DDR4 prices for budget PCs continue to rise and explode for televisions
Bad news for low-cost PCs. Prices for DDR4 RAM continue to rise. Consumer electronics will be hit even harder.
(Image: heise medien)
RAM with DDR4 components continues to rise in price. A 32 GB kit with DDR4-3200 speed now costs at least 70 euros. At the beginning of July , such kits were still available for just under 60 euros, in May for less than 50 euros. This corresponds to a price increase of more than 50 percent in just three months.
The German market is thus catching up with the forecast of Trendforce, a market observer specializing in storage systems. From April to the end of June, Trendforce observed price increases of 13 to 18 percent for DDR4 components and expects further increases of up to 43 percent for the current quarter. As the components are the most expensive part of memory bars, the adjustments are clearly reflected in retail.
Consumer electronics, such as televisions, will be hit even harder. These manufacturers are at the bottom of the food chain and, according to Trendforce, will see DDR4 price increases of up to 90 percent this quarter. In July alone, prices in newly negotiated supply contracts are said to have increased by 60 to 85 percent.
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Memory manufacturers change tack
Prices are rising because the three DRAM world market leaders—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—are switching their production to newer memory generations. In addition to DDR5, these include GDDR7 components for graphics cards and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI accelerators. At the same time, server manufacturers in particular are buying up the remaining stock to secure their supply. In the short term, demand is therefore significantly outstripping supply.
Meanwhile, DDR5 kits are about to become cheaper than DDR4 kits. 32 GB DDR5-4800 or DDR5-5600 currently start at around 75 euros. The rising DDR4 prices are particularly bad news for DIY PC builders who want to put together a budget computer. AMD's AM4 platform with Ryzen 5000 processors in particular remains popular due to the low CPU, motherboard and previously RAM prices. However, without the savings on memory, this platform loses its appeal.
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