In recent months, DDR4 and DDR5 RAM and SSD prices surged dramatically due to an ongoing AI chip shortage and panic buying; some RAM kits now cost 3x as much
Some RAM kits are over three times as expensive as they were three months ago. — It's not a bad time to upgrade your gaming PC.
Ars TechnicaAndrew Cunningham
Context & Ripple Effects
The sharp retail move in RAM and SSDs is an early consumer-market expression of an AI-linked memory supply squeeze, amplified by panic buying. Later coverage shows the pressure broadening beyond memory components into the wider PC bill of materials.
PC builders, upgraders, and component retailers face abruptly higher prices and less predictable availability for DDR4, DDR5, and SSD upgrades.
Memory-heavy upgrades become disproportionately expensive, narrowing the value proposition of a gaming-PC refresh even where other parts have not moved as sharply.
Second-order effects
System makers and PC vendors are pressured to reprice configurations or absorb higher memory costs; later reports of vendor increases indicate that pass-through was already beginning.
Higher RAM and SSD prices can shift purchasing toward lower-capacity configurations, delayed upgrades, and alternative component choices as buyers try to contain total system cost.
Third-order effects
If AI infrastructure continues to command constrained memory supply, consumer PC pricing will become more exposed to data-center procurement cycles rather than just PC demand.
The trend: This is part of an AI infrastructure supply spillover in which demand for data-center memory is transmitting cost and availability shocks into consumer electronics.
RAM price increases will be a real problem for high-end gaming for several years. Factories are diverting leading edge DRAM capacity to meet AI needs where data centers are bidding far higher than consumer device makers.
Recently, DDR5 RAM prices are soaring as most fabrication plants are moving production hours to making High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for NVIDIA's H100 AI supercomputers. Here's my story about how the PS2 predicted the AI memory crisis and a small lesson about computer [image]
just a reminder: RAM and storage didn't suddenly get “expensive because of AI” supplies are being artificially capped on purpose this is textbook price-gouging, nothing more [image]
The PS5 Pro is currently cheaper than a 64GB set of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 ram, in both the US and UK. Wild. Obviously you can buy much cheaper ram and quantities (and more expensive ones too), but it is crazy that ram inflation has gotten to this point due to AI demand. [image]
An entire PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory, even after a discount — simple memory kit jumps to $600 due to DRAM shortage, and it's expected to get worse into 2026
An entire PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory, even after a discount — simple memory kit jumps to $600 due to DRAM shortage, and it's expected to get worse into 2026
An entire PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory, even after a discount — simple memory kit jumps to $600 due to DRAM shortage, and it's expected to get worse into 2026