16 GB DDR5 rise above 150 Euros
Memory prices continue to rise rapidly. Meanwhile, AMD is said to be delaying the discontinuation of the B650 chipset to reduce costs.
(Image: heise medien)
In less than a month, the cost of DDR5 RAM has increased by around 50 percent. 16 GB RAM now costs at least 150 euros, not counting individual listings on eBay and the Amazon marketplace.
Anyone sorting by best prices on price comparison sites mainly sees individual memory modules. Kits of two modules are significantly pricier. Such kits are almost always advisable for a new PC build to utilize the processor. All Ryzen processors for AM5 motherboards and all Core Ultra CPUs have two memory channels (Dual Channel, 128 bit). These models therefore only achieve their full transfer rate with two modules. With one, performance decreases.
Most dual-channel kits already cost well over 200 euros. 32 GB kits are cheaper per gigabyte but are also rising rapidly. Most kits cost more than 300 euros.
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Impact on Motherboard Manufacturers
Meanwhile, AMD is said to have reversed its internal decision to discontinue the B650 chipset. The cheapest AM5 motherboards with PCI Express 5.0 use the B650. Boards with a correspondingly connected M.2 slot for SSDs start under 100 euros.
B850 motherboards use the same chip but come with higher requirements. Most models have, for example, a WLAN module for Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7. However, the price difference between B650 and B850 is no longer sufficient to offset the additional costs for the memory.
HKEPC from Hong Kong reported in early December that motherboard sales from major manufacturers are said to have fallen by 40 to 50 percent year on year. Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI are among those affected. As long as memory prices do not significantly decrease again, no significant improvement is to be expected.
(mma)
