back to article God DRAM, that's a big price drop: Memory down 30 per cent, claim industry watchers

The cost of DRAM chips has seen its largest decline in nearly eight years, as global prices fell by nearly 30 per cent. This is according to DRAMeXchange, which estimated that so far this year, the price of contracts between DRAM suppliers and PC manufacturer took an even greater hit than the 25 per cent that had been forecast …

  1. Archivist

    The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

    So Intel is "to blame" as it focusses on server CPUs, leaving warehouses of PCs with no memory...

    The last PC I peeped into had 2 sticks; the last server had 16.

    ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

      Servers tend to use registered ECC memory, a different type from that used in desktops. And it's warehouses of memory with no PCs, not the other way around.

    2. Sloppy Crapmonster

      Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

      Most people don't need anything more than a low-end CPU, and that's been the case for a good long time now. They need a GPU capable of playing Fortnite or PUBG, and I can do that on my 5 year old phone.

      1. CountCadaver Silver badge

        Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

        How long really till for most folks the desktop becomes an anachronism?

        i.e. do work on your phone, when you need a keyboard and a bigger screen you either plug it in or if short range wireless speeds improve you put your phone down, and enable "desktop mode"

        Could be quite advantageous for hot desking, sales droids on the move - do most of the work on a phablet and then for report writing at the end of the day, enable desktop mode and pull in what you've been doing all day with no need to transfer stuff

        1. Tomato42

          Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

          I really can't imagine how you can be doing any work that won't be automated in few years that doesn't require or highly benefit from at least 2 screens

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

          That's why young people call desktops "Grandpa boxes".

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

            That's why young people call desktops "Grandpa boxes".

            --------------------------------------------------

            Luckily, many young people live long enough to acquire both experience and a bit of wisdom.

    3. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

      It makes perfect sense: fewer desktop Intel CPUs, fewer desktop PCs, fewer orders for RAM, more RAM building up in warehouses, prices drop as supply outstrips demand.

      We're talking about the price of RAM, not the supply of RAM. Supply is outstripping demand. No shit you found RAM in your computers - it's cheap as, er, chips at the moment ;)

      Hope this helps

      C.

    4. cb7

      Re: The article's reasoning doesn't make sense

      Ah yes, but roughly 30 times as many PC's are sold as servers in a year. And the drop in PC sales hasn't been offset enough by the small increase in servers sold, leading to a surplus of DRAM chips.

  2. Johnny Canuck

    desktop becomes an anachronism?

    You'll have to pry my desktop out of my cold dead hands.

    1. VikiAi

      Re: desktop becomes an anachronism?

      Well yes, but you and I are content *creators* (and/or content managers). The Desktop PC (in olden-days terms: "Workstation") will be relevant to us for a good long time yet, likely well after Apple and MS have given them up as economically viable platforms so support, even!

      But the large majority of users are content consumers,with an overlapping small majority of content-adjusters, and a Desktop PC is already becoming an anachronism for the former and the latter isn't too far behind.

      1. hmv

        Re: desktop becomes an anachronism?

        I'm not convinced.

        Very few people I know[0] have gotten rid of desktops and still use them; in the case of certain oldies they prefer to use the desktop to the laptop (even though it has a higher specification).

        They're certainly not sexy, and haven't really improved dramatically in the last 5 years (unlike phones). Frankly if you're not obsessed with the latest and greatest[1] there's no reason to replace a desktop until it breaks.

        0: And they're not all hairy geeks.

        1: And if you are, there's more fun toys to be had.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: desktop becomes an anachronism?

        Serious content consumers really need multiple large screens, and having several virtual desktops can be very useful as well.

        If all you are doing is watching music videos or reading twitter, then you probably don't need a good screen or superior speakers.

        If you are researching, collating, analyzing, verifying, extracting, archiving, assimilating information, you need a big enough screen to read for long periods of time - minimum 27 inch, but for some uses 60 is better, good tools for manipulating data and images, good controls for those purposes - poking at a touch screen seems far to limited - and large amounts of local storage. And at a minimum you should have an input screen, an output screen, and a third screen for secondary input, cross-checks, chasing logical tangents, system monitoring, etc.

        Recently I've been thinking four would be better.

        And no, the cloud is not secure enough, and local performance will be better at a lower price point, as well as making backups easier and faster.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: desktop becomes an anachronism?

      >You'll have to pry my desktop out of my cold dead hands.

      Why is it in your hands and not on/under your desk?

  3. jonathan keith

    So...

    Does that mean DDR4 will be affordable in a few months time?

    1. NeilA

      Re: So...

      depends what you call affordable. Prices have been in steady decline for a while. Random example of a 16GB kit:

      https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/Corsair-CMK16GX4M2D3000C16-Vengeance-Performance-Desktop/product/B07B2Y1N8B

      1. phuzz Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        Re: So...

        A steady decline for the last year or so, but prices still aren't down to what they were three years ago.

        I read TFA and thought I'd maybe look at doubling the RAM in my home machine. The 16GB I bought in mid 2016 cost me £72, and that was slightly higher spec than the sticks you link to which are £90. (The RAM I bought in 2016 is currently listed for £240, but that's an outlier I'm sure).

        Looks like we might have to wait for at least six months for RAM prices to actually drop.

        1. pPPPP

          Re: So...

          I was in the same place recently. I wanted more than the 16gb of ddr3 in my pc and the same dimms were twice the price.

          eBay did the job but they still cost more than I paid for the first pair.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So...

        I don't really call that affordable, at about 75% more than RAM when I was thinking about it a few years ago.

  4. Old Used Programmer

    A Modest Goal

    Perhaps dropping DRAM prices will result in a 1GB Pi3A+ some months from now.

  5. adnim

    I guess it has nothing to do

    with a cabal taking the piss and realising they pushed it too far

  6. -tim
    Facepalm

    I'm sure the market will correct

    The prices will go up to make up the losses just as soon as $RANDOM_DISASTER happens in $SOME_REMOTE_VILLAGE and wipes out the single source of $DRAM_MAGIC_INGREDIENT.

  7. Fading

    Probably a tail end...

    of old Inventory - but I recently picked up two 8GB sticks of 2666 DDR4 for £42 each. Cheapest I have seen for awhile and a nice little boost to my desktop.

  8. _LC_
    Pint

    It’s almost as if somebody hit’em with a (row) hammer. ;-)

    The post is required, and must contain letters.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Roj Blake Silver badge

    Still Some Way to Drop

    Bear in mind that even though this is a substantial drop, prices still have quite a way to go before they reach the levels seen in the Summer of 2016.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Business genius...

    "The blame for the decline is said to rest largely on the shoulders of Intel, which right now is bent on churning out high-end processors for servers to the detriment of its lower-end chips..."

    Ah yes, the famous "conquer the world" business plan.

    1. Lock all your chips into radically, unfixably insecure designs for the foreseeable future.

    2. Manufacture huge quantities of those insecure chips for use as servers, running government, businesses, etc.

    3. PROFIT!

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like