Originally posted by: acegazda
HaHa... rambus... I wasn't old enough to spell computer when rambus was the norm, but ridiculous prices nonetheless.
I fully agree that prices of all RAM are too high however it can be explained in 3 words: supply and demand.
I'll extrapelate thoughLike dave said, there was lots of RAM last year, so mfgs had really low prices. With the intro of C2D and such, people go out and buy memory. They come back to the forums, post their experience with the RAM and more people go out and buy it. Supply goes down, prices go up. People continue to buy RAM. Supply may go back up, but mfg's realize that people will pay the high prices, so they don't lower them.
Capitalism at its most shrew.:evil:
What are you like 10?
Rambus was used in the original p4s
LOL, that reminded me of the early 90's when I worked in a computer store, and RAM was $50/MB. Let's see...that would make 2 GB...$100,000?!
:Q
Originally posted by: Zolty
Originally posted by: acegazda
HaHa... rambus... I wasn't old enough to spell computer when rambus was the norm, but ridiculous prices nonetheless.
I fully agree that prices of all RAM are too high however it can be explained in 3 words: supply and demand.
I'll extrapelate though
Capitalism at its most shrew.:evil:
What are you like 10?
Rambus was used in the original p4s
no man I'm 16, but I thought rambus was last used in pentium 3? I know I have an old dell xps that used rambus, but that was pentium 1.
Ruptga
Lifer
- Aug 3, 2006
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Originally posted by: acegazda
Originally posted by: Zolty
Originally posted by: acegazda
HaHa... rambus... I wasn't old enough to spell computer when rambus was the norm, but ridiculous prices nonetheless.
I fully agree that prices of all RAM are too high however it can be explained in 3 words: supply and demand.
I'll extrapelate though
Capitalism at its most shrew.:evil:
What are you like 10?
Rambus was used in the original p4s
no man I'm 16, but I thought rambus was last used in pentium 3? I know I have an old dell xps that used rambus, but that was pentium 1.
RDRAM was used in early P4s, but everybody hated it because it was hot, expensive, and extremely high latency compared to PC133 SDRAM. And as for the P1 thing, "The first PC motherboards with support for RDRAM debuted in 1999" and the PIII was launched in early '99 and the P4 in late '00, so it would seem that at least one chipset existed for RDRAM with the PIII, but it's best known for its use with early P4s. If Rambus designed any memory for use with the P1, I've never heard of it and it certainly wasn't RDRAM.
EDIT: quote's from Wikipedia's RDRAM page
I got a feeling that ram prices is going to continue to raise the next 3-4 month due to christmas shopping season, kenifield's release, and a resource hoge known as Vista early next year. I somehow don;t think Ram price won;t coem back down for quite a while.
Whats wrong with RAM manufacturers trying to squeeze out more profits ? Its not like anyones putting a gun to our heads to buy ram. If I was a shareholder in a memory company, I would like to have more profits.
Although I too am waiting till prices fall down. Stuck with 512mb for now.
Although I too am waiting till prices fall down. Stuck with 512mb for now.
Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
Originally posted by: acegazda
Originally posted by: Zolty
Originally posted by: acegazda
HaHa... rambus... I wasn't old enough to spell computer when rambus was the norm, but ridiculous prices nonetheless.
I fully agree that prices of all RAM are too high however it can be explained in 3 words: supply and demand.
I'll extrapelate though
Capitalism at its most shrew.:evil:
What are you like 10?
Rambus was used in the original p4s
no man I'm 16, but I thought rambus was last used in pentium 3? I know I have an old dell xps that used rambus, but that was pentium 1.
RDRAM was used in early P4s, but everybody hated it because it was hot, expensive, and extremely high latency compared to PC133 SDRAM. And as for the P1 thing, "The first PC motherboards with support for RDRAM debuted in 1999" and the PIII was launched in early '99 and the P4 in late '00, so it would seem that at least one chipset existed for RDRAM with the PIII, but it's best known for its use with early P4s. If Rambus designed any memory for use with the P1, I've never heard of it and it certainly wasn't RDRAM.
EDIT: quote's from Wikipedia's RDRAM page
I used to work on some older Dell systems, I believe they were the P series, they were P3 systems that used RDRAM. Considering how much Dell was in bed with Intel, and Intel let themselves get bamboozled by Rambus, its no surprise that they had some older systems that used the newer ram types.
