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Memory crisis is getting so bad that even retro RAM prices are going to the Moon

theregister.com

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Re: Memory crisis is getting so bad that even retro RAM prices are going to the Moon

#61

Post by deadbabe »

KetoManx64 wrote: post #60
deadbabe wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just raise the prices, it works sooner or later. We are not getting the old prices back.

> Just raise prices Let me guess, you've never run a small business before who's existance is based around being small, nimble and inexpensive in order to compete with large corporations? Yours is the same answer that were given to hundreds of thousands of small businesses during COVID who ended up going out of business. Now you get to shop/eat at at soulless $BIGCORP which has the same slop as every other soulless $…

No, but I have purchased from many small businesses who are all raising prices and I basically have no choice but to buy from them anyway.

Re: Memory crisis is getting so bad that even retro RAM prices are going to the Moon

#62

Post by wlesieutre »

holycrapwhodat wrote: post #16
wlesieutre wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2000 when the PS2 came out was the NES a retro console? It was 17 years old, or 14 years since wide distribution in the USA. What counts as "retro" basically comes down to when the person you ask was born.

New NES were still available in the US through at least Christmas 1992, and in Europe deep into 1995, both selling alongside the SNES since 1991. The final new international games were released in 1994, but Europe still got new games into 1995. Japanese Famicoms were still being sold in Japan when the PS2 released. They sold more in Japan in 2001 than in 2000. So no, calling the NES "retro" in 2000 wouldn't have made…

I don't have the magazine to verify, but wikipedia says

> In 2005, Retro Gamer called Snes9x "the best SNES emulator available".[12]

If there was a Retro Gamer magazine writing about SNES emulators, I think it's safe to say some people did consider even the SNES to be retro, 14 years after its US release. My personal experience having used Snes9x around that time, we also considered it retro.

Clearly not everyone though, which is my point in saying what's retro will depend on who you ask.

Re: Memory crisis is getting so bad that even retro RAM prices are going to the Moon

#63

Post by port11 »

illegalsmile wrote: post #58
port11 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the same until I calculated the cost of running DDR3. We’re at 0.35€/kWh so it adds up fast. Upgrading the motherboard and getting LPDDR4 sticks would be a net positive before the RAM prices soared.

Is it really that significant? We're talking watts difference and over a year maybe 100kWh difference? $35/year?

I don’t recall the exact numbers, and it’s not apples-to-apples but:

We have 4 sticks of DDR3 totalling 24GB. From what I remember, our home server uses about 70kWh/year to drive the memory. Buying 2 sticks of LPDDR4 would bring that down to about 5kWh (?).

At the time, I remember that a new motherboard and a couple of sticks would’ve paid for itself in 3 or 4 years, IIRC.

Re: Memory crisis is getting so bad that even retro RAM prices are going to the Moon

#65

Post by DoctorOetker »

vitally3643 wrote: post #43
deadbabe wrote: post #23

People act like RAM is thousands of dollars now. I checked prices recently and while it’s pretty high, it’s not that bad for a component you just buy once and use for a long time. I’m still more concerned about the prices and availability of decent GPUs.

RAM prices are so bad that my business couldn't launch our product this year. RAM increases completely obliterated our profit margin, and would have required raising prices 30%. For a small business, that just doesn't work. A lot of small businesses are getting absolutely wrecked by this.

what small business oriented product or service expense would be dominated by RAM?
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