Potential 23% RAM Price Rise Means It's an Expensive Time To Build a PC

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Chip shortage and WFH boom pushes prices up

Two RAM sticks in a motherboard
(Image credit: Photo by Athena from Pexels)

More bad news for the prospective PC builder comes out of Taiwanese research institute TrendForce, which is predicting a rise in DRAM prices of between 18 and 23% for the second quarter of 2021.

Forecasted PC DRAM, Server DRAM and Overall DRAM ASP, 2Q21

(Image credit: TrendForce)

 

While negotiations between OEMs and resellers are still ongoing, TrendForce is predicting a quarter-on-quarter price increase of 25% on 8GB DDR4 2666MHz modules, higher than expected. DRAM modules continue to be in short supply, partly due to the global chip shortage, and partly thanks to many people buying new machines to work from home during the pandemic. All kinds of RAM are affected, from mobile DRAM, GDDR modules for graphics cards, and server DRAM, which is closely related to home PC RAM and therefore more easily affected by price rises.

The second quarter of the financial year is often the peak season for laptop production, and TrendForce’s figures predict a 7.9% increase in the manufacture of laptops by major manufacturers this year, which will put more pressure on supplies of RAM and increase the price by 23 - 28% in 2Q21.

And the worst thing is it’s all likely to carry on this way for some time. Server RAM, under pressure thanks to a boom in cloud computing linked to the pandemic, will see another rise in demand, putting manufacturers in an advantageous position as they negotiate with the AIB makers. The price of server RAM could rise by 25% next quarter, TrendForce forecasts.

Ian Evenden
Ian Evenden
Freelance News Writer

Ian Evenden is a UK-based news writer for Tom’s Hardware US. He’ll write about anything, but stories about Raspberry Pi and DIY robots seem to find their way to him.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    NAND chips are made using a process similar enough to DRAM that production lines can be shuffled between the two depending on demand and we have a possible rise of storage-based crypto in China causing people to buy all the storage they can. If this catches on, we're doomed: expensive NAND because storage miners are gobbling all that is available, expensive RAM because RAM capacity gets converted to more profitable NAND and even more ludicrously expensive GPUs due to low VRAM supply.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    Yeah! Enjoy!
    It will take years to get even desent prising again... so many level of shortages that causes all the time increasing demand vs production. Because more and more people are getting in the situation where they need to upgrade, while those that are allready in the waiting line have not get their products.
    There need to be quite long time period to even fullfill the current demand. In ”best case” next crypto boom starts before we get of current boom.
    Reply
  • thepersonwithaface45
    InvalidError said:
    If this catches on, we're doomed:
    beginning to feel like we're doomed regardless lol
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    Hmm so I need to grab another 16GB's of the Samsung B-die i'm using before this pricing increase happens.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    When a $800 dollar GPU is sellng for $2700 then yeah, its an expensive time to build a PC. And its stupid too. Not enough capacity and too many companies trying to get some. I almost imagine AMD might get worse until TSMC builds more FABs. Intel should be fine as they have plenty of capacity and are working on ways to stitch different processes together so instead of only having one they can mix and match.
    Reply
  • kal326
    Sure glad I built up early last year before everything went into shortages. Most boxes are already 32GB. Enough SSD storage. Decent dedicated graphics.
    It’s certainly strange times when almost everything you’ve bought in the last year has gone up in price. 3700x up $20, 2x16GB DDR 3200 up $40-45, graphics cards ridiculous percentages...
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    Glad I bought RAM and storage now for my next project because I have a feeling this is going to get really ugly really quickly.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    g-unit1111 said:
    Glad I bought RAM and storage now for my next project because I have a feeling this is going to get really ugly really quickly.
    Heh, still rocking an i5-3470 here. I was hoping to get a decently priced Ryzen 5600(X) last year but AMD shattered my budget when it announced pricing. Right now, I'm waiting for more 500-series Intel motherboards to become available and for their prices to settle. If prices stay on current trends though, I may end up skipping two more years.
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    InvalidError said:
    Heh, still rocking an i5-3470 here. I was hoping to get a decently priced Ryzen 5600(X) last year but AMD shattered my budget when it announced pricing. Right now, I'm waiting for more 500-series Intel motherboards to become available and for their prices to settle. If prices stay on current trends though, I may end up skipping two more years.

    I upgraded to a 3900X last year and I am glad I did because I would not want to go through with the process now, especially because getting a GPU is so difficult. I have a GPU leftover from the upgrade which is why I'm going through with this build. My goal with this project is to build a portable console-sized rig in a Node 202 that I can transport places that will be easier than taking my desktop.
    Reply