Buying ram for Ivy in advance - save money?

[TidusZ]

Just wondering if it's a good idea to buy DDR3 in bulk right now in preparation for ivy bridge. I want to buy 4x8gb which really isn't cheap (~$280 cdn) because I *think* the price will go up when Ivy comes out, but I really don't know. I've been to the website with ram price trends and frankly I don't understand it.

Followup question, is Geil brand ram decent? I can get that with better timings for cheaper than crucial, corsair, etc. I would assume it should be equal to ram from other companies but people always seem to strongly recommend 1 brand or another.

Also I wont be able to actually use the DDR3 until I get Ivy so the only advantage I have in buying now is if prices will go up on the 8 gig sticks. I also recently got a good deal on a power supply in preparation for Ivy.

 

[samboy]

I purchased 2 sets of:-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231489

Back in January for $120 each shipped (usual price was $150 but there was a 20% off promo). This is still the lowest price I've seen and the price was been fairly stable.

The folks who track memory prices believe that we are near a bottom:-

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory...egins_to_Gradually_Increase_DRAMeXchange.html

Which is probably the best information you will get.

I would not personally expect the price to drop much further in the short term (and more likely to increase a bit, but not too much).

As such I would wait for a sweetener (i.e. some promotion) and purchase in the near term..........

 

[dma0991]

The time period after BD was launched last year, I thought of getting ready to build so I bought myself a set of Kingston HyperX Genesis 4GBx2 in anticipation of SB or IB. Many speculated that the price would eventually bounce back up soon so I bought in a haste thinking that I did the right thing. Now, I could get it for much cheaper than I did a few months back.

If you feel the need to buy it now then go ahead. It is just 2 months away at most from IB launch. Get yourself some DDR3-1600 1.5V sticks and you're set.

 

[Charlie98]

As such I would wait for a sweetener (i.e. some promotion) and purchase in the near term..........

^^^ That...

Get yourself some DDR3-1600 1.5V sticks and you're set.

.

^^^...and that.

I don't think prices will come up appreciably, but there is nothing like a sale!

 

[TidusZ]

Alright, thanks you three. I'll be keeping an eye out for a good deal.

 

[Grooveriding]

I purchased 2 sets of:-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231489

Back in January for $120 each shipped (usual price was $150 but there was a 20% off promo). This is still the lowest price I've seen and the price was been fairly stable.

The folks who track memory prices believe that we are near a bottom:-

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory...egins_to_Gradually_Increase_DRAMeXchange.html

Which is probably the best information you will get.

I would not personally expect the price to drop much further in the short term (and more likely to increase a bit, but not too much).

As such I would wait for a sweetener (i.e. some promotion) and purchase in the near term..........

Somehow that seems expensive to me. I paid $100 for 16GB of the same speed Gskill RAM in a 4x4GB configuration. Or, I am guessing you pay a premium for a bigger size per stick ?

 

[Hulk]

What applications are you guys using that require 32GB of RAM? I seem to be okay with 16GB for what I'm doing but perhaps I could use more?

 

[Charlie98]

What applications are you guys using that require 32GB of RAM? I seem to be okay with 16GB for what I'm doing but perhaps I could use more?

I don't use the 8GB I have now... but YMMV... 😀

It seems like the 8GB single sticks are pretty pricey right now...

 

[bunnyfubbles]

you'd have to be doing some pretty hefty workstation stuff to need more than 16GB

16GB is overkill for the average desktop user, but considering the low cost of 4GB sticks (typically less than $25 a pop for a good 1.5v DDR3-1600 stick) it really doesn't hurt to go ahead and fill up

the 8GB sticks still carry a price premium, as well as typically come with a higher latency penalty, I really wouldn't recommend stocking up on the 8GB sticks unless you really needed the extra capacity. If anything happens to pricing, I'd wager the 8GB sticks would stay roughly the same if not go down, with the 4GB sticks going up in price.

 

[greenhawk]

I seem to be okay with 16GB for what I'm doing but perhaps I could use more?

I had 4GB with the Q6600 when I bought it (was 2GB to start, but when the OS I wanted did not install, I "upgraded").

Currently using 8GB as I wanted to help the system last a little longer (about a year ago now IIRC). It helps, but the attempt to overclock failed (overclocked ok on the older ram (testing), just memory timings on the new ram does not go well with the motherboard for some reason).

Anyway, come the next system, looking for 32GB just to be different / have a large upgrade from the previous system.

I was thinking of SB-E with 4GB so getting to 32GB, but while I was holding off for Ivy, 8GB sticks became a little more common and the price a little more reasonable (not paying 3+ times the codst of a 4GB stick).

Or, I am guessing you pay a premium for a bigger size per stick ?

You do, but how much a person wants to pay extra and how much the manufacture wants to ask for is a sliding scale. Supply vs demand fit very well for the larger sized ram sticks.

 

[gramboh]

I would actually expect 8GB DIMMs to come down in price. Right now they are a low volume item, but demand will increase over the next few years.

To me, the price premium for 32GB (4x8GB) is too high unless you are absolutely going to use that capacity now (VMs?), zero benefit to gaming/desktop use and it will actually hurt performance with slower latencies and possible overclocking issues.

I'm going to buy 4x4GB DDR3-1600 1.5V for Ivy Bridge (watching to see if I can get low profile set for $80, best I've seen is $90ish for the Corsair). If/when I need >16GB I'll just sell the 4x4GB and replace with cheaper 8GB DIMMs, which would be at least 2-3 years away.