DRAM Prices Are Hardly Changing These Days
DRAM has been the poster child of rapidly fluctuating market prices for decades. DRAM vendors could get insanely rich one month and fall near bankruptcy the next. Not so right now.
Prices have entered a phase of unusual stability that has been caused by the bankruptcy of the third-largest DRAM maker, Elpida, and speculation what will happen to the company.
According to IHS, spot market prices for 2 Gb DDR3 DRAM fluctuated by 17 percent in the two weeks before the bankruptcy was announced. 12 weeks later, prices changed by only 0.7 percent. Also, prices are substantially higher. On IHS’ pricing index scale, DDR3 is currently listed at 243, a number that relates to the 1000 score when the index was launched in 2002.
“With things still very much up in the air on how events will unfold, industry participants seem to be waiting for some indication of what the resulting industry structure will be like after an Elpida takeover is finalized,” said Dee Nguyen, memory analyst at IHS. “As a result, the current pricing environment appears to reflect this mood with the DRAM market eerily quiet, accompanied by visibly less pricing volatility atypical of the industry. Clearly then, a direct correlation exists between decreased DRAM pricing volatility and Elpida’s announcement given that the current period of flat DRAM pricing occurred right after the bankruptcy notice. The big question also remains whether normal volatility will return once some clarity emerges on the future of Elpida.”
Neither bulk buyers nor the end-user is likely to get a particularly good deal on DRAM these days. If there is no urgent need to buy memory at this time, it may be a good idea to wait just like the rest of the industry. While there is a reasonable chance that the DRAM industry will learn from its weakness in the past and remain on a road of stable pricing, there is also a good chance that more volatility and, as a result, favorable buying opportunities, will return.
im happy. getting 8 or 16gb of ram into a system isnt expensive.
i remember when 1gb of ram was impressive
But I think it's too bad you have so many useless specs to confuse normal consumer, where specs won't make much difference unless you have high end parts and overclock. (frequency, timing and voltage)
im happy. getting 8 or 16gb of ram into a system isnt expensive.
i remember when 1gb of ram was impressive
I don't know, i guess it would be pourely annecdotal, but I've had way more problems with memory than I've had with HDDs. I've bought a few HDDs since the floods and they haven't had any problems. Twice already though this year between myself and my brother we've had about 3 out of 10 sticks go bunk. Although, it's a much less problematic issue to replace dead memory than a dead HDD that could take all your saved information with it.
I remember buying 1GB DDR-400 sticks for silly prices five years ago then buying 2x2GB DDR2-800 kits for the same price not even 18 months later. I could buy an 8GB DDR3-1600 kit for the same price now... isn't progress great?
I know that it's a big problem, dear RAM vendors, but !#%^ you, I'm happy that the prices don't change and no BS you can come up with can convince me that low prices are a "problem" and a "falling market", you lying bastards.
Hynix is not just "lower quality", it's the worst POS you can find. Okay on laptops, IME, but fails left and right on desktops.
The average user isn't going to be running 4 simultaneous OS's or any other crazy stuff like that. Hence higher capacities aren't enticing to the average user anymore. Just those that must have more, or in a niche that requires more.
You're an idiot.
The basis of this story is the fact that major a manufacturer went bankrupt. That would imply that there is a serious pricing issue. Anyone who has followed the DRAM industry knows that there has been an oversupply issue for years. There have been long periods where the manufacturers have all lost money for multiple quarters.
Ya, dram prices are just fine!
RAM is so cheap I'm amazed anyone even bothers making it.
Now DDR2 spot prices are dirt cheap low. I see 4GB kits selling on ebay for $39 but the spot price is only maybe $2 for 4 gigs! How does this make any sense?