32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building • Hacker News Board

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#231

Post by zozbot234 » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

KptMarchewa wrote: post #226

overfeed wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most commodity shortages like this end in a glut The 3 RAM manufactures know this too, from painful experience. There won't be a glut this cycle because there are no capacity build-outs. Instead of increasing capacity, some OEMs left the consumer segment to focus on enterprise AI. > Calling this kind of demand economic damage is odd. It's not odd at all because the complementary industries are being damaged - possi…

Good that there is a _fourth_ one. That's actively ramping up and looking to increase market share. CXMT.

CXMT is a tiny supplier, it will take years before they significantly expand the market. They're pretty much in the same boat as Samsung and SK Hynix, they just have less of an incentive to actively curtail supply.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#232

Post by shimman » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

My strategy of just buying the best quality parts within my budget when I need a new build has never failed me yet. Is pretty insane that I bought 4x 32gig dd4 ram for $400 in 2024; literally the same part I paid $200 now goes for over $900:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJ7X9P1W

Consumers need to start playing legal warfare against the companies for openly distorting the market. The ramifications will only hurt us and there needs to be a true comeuppance.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#233

Post by expedition32 » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:46 PM UTC

snkline wrote: post #17

Scene_Cast2 wrote: post #5

This is the PCPartPicker chart that I monitor: https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/#ram.ddr5.5600.... - $900 for 2x32GB, used to be $200 a year ago.

The memory in the PC I put together early last year is now worth about three times the total cost of all the parts I used to build the thing. It is absolutely crazy.

You could get a 990pro 2 terabyte Samsung SSD for €150 just last year. Memory had become a commodity product.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#234

Post by deltoidmaximus » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

nickjj wrote: post #165

I'm sure it doesn't help that people continue to buy things at this price. Steam Deck had a huge price increase (~40-50%) but it still sold out in 24 hours. All it would take is for everyone not to pull the trigger on buying things for a little bit and prices would fall but instead enough people are buying things at a crazy markup. If anything that's a signal to sell things at higher prices. Of course AI is amplifyin…

I doubt it helps but this is such a small piece of the pie I'm not sure how much this hurts things either. Steam Deck is kind of a niche in a niche and doesn't sell in huge numbers compared to other players like PC OEMs and phone OEMs that are now all over a barrel as well as OpenAI tries to buy all the RAM so no one else can have it.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#235

Post by onli » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:52 PM UTC

KeplerBoy wrote: post #121

onli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice, I missed that. The 5700X3D has been the smarter pick back then, it fits to the current latent user hostility of AMD to focus on the more expensive processor.

That's literally the same chip. With pricing being whatever, who cares which one they revive.

It also was the same chip back then and the price difference significant. But maybe you are correct and with the current conditions it doesn't make a difference. I dont know.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#236

Post by giancarlostoro » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC

throwaway67678 wrote: post #207

giancarlostoro wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still believe that Mark Zuckerberg would have been smarter investing all his AI funding into just making RAM fabs. Would probably have printed easy cash. Instead he's burning cash on making IG / FB less secure because of his in-house AI.

That would require having actual technological flair beyond 'buying potential competitors'

Indeed... I am starting to be convinced he's only good in terms of running social media apparatuses.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#237

Post by jcalvinowens » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:54 PM UTC

It's unbelievable and it's only getting worse.

A 2x32GB DDR5 kit I paid $150 for 11 months ago costs $910 today from the same retailer. A 2x16GB DRR4 kit that was $105 last year is now $230.

The RAM alone in my newest machine would sell for over double what I paid for the entire machine one year ago.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#238

Post by zargon » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:54 PM UTC

brnaftr361 wrote: post #8

GN did a documentary on the situation from the perspective of consumer-facing companies. Seems pretty dire for them, and it's hard to see the long-range consequences, but the idea of consumers being priced out isn't too far out, which to me is a little alarming. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zyQwAhppWj8

Consumer oriented parts businesses are going to go out of business from this. Motherboards, cases, coolers, power supplies, fans, etc. At this point it's a matter of how many. Selection and competition will be permanently reduced, as I don't see these types of companies coming back any time soon.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#239

Post by mrec » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

voidUpdate wrote: post #84

functionmouse wrote: post #32

I'm playing the newest games on ddr3 with a 2080 and a 4790k. It's a simple life.

2080? I'm still using a 1070. That thing rocks

Luxury. I'm still using a 1650 Super with 4GB VRAM and it's basically fine. Holding off on a few newer titles, but I'm old and my eyesight is going so 1080 resolution is plenty for me.

Re: 32GB of DDR5 now costs $375 – AI shortage continues to squeeze PC building

#240

Post by nradov » Wed, Jun 03, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

expedition32 wrote: post #233

snkline wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The memory in the PC I put together early last year is now worth about three times the total cost of all the parts I used to build the thing. It is absolutely crazy.

You could get a 990pro 2 terabyte Samsung SSD for €150 just last year. Memory had become a commodity product.

Memory is still a commodity product, in that there isn't a huge amount of difference between vendors selling products that comply with a certain technical standard. Sometimes the prices of commodities (wheat, silver, crude oil, etc) go way up when supply and demand get out of balance.