Question Is the cost of RAM going up everywhere?

[DAPUNISHER]

Wait, so is that what everyone is doing, turning off EXPO to extend potential life of their kits?

Not everyone.

All of my X3D CPUs combined with my gaming proclivities, make running JEDEC a more than acceptable solution. XMP/EXPO/DOCP is overclocking, after all. I don't want to do an RMA and the company give me a refund because it is their cheapest out. Can't hope to replace the ram for anywhere close to what I paid for it. Some, I bought used and may have no recourse, lacking proof of purchase.

 

[mikeymikec]

Is Corsair known to be a problematic brand? I have a faulty DDR4 memory module I pulled from a computer (not one I built) about a month ago, but I don't have a receipt or anything. I'm wondering whether to try and file an RMA.

 

[evident]

2x48GB GSkill set i bought a few months ago for $180 is now $900 on newegg. tempted to ebay it now

 

[Thunder 57]

Is Corsair known to be a problematic brand? I have a faulty DDR4 memory module I pulled from a computer (not one I built) about a month ago, but I don't have a receipt or anything. I'm wondering whether to try and file an RMA.

Good luck with that. They'd tell you to take it to the computer manufacturer who will almost certainly say it is out of warranty, being DDR4 it is probably a bit old at this point.

 

[iCyborg]

I received my replacement memory today, so G.Skill is still sending replacements. I looked up the selling price and was tempted to resell it, but I know as soon as I do, I would end up needing it somewhere.

I know what you mean - I have a 2x32GB, at some price level I might be tempted to sell one of the sticks. Kinda like kidneys - I can live with one.
Granted, selling a single stick may be harder than a kit, but there will be desperate people

 

[mikeymikec]

Good luck with that. They'd tell you to take it to the computer manufacturer who will almost certainly say it is out of warranty, being DDR4 it is probably a bit old at this point.

I forgot to say that it's a Vengeance LPX module, if that makes any difference. I was doubtful given the current climate in particular, but otherwise I assume these modules have "lifetime" warranties, as tends to be the standard in the business for "premium" modules IME.

 

[Thunder 57]

I forgot to say that it's a Vengeance LPX module, if that makes any difference. I was doubtful given the current climate in particular, but otherwise I assume these modules have "lifetime" warranties, as tends to be the standard in the business for "premium" modules IME.

It should depend on who sold the RAM, the ones who sold you the computer or Corsair. There are fancy builders out there (ibuypower, don't know if they still are) that will sell you a computer with nice RAM, but Corsair still wouldn't be responsible for the warranty.

As for Corsair itself, I have used their RAM and my current case is Corsair and both have been great. It seems they have gone downhill since they went public though. For RAM over the past decade or so I have preferred G.Skill and I have taken a liking to Teamgroup as they seem solid and are generally cheaper.

 

[dlerious]

I forgot to say that it's a Vengeance LPX module, if that makes any difference. I was doubtful given the current climate in particular, but otherwise I assume these modules have "lifetime" warranties, as tends to be the standard in the business for "premium" modules IME.

I picked up a 2x16GB kit earlier this year. The box says limited lifetime warranty. My box has a copyright 2015, while the safety and compliance information mini pamphlet says copyright 2024 and directs you to corsair.com/warranty which lists conditions

 

[Thunder 57]

I picked up a 2x16GB kit earlier this year. The box says limited lifetime warranty. My box has a copyright 2015, while the safety and compliance information mini pamphlet says copyright 2024 and directs you to corsair.com/warranty which lists conditions

That's standard for memory from a reputable brand. The "limited" part basically means you didn't abuse the hell out of it or much more likely you are the original buyer/owner. The date doesn't matter. For warranties that transferred between owners it is generally described as a "double lifetime warranty".

I thought this stuff was common knowledge. If you bought a Dell or whatever with a Seagate HDD that failed in six months even though the warranty is two years they would tell you to kick rocks and contact Dell. Every RMA (which is less than 5 for sure) I have ever requested wanted a receipt or some sort of proof of purchase. If you bought a full system it doesn't matter what parts are in it if you didn't purchase the component.

And it is the purchase date that matters, not the manufacture date. That would be stupid as it could sit on a shelf for a year. I had a HDD once I just got and seemed fine but it had a decent amount of powered on hours. I said "nope" and had it sent back because when I did the warranty check it was less than the five years it was supposed to be.

 

[manly]

But we had one other option, another PC in the office that was no longer in use had 2-4GB 2400 sticks. Talked my wife through how to open up each machine, remove the RAM from the one PC and install it in the new one. She got it done and the PC ran all day without any crashing or errors. Guess it pays to hoard PC parts sometimes!

Value sucks, but used 4GB sticks should be easy to find on eBay if you don't need them same-day. Or need to keep some spares in the office.

IIRC new 32GB kits of DDR4 were "on sale" for $150 for Black Friday (just 2 weeks ago). They are now all going for $190+.

So as well chronicled in this thread, both DDR5 and DDR4 have approx. quintupled in retail price these past few months. 🤮 (I believe early in this thread, someone commented it's still a good time to DIY build 🤣 ).

That's standard for memory from a reputable brand. The "limited" part basically means you didn't abuse the hell out of it or much more likely you are the original buyer/owner. The date doesn't matter. For warranties that transferred between owners it is generally described as a "double lifetime warranty".

I thought this stuff was common knowledge. If you bought a Dell or whatever with a Seagate HDD that failed in six months even though the warranty is two years they would tell you to kick rocks and contact Dell. Every RMA (which is less than 5 for sure) I have ever requested wanted a receipt or some sort of proof of purchase. If you bought a full system it doesn't matter what parts are in it if you didn't purchase the component.

