Will DDR3 prices rise significantly from here on out?

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AhsomahS

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Sep 27, 2013
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Hello,

I currently have a LGA 1150 (Haswell) system that I'm looking to upgrade around Black Friday season of 2018. I use this PC to game primarily, along with some CAD work and minor video editing. In addition to the GPU and monitor, I'm looking to upgrade the DDR3 RAM from 8 GB 1600 to 16 GB 2400. As DDR4 has been the standard for some time, should I expect that prices of DDR3 memory (on say, Newegg) will rise significantly by Q4 of this year as supply dwindles? Or would I be OK in waiting until then to purchase the memory?

On that note, am I correct in assuming that 16 GB 2400 DDR3 will be just fine in handling a planned upgrade to a 120hz 1440p monitor?

Thank you all in advance :)


System in question:

i7-4770K
ASUS Maximus VI Hero
2 x 4 GB GSkill 1600 RAM
XFX HD 7970 Ghz edition
Samsung EVO 120 GB SSD
2 x WD Black 1 TB HDD
Samsung 1080p 60hz monitor
 
Solution
Darkbreeze
DDR3 hasn't risen equally in price with DDR4 because there is a lot less demand for it. DDR3 isn't significantly different in price than it was last year, or the year before, except for very high end kits using top shelf ICs.

Four years ago I bought 16GB of Kingston DDR3 1866mhz memory from Newegg for 128.00. Today you can get the same kit for 135 bucks. Companies are not manufacturing DDR3 anymore though, so you could see prices go up at some point if there is a demand for it since there is only a limited supply based on whatever is already out there on shelves and in warehouses somewhere, at least to the best of my knowledge.

77 dollars for an 8GB kit of G.Skill Ripjaws memory isn't terribly, if any different than what it has been...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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DDR3 hasn't risen equally in price with DDR4 because there is a lot less demand for it. DDR3 isn't significantly different in price than it was last year, or the year before, except for very high end kits using top shelf ICs.

Four years ago I bought 16GB of Kingston DDR3 1866mhz memory from Newegg for 128.00. Today you can get the same kit for 135 bucks. Companies are not manufacturing DDR3 anymore though, so you could see prices go up at some point if there is a demand for it since there is only a limited supply based on whatever is already out there on shelves and in warehouses somewhere, at least to the best of my knowledge.

77 dollars for an 8GB kit of G.Skill Ripjaws memory isn't terribly, if any different than what it has been all along. I'd probably just buy it now and not take the chance because once stocks are depleted, that's likely the end of the road. DRAM manufacturers aren't going to dedicate resources to making products that have been end of life for more than three years now when they can't even keep up with orders for the current DDR4 product that isn't.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $77.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-29 21:52 EST-0500


I'd also recommend just getting another 8GB of the same speed memory you have now. I don't see any way to justify the higher speed RAM unless you are simply looking to improve some kind of benches. You won't see a worthwhile return on your money in gaming or in application performance. Perhaps a little, but the scaling from 1600 to 2400, if your system will even run those sticks, and they will almost certainly require an overclock of your CPU to do so, probably isn't worth the extra cost at all.

Your money, your rig. Certainly they WILL be faster to some extent, but not enough to justify it in the end.
 
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topheron

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The magic 8 ball says...

It's hard to predict the future.

It really is a difficult question to answer. As always no matter what the cost, you need to figure out if you will not be able to do something because you don't have enough memory. If that is the case (the game requires 16GB) then you need to buy ram to get 16GB.

Let your needs determine your purchase, not anticipated price rise or fall.

The monitor will work fine with whatever type of system ram. What bottlenecks games and keeps them from displaying 120Hz at 1440p is going to be the video card (primarily), the CPU speed (important) and having ENOUGH ram... (If the game you want to play says it's minimum is 8GB of ram but they strongly recommend 16GB, you should get more ram.)

This is the article I trust about buying computer parts right now:

https://www.techspot.com/article/1561-build-a-pc-bad-idea-ddr4-memory/

Yeah, it talks about DDR4, but that is because you are several generations back with your current system. Your graphics card was released in 2011.

You're past being able to upgrade this system to keep up, and I personally would limp along until I was able to get an entirely more modern system.

I personally applaud you for thinking about buying that monitor though... because though it might be a really really sucky time to try to buy gaming computer video cards and ram, the price of a really good monitor like that is not a bad deal. You'll get many many years of use out of the monitor and no regrets that you spent too much money by buying when the prices were their highest.

Seriously, don't worry about DDR3 prices rising and falling. Spend as little money as you can until you can do a complete system overhaul.
 
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AhsomahS

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Sep 27, 2013
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I appreciate the answers thus far. As a final question, besides benches, what would higher RAM speeds do for a user? And for gaming in particular, would it be correct to assume that more RAM is preferable over higher speeds, having to chose one?
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Getting ALL of the memory you expect to ever need, which right now, for gaming, is likely 16GB, together in a matched set that guarantees dual channel operation, is far more important than moving up a few hundred mhz in clock speed.

I'd much rather have, and run, 16GB of DDR4 2133mhz memory in dual channel than 8GB at 3200mhz or higher. Since there are no guarantees that adding memory later will allow you to run in dual channel, since often unmatched memory tends to have compatibility issues, not always to be sure, but often enough that it is a concern, I'd highly recommend budgeting for 16gb in a matched set NOW, and not have to worry about it down the road.

The higher speed modules may offer you some minor performance increase but the increase in total memory and the fact that they are running in dual channel offers FAR more performance that you will actual be able to notice.
 
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