down to mid 2025 prices? Doubt it...The major three will do what they can to prevent that from happening. Ram was so cheap for a while because the supply had been oversaturated for some time and it will doubtfully go back to where it was, but I suspect ram prices will go down to at least 200% by the end of the year, meaning prices will still be about double what they were, but not quadrupole like they have been the last couple months.

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Accomplished_Leg8500@reddit

Not how percentages work. If prices go down by 100% they would be free.

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Low_Manner7810@reddit

if ram is 400% of the original price and it decreases by 100% to 200% then it would cost 300% to 200% of the original price, use your brain and review the *context* of the statement. 400% minus 100% is not 0 it is 300%

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titir11@reddit

Probably he means the percentage of initial price

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xX_Thr0wnshade_Xx@reddit

it took about 5 years or so from the crypto boom for GPU's to start selling at MSRP again. Assuming this for ram, by the time it's 2028/2029 prices will come down to reasonable-ish levels but only around 2030/2031 or so will ram actually sell at MSRP again. That still wont be as low as they were last year, since most ram kits were blow MSRP due to a surplus in supply. So if you're question is whether prices will ever come down to what they were last year, your answer is basically never.

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Ender_Nether@reddit

No, they will only go up and up and up...
It is partially due to AI centers, and partially because of artificial inflation (to make it too expensive for consumers), because they want us to go into cloud gaming, which is heavily promoted now... I expected this to happen 3 years ago.
Why? Profit and control.

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RRA_Spec@reddit

Yes they will. Europe and China are already seeing a dip in prices, compared to Jan 2026.

Eg: 32Gb DDR5 6000 Jan 2026: 580eur Mar 2024: 400eur

They are still very high, considering I bought 32gb DDR5 6400 with 120eur before all this AI shit.

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DensePreparation5@reddit

This post aged well

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AirGief@reddit

This isn't the first time this happened, but its the largest increase and most sustained.

RAM prices will crater, but it will be due to everyone in their mother jumping into production of RAM because profit margins are astronomical. That naturally balances out supply. When you see LLM models encoded on chip starting to make rounds it will be your sign that RAM prices are about to drop.

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sopcannon@reddit

Only ram prices that might be going down are Dodge Ram.

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pho-huck@reddit

Ironically those are loaded with PCs that have RAM, so also no lol

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get-a-mac@reddit

Judging by how crappy infotainment systems are, so like 4MB of RAM?

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pho-huck@reddit

Oh, dude, the infotainment system in a car is a fraction of the processing that cars have in them these days. So much of the drive train, exhaust/emissions systems, AWD monitoring systems, auto sensing headlights and windshield wipers, coolant monitoring, etc., all have computers tied to them. Cars are absolutely packed with computers these days.

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get-a-mac@reddit

So 8MB :P

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RevoZ89@reddit

8mb will display the odometer on your digital iPad dashboard. Cars are using dozens to hundreds of GM of RAM these days, spread across many systems.

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vtdone@reddit

cars likely will be using an embedded operating system and ARM microcontrollers like linux so won't be running a bloated OS like windows - and they have to be optimised for max profit so will not be wasting so much RAM.

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RevoZ89@reddit

New features like lane keep assist, active crash data, adaptive cruise control, blind spot detectors, built in cameras, onboard engine monitoring/optimization systems can absolutely use gb’s of NAND storage/RAM. The hundreds of gb figure, to be fair, is for cars with self driving.

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shredding_pow@reddit

A Tesla with full self driving has 24 Gb

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Excellent_Pin_2111@reddit

Only if you get the expensive version

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Agreeable-Top8212@reddit

Someone give this guy a medal 🥉

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TomoAries@reddit

You're joking, right? Those overpriced legal-loophole pieces of shit that only suburban insecure businessmen who want to cosplay as country boys buy? They're gonna keep raising the prices on all America light trucks until America itself collapses like Rome. Computer RAM though? That's already going back down.

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sopcannon@reddit

I'm not even from the USA. It was a joke. r/whooooosh.

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TomoAries@reddit

It’s a joke that doesn’t make sense. It’s a basic word pun with no weight behind the words.

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JaewonLee0917@reddit

One of the best comments I've seen

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MastodonMaliwan@reddit

And why would the manufacturers do that? To do us all favors? Favors don't get you mega yachts and condos.

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Special-Function4830@reddit

Yes it isnt

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Stranger5473@reddit

Well, there is only so much that AI companies will need to buy, they wont really buy forever, so when that limit they need is reached, the demand from said companies will lower, and prices will go down eventually, however i doubt it will ever go as low as it used to be

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jap_the_cool@reddit

Yep and probably sooner than most think here.