Correct. I've done few RMAs, but proof of purchase isn't always required. Sometimes they go by "honor system" because they have all the serial numbers in their database, and already know if an item has a retail warranty.

 

[Thunder 57]

Correct. I've done few RMAs, but proof of purchase isn't always required. Sometimes they go by "honor system" because they have all the serial numbers in their database, and already know if an item has a retail warranty.

Sounds right, I don't remember all of my RMA processes. But they did always want the serial number(s). How they handle it from there, I wouldn't know.

Also you posted before I edited my post explaining just that, the serial number warranty check. I always do that with HDD's in particular.

 

[aigomorla]

Wait, so is that what everyone is doing, turning off EXPO to extend potential life of their kits?

ideally yeah.
Because your downvolting almost 15% from what EXPO over volts.
Hence less power, running ram slower = less heat and less electron degredation. And its on a magnitude of double life span increase.

Normally you wouldn't care about double the life span, because its like looking at 5-7 yrs typically vs 10-14yrs. Not many people i can think of hold ram 5 yrs, unless its a secondary machine that got retired out and put on retirement duty.

But i have a feeling if the AI bubble doesn't pop within a couple of years, it can take a bit more, until AI farms just stops upgrading GPU's and Servers.

BTW... word has it samsung even now has denied Ram to their mobile and computing department.
Meaning they rather sell to AI then internally to their phones and Tablets.

A rift emerges between Samsung's phone and memory divisions

Samsung's memory division has reportedly rejected a long-term DRAM supply deal with Samsung MX for Galaxy phones.

www.sammobile.com

There is an edit, but If we learned anything in regards to AI, its that never trust a tech comany anymore.
They are all liars.

So yeah, were in for a VERY VERY DARK Phase in PC's.
Nvidia no longer supplying DRAM, and Samsung even saying they rather sell to AI then internally.

 

[Makaveli]

Wait, so is that what everyone is doing, turning off EXPO to extend potential life of their kits?

No expo on and secondary timings done on my kit I fear not 😂

 

[moonbogg]

I feel like such a ballerass with my 32gigs of DDR FIVE SIX THOUSAND. Yo, I also got 32 gigs of DDR4 just sitting here like I don't even care.

 

[evident]

I feel like such a ballerass with my 32gigs of DDR FIVE SIX THOUSAND. Yo, I also got 32 gigs of DDR4 just sitting here like I don't even care.

My 96GB is live on FB marketplace right now, about to go on ebay. time to make back what i spent on my 5070TI. my haswell NAS is gonna live on for a few more years i guess! Being a PC enthusiast nowadays sucks. every month there's a run up on another component for AI, Mining, etc... and it'll never go back down to what it was.

 

[aigomorla]

I feel like such a ballerass with my 32gigs of DDR FIVE SIX THOUSAND. Yo, I also got 32 gigs of DDR4 just sitting here like I don't even care.

then i feel im holding a Fabergé egg with these guys:



They are the ever so rare EXPO rated Server RDIMM, that i probably wont get my RMA back if these guys were to go belly up.

 

[Ken g6]

ideally yeah.
Because your downvolting almost 15% from what EXPO over volts.
Hence less power, running ram slower = less heat and less electron degredation. And its on a magnitude of double life span increase.

I guess I got lucky with the RAM I got last year. I ordered 64GB DDR5-6400, with an AMD board, thinking I'd eventually use it with Zen 6. I couldn't find XMP settings anywhere on this AMD board (didn't know it's called EXPO) so I just tried manually setting the RAM to 6GHz at stock voltage. And it works and I've never raised the voltage.

But now the question is, does frequency alone damage the lifespan of DDR5?

 

[Shmee]

Frequency should matter much less than voltage to my knowledge. Even if you set frequency high and timings tight so that you get errors, yes your system could crash and you could even corrupt your OS/files (assuming you are doing this with a drive and OS installed) but you could still reset CMOS and put your RAM back to stable settings. But if you set voltage too high for too long, you will physically degraded the chips, and fast.

Also, I seem to recall that power used goes up proportionally with frequency, but with voltage increase it goes up much quicker, the model is cubic. Though I could be wrong or oversimplifying here.

 

[iCyborg]

I'm going YOLO with my 6000 MHz and CL30 at 1.4V 64GB kit.
I didn't even know I was living on the edge here.

 

[manly]

My 96GB is live on FB marketplace right now, about to go on ebay. time to make back what i spent on my 5070TI. my haswell NAS is gonna live on for a few more years i guess! Being a PC enthusiast nowadays sucks. every month there's a run up on another component for AI, Mining, etc... and it'll never go back down to what it was.

I should sell the 32GB DDR4 kit I recently sniped, but I'm too much of a hoarder. 🙄

There are some structural reasons why what you posited about the future is true, but I'm not very good at predicting the horizon.* As of now, it seems like we'll look back quite fondly at 2023-2024 as good times for enthusiasts, even if GPU value has sucked for a while.

* I still believe the AI bubble will pop and crash the global economy, but that remains to be seen.

 

[moonbogg]

If you got 96gb of DDR5 you can trade it for a house.

 

[evident]

If you got 96gb of DDR5 you can trade it for a house.

eh.. lets not get too ahead of ourselves. it's worth a little more than an RTX 5070 TI at the moment.
but lets check back in a month lol.

 

[Shmee]

eh.. lets not get too ahead of ourselves. it's worth a little more than an RTX 5070 TI at the moment.
but lets check back in a month lol.

So, from what I am seeing, it's closer in price to an RTX 5080. Especially for the good stuff.

 

[Soulkeeper]

The more we talk about it, the more the scalpers will buy/charge.
It's just like the previous events. Had the community not noticed the army of scalpers might not have rushed in to get rich quick.

 

[BoomerD]