Hi,
Yes (as has already been mentioned) it is just a question of supply and demand.
However:
There are three main price factors, not just two
RAM is far more of a commodity, and demand is much more price senstive compared to other PC component products.
The three price factors are:
1. The seasonal variation in demand that have already been mentioned
2. The cyclic variation in supply caused by the time taken to build a RAM fabrication unit (abut 2 years)
3. The long term reduction in prices caused by improved technology
RAM is a "commodity" in two important senses.
1. You can choose how much to buy - when prices are low people buy more RAM in new machines and are more likely to upgrade an old machine. Based on my clients' choices I'd say this could increase purchase volume by upto 50%.
2. There is little proprietory technology in RAM, compared to (say) a CPU, Graphics Processor or Motherboard Chipset. Almost anybody (with enough money) can build a RAM fabrication unit.
By contrast, only Intel and AMD can make (their own) CPUs etc.
Sales of new (or replacement) computers are much less voatlile because the total price of a PC is composed of many different components and hence is much more stable. You ofen have little choice about when you buy a computer (apart from the enthusiast sector); so demand is also much more stable when you look at total PCs. And you have to buy just one CPU, one Mobo, One Graphics card etc. for each machine - in no other components do you see anything to compare with the 1GB 2GB 4GB choice.
So there you have it:
RAM is a commodity with a number of manufacturers competing for market share
Production capability is capital intenstive with a long lead time
High levels of automation amd high capital costs probably mean the production capability of a Fabrication Unit is very inflexible
New tecnology delivering cost and performance benefits makes older Fabrication Units redundant, but also provides some price sensitivity on the Supply side
Demand is price sensitive
Demand for specific types of RAM is subject to dramatic variations as new technology is introduced.
If the Price of RAM were stable - that would be truely amazing.
Peter
Yes (as has already been mentioned) it is just a question of supply and demand.
However:
There are three main price factors, not just two
RAM is far more of a commodity, and demand is much more price senstive compared to other PC component products.
The three price factors are:
1. The seasonal variation in demand that have already been mentioned
2. The cyclic variation in supply caused by the time taken to build a RAM fabrication unit (abut 2 years)
3. The long term reduction in prices caused by improved technology
RAM is a "commodity" in two important senses.
1. You can choose how much to buy - when prices are low people buy more RAM in new machines and are more likely to upgrade an old machine. Based on my clients' choices I'd say this could increase purchase volume by upto 50%.
2. There is little proprietory technology in RAM, compared to (say) a CPU, Graphics Processor or Motherboard Chipset. Almost anybody (with enough money) can build a RAM fabrication unit.
By contrast, only Intel and AMD can make (their own) CPUs etc.
Sales of new (or replacement) computers are much less voatlile because the total price of a PC is composed of many different components and hence is much more stable. You ofen have little choice about when you buy a computer (apart from the enthusiast sector); so demand is also much more stable when you look at total PCs. And you have to buy just one CPU, one Mobo, One Graphics card etc. for each machine - in no other components do you see anything to compare with the 1GB 2GB 4GB choice.
So there you have it:
RAM is a commodity with a number of manufacturers competing for market share
Production capability is capital intenstive with a long lead time
High levels of automation amd high capital costs probably mean the production capability of a Fabrication Unit is very inflexible
New tecnology delivering cost and performance benefits makes older Fabrication Units redundant, but also provides some price sensitivity on the Supply side
Demand is price sensitive
Demand for specific types of RAM is subject to dramatic variations as new technology is introduced.
If the Price of RAM were stable - that would be truely amazing.
Peter
Has anyone mentioned Vista? It's cuz everyone is scrambling to get ram so that they can use the ram hungry vista, and RAM Companies are trying to bank on it.
Conspiracy
Conspiracy
It's all a Republican plot. Don't ask me to explain, but it must be, because anything that is wrong is always their fault.
I noticed 2 GB DDR2 kits at Newegg are $280, for the CHEAPEST.
WHAT IS WRONG HERE.
I could never afford that just for memory, and 2 GB is a very regular amount these days.
WHAT IS WRONG HERE.
I could never afford that just for memory, and 2 GB is a very regular amount these days.
Yeah seems cheaper now. I don't know what I was looking at yesterday. Still, a couple hundred bucks is a lot.
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