DDR4 was only sold beginning in 2014, and there were relatively few kits available for tracking, so the price average fluctuates more sharply towards the start with smaller sample sizes. The second graph is of 2x4GB DDR4 kits, which don’t have the benefit of DDR3’s long sales history. In 2014, we predicted mass adoption and switchover from DDR3 to DDR, which largely came to be however, the above is a graph of prices, not sales numbers. Prices were painful until DDR4 was introduced in September 2014, and that’s roughly where prices leveled-out and began to drop, but there doesn’t seem to be the overall downward trend in price that you might expect from old tech. This graph includes the Hynix factory fire in September 2013, which caused a brief spike in prices, but it also reveals that there was already an upward trend that seems to have regained stability after October of that year. There’s been a clear cycle of rise and fall since at least early 2013, which is mildly reassuring in a big-picture sense. The first graph tracks 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz kits, like the one we bought in 2011. 5-Year Historical Price of System RAM (Aggregate) - 2x4GB DDR3-1600ĥ-Year Historical Price of System RAM (Aggregate) - 2x4GB DDR4-2133 We specifically requested this time period as it includes the 2013 SK Hynix factory fire. The below charts were generated for GamersNexus by PCPartPicker, and show a 5-year time period, spanning 2013 to 2018. PCPartPicker wasn’t able to share raw data, but did agree to generate some graphs for us.
We reached out to PCPartPicker seeking some longer-term numbers. There’s a handy page with graphs recording general trends, categorized by memory speed and capacity, which proves that the prices of our kits aren’t flukes: 2x8GB DDR3-1866 kits really have increased roughly 175% in retail price, probably made worse by manufacturers shifting to DDR4 production while customers desperately try to save money by buying DDR3.Įach of PCPartPicker’s public charts are for an 18-month period, though, and are more limited in what they reveal. GamersNexus worked with PCPartPicker to generate additional charts, found further below. PCPartPicker automatically generates price history graphs for each of these kits, and all of them trend upwards on all retailers logged (primarily Newegg and Newegg’s third party sellers).
We’d usually blame overzealous pricing algorithms in combination with the dwindling inventory of DDR3, but these aren’t isolated examples.
For one of the cheapest 8GB DDR4 sticks out there, GN’s Steve just paid twice what we did for two mid-range 4GB DDR3 sticks seven years ago.
That’s better percent gains than many stocks you could have purchased a truckload of memory at the dip in 2015/2016, then sold it for 2-4x the price after using it in a system.įour samples don’t a scientific study make, but they really bring home the point: A PC builder might not have been able to build a bargain-basement PC in 2011 if DDR3 cost then what it does now. In the worst case above, we plotted a monthly price appreciation of $2.25, month-over-month, between May, 2016 and today. The most egregious case was Patrick’s $65 2x8GB DDR3-1866 purchase in 2016, which is now $180. If you bought a truckload of memory in early 2016, you could have had better gains than some stocks, and you could even sell it nearly for retail price after using it for the whole period. I bought a DDR4-2400 16GB kit in 2016 for $81, and it’s now increased 143% in price, landing at $196. In 2011, Patrick bought a DDR3-1600 CL9 kit for $44 in 8GB capacity, which is now available for $80 – an 80% increase, or an appreciation of $0.49/mo. GN staff members have bought multiple memory kits over the past few years, and almost all of them have increased in price since. The simplest way for us to start comparing prices was to look at our own Newegg purchase history.