What happened to the price of RAM? (1 Viewer)

[Adam]

Just two short months ago I bought a 256 MB 168 pin DIMM for $24. Now I went back to buy one for someone else and it is $68.:frowning: What has caused this huge increase? Will the price come back down to what they were any time soon?
Thanks,
Adam.

 

[Eric Alderson]

It usually happens when there is a shortage in components. Think of it like the price of gas.

 

[Brian E]

I think it's a simple case of supply and demand. There was a surplus of SDRAM floating around since many new machines are using DDR or RDRAM. That surplus has dried up and so now the price rises.

 

[Masood Ali]

The price of DDR has more than doubled; a 256MB stick that I purchased for $28 is selling for $75 now. Man I wish I had bought about 40 or so back then

 

[Adam]

Brian,

I understand the law of Supply and Demand. But, your explanation doesn't explain the increase in the newer DDR RAM. I think the makers of RAM control the market. They sell off surplus at the end of the year to get rid of inventory and to create tax losses, and make their books look good, etc. This lowers the price. Then they slowly ramp up the production in the beginning of the new year gauging demand and keeping prices high.

But, still the price of gas does not increase 3-fold when there is a shortage.

Oh well, maybe production will outpace the guaged demand and there will be a surplus at the end of this year again?

Adam.

 

[Brian E]

Adam, you didn't say it was DDR RAM that you had purchased. That is a pretty big increase. Kind of reminds me of the time back in '99 or '00 when a 128MB stick of SDRAM went from like $120 to $325 almost over night. I was building systems for people back then and man did that hurt.