Price Check Q3 2016: DRAM Prices Down Over 20% Since Early 2016
by Anton Shilov on July 25, 2016 12:01 AM ESTJEDEC and Near-JEDEC DDR4 Pricing
Traditionally, we have started our observations of DDR4 retail prices with Kingston’s HyperX Fury Black DDR4-2133/CL14 2x8 GB kit (HX421C14FBK2/16), which is a typical enthusiast-class memory module set used by both system integrators and DIYers. Let's start with them today as well.
Kingston’s HyperX Fury Black DDR4-2133/CL14 2x8 GB kit (HX421C14FBK2/16)
In late February, such kit used to cost $69.94 at Amazon (based on data from CamelCamelCamel, which tracks prices of various items at Amazon and its partners). Right now, the dual-channel set of DRAM modules is priced at $83.43 at Amazon and is absent from Newegg. This is a very recent price hike from around $67.
Given this rather unexpected price hike, it is highly likely that the kit is either in short supply at Amazon, or Kingston has ceased to produce this product and is readying a newer version. This sometimes happens when module manufacturers switch DRAM IC suppliers, or adopt newer chips. In any case, we decided to take a look at other affordable DDR4-2133 offerings.
G.Skill's Ripjaws V DDR4-2133/CL14 2x8 GB kit (F4-2133C15D-16GVR)
G.Skill is a supplier primarily known for its ultra-high-end DRAM modules with extreme frequencies. However, the company also sells a lot of mainstream products. For example, its Ripjaws V DDR4-2133/CL15 2x8 GB kit (F4-2133C15D-16GVR) costs $65.95 at Amazon and $57.99 at Newegg. According to PriceZombie, which tracks Newegg, the price of this kit has been declining for many months now, from the origianl launch price of $130 down to $58 today.
Crucial’s Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400/CL16 2x8 GB (BLS2K8G4D240FSB) kit
Another affordable DDR4 option is Crucial’s Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400/CL16 2x8 GB kit (BLS2K8G4D240FSB), which is available for $59.58 from Amazon. The kit used to cost over $100 just several months ago, but rapid declines of DDR4 costs and prices forced Crucial (and its owner Micron) to reduce the price of the product quite significantly.
In any case, it is now possible to get 16 GB of DDR4 memory for less than $65, which is impressive because just over a year ago such dual-channel kits used to cost well over $120.
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Minion4Hire - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
JoeyJoJo, just select 180 days instead of 120 on that first chart you link to and you'll see quite clearly that Anandtech's reporting is correct. Compared to the beginning of the year, the current prices are lower. Sure, there have been even lower prices than right now, but prices are still lower than they were 7 months ago.milli - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Here in Belgium the same. Prices are up massively. 20 to 40%yuhong - Tuesday, July 26, 2016 - link
DRAMeXchange also shows a higher price for 4Gbit DDR4 than months ago, while 4Gbit DDR3 prices did not increase as much. I noticed that 8Gbit DDR4 is getting close to crossover now.yuhong - Friday, July 29, 2016 - link
8Gbit DDR4 has hit crossover on DRAMeXchange. At the time of this writing, "DDR4 8Gb 1Gx8 2133 MHZ" is at $3.664 and "DDR4 4Gb 512Mx8 2133 MHz" is at $1.836.iwod - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Not really interested in consumer DRAM pricing, I mean they are already very very cheap. And it is properly more interesting for LPDDR4 to drop price, since that will be use in some Laptop, Smartphone and Tablets.More interested would be 32GB DIMM and 128GB DIMM drop price, so we can fit 128GB to 1TB Memory on server for very cheap. SQL and Cache Servers.
Flunk - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Past trends don't show much connection between the price of DRAM and Nand on phones and tablets. Most of the time then manufacturer pockets the difference.yuhong - Tuesday, July 26, 2016 - link
Interestingly, even 32GB DDR3 LR-DIMMs has been dropping in price. I wonder if this is due to oversupply.tipoo - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Offset a bit by the CAD being down to 76 cents American now :(Story of my life is piece together a nice mid range PC on PCpartpicker, oh nice I got it under 1000 - crap, forgot to hit the Canadian flag. Price is now 33% higher plus 15% tax plus the "we hate canadians" markup companies like to do despite nafta. Delete build and cry self to sleep. Repeat monthly.
JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Nobody hates Canada; That's just the price of doing business there in Canada, along with the taxes and other such exchange related problems that businesses are facing and then unfortunately have to reflect down to you, the consumer.If you're upset about Newegg charging you ~40% more than the American website does, then either go across the border and have your parts purchased and mailed there for cheap, or complain to your government officials about the relatively weak Canadian dollar. This really just boils down to economic policy and what your government is doing about it.
andrewaggb - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Well to be fair, the whole 'buy america' thing comes across as 'hates Canada'. There's some pretty ridiculous stuff that has resulted, like tearing down a bridge for too much Canadian Steel and stuff like that. And Obama really had it out for the Alberta pipeline, despite plenty of US oil projects and pipelines being built.Anyways, I doubt our current government will do much to improve the $. I think it's more about social policy, child care, etc this time around.