Ram manufacturers are already making less new deals and the whole ai bubble still needs A LOT of cash to pay for all the stuff they already got.

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gunsandtrees420@reddit

Yeah this was a really steep really fast rise in price, once AI data centers hit the point of demising returns the price will go down(unless there's more advancements making the need for infrastructure bigger), but I'm sure they'll hit that point sooner rather than later and we'll see prices drop again.

Like you said it just depends how long it takes the bubble to burst, and how much investors overestimate their needs. If the markets flooded with old data center ram it'll probably be cheaper than before the ai bubble started.

Generally these things go out of style fast, look at NFTs, and consumers are literally telling them to stop pushing AI cause the normal person just doesn't care.

I guess we'll see. Hopefully it's soon.

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Top_Warthog_5002@reddit

Dont give me hope...

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TontonTaro@reddit

Please, let me believe that is the real incoming thing 🙏🏼🙏🏼

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gunsandtrees420@reddit

I don't know if you heard, but Sora AI (ChatGPT's video creator) just announced they'd be shutting down. It's not unlikely that this is the start of it. OpenAI is slowly realizing that the cost is too high to be a sustainable business model, and investors are starting to back out of their deals. Investors pulling out also creates really bad press for them; it will make other investors even more skeptical of their investment and more likely to pull out of the deal themselves.

I don't think it's quite a sure thing yet, but it's definitely the start of the AI bubble bursting. We might see the end sooner than we even thought.

Here's a video I found explaining why this is likely to kill OpenAI and their subsidiary ChatGPT.

https://youtube.com/shorts/PIFC6IBBx_8?si=RodWzMJS0Fpz0E7A

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Positive_Barber_3013@reddit

I got an email from Corsair for a 25% discount on ram. DDR5-25 if anyone wants to confirm for themselves

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MiguelMedV@reddit

We'll see. I don't even wanna do AI stuff anyway, I'm just gonna need a new laptop soon to work better. Keep me posted 👍🏼...

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Top_Warthog_5002@reddit

Man I'd wish, I remember being so close to ordering 64gb in the peak of the prices, for like maybe 230usd, ahh those good days one year ago, then of course I decided "I'll build my pc next year" I dont think I will...

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Excellent_Pin_2111@reddit

I see a lot of no’s🥲🔫

What about in 2-3 years… Maybe?

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TomoAries@reddit

Impeccable timing. The AI bubble is starting to burst this week so prices are already starting to go down.

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PlaneAd2428@reddit

really?

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blacky00001@reddit

Lol no

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Fast_Kiwi_8121@reddit

ram prices are crashing as we speak https://imgur.com/a/MR1nRow

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SpecialistServe3974@reddit

CXMT chips might be cheaper AFAIK

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RedArrow23@reddit

I work in procurement, and everything I buy that involves memory is on a 5 day quote validity. The price changes so much they lose thousands overnight for some of these server units

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ThirdEyedZombiee@reddit

I bet all the basement dwellers who said no feel stupid no one is going to buy your $300 ram that's been sitting on Facebook marketplace

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xpeke2@reddit

Nah. Might continue to increase for like 6-7 more months before becoming the new average price.

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VintenDio@reddit

Ain't no way I'm gonna accept that fucking Ram cost the same as a fucking PS5 or Nintendo Switch 2

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CemalF31@reddit

Check your warranty!!!

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WolfBV@reddit

2028

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IshayM@reddit

Just like with gpus back then, even after the rampocalypse ends, this is just going to be the new “normal price”. Companies know consumers will buy at this price so that’s what they’ll be pricing it from now on

Free market ftw

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Efficient-Throat9262@reddit

The thing driving RAM prices is AI data centers and that market is expanding, not contracting.

I think it'll reach an equilibrium point eventually, where manufacturers will finally, begrudgingly settle for a lower profit margin for consumer SKUs simply to keep their entire consumer customer base from imploding, but to be clear when I say "equilibrium", I mean they'll settle at a new price ballpark (perhaps where they are now, perhaps moderately lower) rather than continuing to rise, not go down to pre-data center RAMpocalypse levels.

Does that mean RAM prices will continue to rise in the short term? Likely. Which is why I still suggest people not go out and buy RAM "while it's cheaper" to stock up, because mass buying while prices are still increasing will signal to companies that price fatigue hasn't set in for consumers yet.

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