What the F___ happened to RAM prices?!?!?!?

MDesigner

Platinum Member
Apr 3, 2001
2,016
0
0
I have plenty of RAM (512MB), so I don't really check prices. But I checked just now since my cousin needs 256MB. And at Crucial, it used to cost about $35-$40. Now it's nearly $90!! What the hell happened????
 

bozo1

Diamond Member
May 21, 2001
6,364
0
0
What rock have you been living under? They started up over 2 months ago.
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
33,944
4
81


<< What rock have you been living under? They started up over 2 months ago. >>

 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Oversupply and lack of demand are over. Now the memory companies are slowly rasing their prices to get back into the black, with no one hesitating to follow on a price incrase.:Q
 

Wuzup101

Platinum Member
Feb 20, 2002
2,334
37
91
Alright ....what they said....it started around xmas time. My friend got 256mb of cas2 pc133 for 32.99 from crucial...i was gonna get 2 256mb sticks the next week and they were already up to 60...I wasn't going to pay that (b/c i didn't need it it was just to have extra).

Anyway...does anyone know when they are suppose to come back down? Everyone has gotten so use to paying so little that I doubt they will pay 50cents a mb if that's what it gets to.

...I can rememeber when it was a few bucks a mb though...lol
 

Ausm

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
25,213
14
81


<<

<< What rock have you been living under? They started up over 2 months ago. >>

>>



Ditto :D


Ausm
 

Joony

Diamond Member
Jan 17, 2001
7,654
0
0
I still remember when i got my Crucial 256mb PC2100 DDR for 35 shipped in the summer...now its about 90...
 

JellyBaby

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2000
9,159
1
81


<< does anyone know when they are suppose to come back down? >>

It took fate + widespread production planning mistakes to bring prices that low. That's unlikely to happen again anytime soon. Memory will stay pretty expensive for a long, long time.
 

mikable

Senior member
Sep 23, 2000
303
0
0
Dang memory prices. What am I gona do with the 20 sticks of Crucial 256mb PC2100 DDR I bought for 40 bucks each..... Hmmm, probibly wait till they hit 120 and sell mine for 90! :D
 

ssanches

Senior member
Feb 7, 2002
461
0
0


<< It just went up again today. :( >>



Yeah :( It's going up by the hour IMO. But I don't expect this trend to last much longer. Already PC-800RDRAM is just about 15% higher than PC2100DDR. Let's hope it comes down. I want to buy more 512MB RAM :(

 

Epsil0n00

Golden Member
Aug 29, 2001
1,187
0
76
I saw it going up and grabbed up enough RAM to last me quite a while while the prices were low. I managed to get 1GB of PC2100 for $150! Now that same RAM is like $280! Whew, just missed getting reamed. :D
 

cleanerPA

Member
Nov 27, 2001
65
0
0
Epsilon-
That's 256MB sticks, right?

I waited too long and had to pay top dollar for my RAM- 1GB of PC2100 from Crucial
in 512MB sticks was about $310! :(
 

ToBeMe

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
5,711
0
0


<<

<< It just went up again today. :( >>



Yeah :( It's going up by the hour IMO. But I don't expect this trend to last much longer. Already PC-800RDRAM is just about 15% higher than PC2100DDR. Let's hope it comes down. I want to buy more 512MB RAM :(
>>


Um, Samsung PC800RDRAM can be had for $68/256mb $34/128mb at several places online...............PC2100 @ Crucial is now in the $80+/256mb range for most all boards so actually, unless you buy generic, which most people don't here on A/T, RD is cheaper than DDR.......................
 

MadRat

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
11,999
308
126
Realistic memory prices are good for the consumer. If they hadn't stabilized we'd of continued to have the larger companies swallowing up the smaller companies. We have two factors working in our favor right now:

1. The summer slowdown in PC sales - creates memory glut
2. Cash starved memory industry - they need capitol for new technologies

This memory market is a cutthroat industry. Any of the competitors could rush the product to market before the other to reap huge profits, hence the need to have large quantities of the best product available. While the overall pool of memory manufacturers is relatively small now, look for countries to get protectionist policies up and running again after the wild ride in the tech industry the last three years. You can also be sure the technology companies will be tempered by lendors to have a more steady production plan in the future. Memory prices have stabilized for now and will probably drop 10-20% by the beginning of the next school year. I doubt you'll see the 70-80% drops we've seen in the last two seasons. Why? Because the industry is cash starved and investors would be more apt to punish the manufacturers for driving down the prices like that again.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,685
136
Lots of bankruptcies, buyouts and mergers by memory makers, and the remaining players have figured out how not to slash each other's throats based on what the OEM's are willing to pay. Our (retail) price is a reflection of that. It's still not bad, $.30/meg for DDR- It was $1.00/meg after the Taiwan earthquake for SDR, at a time when there was actually a glut on the market. Reamage Extremeage, lots of middlemen bought new Mercedes and summer homes in the country.

The current situation can be regarded in terms of market consolidation or collusion in restraint of free trade, take your pick. Just guessing, but I would expect the price to come down slightly over the next 6 months, but the days of really cheap memory are over for now.

 

Mavrick007

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2001
3,198
0
0
Memory prices are still low compared to what we used to pay in past years. We're just getting too comfortable with cheap ram and now that it's going up, people cry about it. You could be paying a couple of big bills for a stick so get what you can now and don't complain.
 

AU Tiger

Diamond Member
Dec 26, 1999
4,280
0
76
I doubt that prices will go back down to the lows we saw last year. There is no money to be made at the prices they were selling at last year. The surplus of memory is gone, now they can control production and set prices where they want.
 

Fenix793

Golden Member
Jan 17, 2000
1,439
0
76
dang i shoulda stocked up when it wa slike $25 for a stick of crucial ddr. now im kickin myself....dang $88 for a stick of ddr
 

KingSmoth

Junior Member
Feb 16, 2002
11
0
0
The RAM wells dried up.....
I regret not buying the two sticks of 512MB PC133 I was going to get just before Xmas :(