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PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

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Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#121

Post by bhelkey »

jkingsman wrote: post #18
theginger wrote: post #15

When did a PS5 become a unit of cost? For reference seems to be about 0.002 London buses

I think it's intended as a comparison of cost when building a gaming-capable computer vs. a console of somewhat equivalent power. It used to be a general rule of thumb that you could build a computer of roughly equivalent power for the cost of a game console, or a little more — now the memory costs more than the whole console.

> I think it's intended as a comparison of cost when building a gaming-capable computer vs. a console of somewhat equivalent power.

The PS5 has 16GB of RAM. One can buy 16GB of RAM for ~$100 [1].

[1] https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9fgFf7/kingston-fury-beast-...

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#122

Post by tucnak »

radicality wrote: post #5

I just checked how much I paid around 12 months ago for Crucial 96GB kit (2x48GB ddr5 5600 so-dimm). Was $224, same kit today I see listed at $592, wild :/

I did buy 384 GB worth of Samsung DDR5-4800 sticks for my homelab a few months ago. I was wondering at the time if I really needed it, well ended up using it anyway, and turns out, dodged a bullet big time.

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#123

Post by skwee357 »

radicality wrote: post #5

I just checked how much I paid around 12 months ago for Crucial 96GB kit (2x48GB ddr5 5600 so-dimm). Was $224, same kit today I see listed at $592, wild :/

This is insane!

I got 2 sticks of 16GB DDR4 SODIMM for €65.98 back in February. The same two sticks in the same store now cost €186

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#124

Post by PunchyHamster »

embedding-shape wrote: post #41
wkat4242 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, what really prompted this crisis is AI, as well as Samsung shutting down some production (and I have to say I don't think they mind that the pricing has skyrocketed as a result!) But yes we're going to need more fabs for sure

> Well, what really prompted this crisis is AI, If the shortage of RAM is because of AI (so servers/data centers I presume?), wouldn't that mean the shortage should be localized to RDIMM rather than the much more common UDIMM that most gaming PCs use? But it seems to me like the pricing is going up more for UDIMM than RDIMM.

The chips come from same factory. And difference betweeen those two is... a buffer chip. And extra ram die for ECC

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#125

Post by PunchyHamster »

dylan604 wrote: post #119
dboreham wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same chips in both, made in the same fabs. Any relative price difference is like the difference between regular and premium gas/petrol.

wait, are you saying that there's no difference between regular and premium gas?

no, but made in same place with mostly same ingredients, just different ratio to hit higher octane (and in some cases some extra additives).

Also vary a bit between winter a summer, basically in winter they can get away with putting a bit more volatile compounds coz it's colder

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#126

Post by PunchyHamster »

zozbot234 wrote: post #107
pmdr wrote: post #98

So, like, we were already pretty much priced out of higher-end graphic cards, and now it's happening to RAM. All this while jobs are disappearing, layoffs are ongoing and CEOs are touting AI's 'capabilities' left and right. Next is probably CPUs, even if AIs don't use them that much, manufactures will shift production to something more profitable, then gouge prices so that only enterprises will pay for them. What's n…

Actually, this seems to be mostly a spike in retail prices, not wholesale DRAM contracts that are only up 60% or so in the past few months according to Samsung. So we should most likely place at least some fraction of the blame on our fellow consumers for overreacting to the news and hoarding RAM at overinflated prices. DRAM sticks are the new toilet paper.

"only" ? Nobody is hoarding RAM (at least yet, consumers seem mostly blindsided by it), this is directly caused by industry thirst for AI

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#127

Post by az226 »

timschmidt wrote: post #16

Potentially unpopular take: memory manufacturers have been operating on the margins of profitability for quite a while now. Their products are essentially an indistinguishable commodity. Memory from Samsung or Micron or another manufacturer may have slight differences in overclockability, but that matters little to folks who just want a stable system. Hopefully the shortage leads large purchasers to engage in long-te…

https://videocardz.com/newz/chinese-cxmt-to-produce-ddr5-800...

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#129

Post by compumike »

Lots of people are speculating that the price spike is AI related. But it might be more mundane:

I'd bet that a good chunk of the apparently sudden demand spike could be last month's Microsoft Windows 10 end-of-support finally happening, pushing companies and individuals to replace many years worth of older laptops and desktops all at once.

Re: PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage

#130

Post by EliteGadget »

pmdr wrote: post #98

So, like, we were already pretty much priced out of higher-end graphic cards, and now it's happening to RAM. All this while jobs are disappearing, layoffs are ongoing and CEOs are touting AI's 'capabilities' left and right. Next is probably CPUs, even if AIs don't use them that much, manufactures will shift production to something more profitable, then gouge prices so that only enterprises will pay for them. What's n…

Ram is a commodity they have spikes in demand/shortage of supply which drive the price up like this.

I remember when there was a flood somewhere in Thailand in the 2011 and the prices of hardisks went up through the roof.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomcoughlin/2011/10/17/thailand...

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