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Some DDR4 RAM kit prices have dropped over 50 per cent this year

by Mark Tyson on 21 December 2015, 10:01

Tags: G.SKILL, Kingston

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacw63

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According to recent data from DRAMeXchange the spot price for a single 4Gb DDR4 DRAM IC dropped 38.62 per cent between June and October. Over the same period a single 4Gb DDR3 chip's spot price dropped 29.4 per cent. The continued downward pressure in the spot market has been good for consumers this year as memory module prices have tumbled. Some DDR4 memory kits are less than half the price they were launched at, earlier in the year.

Tech site AnandTech published some price trend graphs for a couple of popular DDR4 memory kits. Evidence of the DDR4 price drop was shown in two examples. First of all the Kingston HyperX Fury Black 2133MHz CL14 16GB kit was sold at $229 in March but at the time of writing is available for $97. (Amazon price tracking via CamelCamelCamel). The more recently introduced G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 3200MHz 16GB dual-channel kit sold at $176.64 when it first became available in early November and is now $136.59. There are plenty of other examples you can look up on via CamelCamelCamel.

So what's happening? The price drops are due to DRAM industry excess supply. Everyone knows that in markets supply and demand balance at certain prices. Firms can stockpile and do other things to artificially constrict supply and try to keep prices up, but that isn't efficient or sustainable. Two major market influencers have caused an excess of DRAM supply; one is the declines in sales of devices that need to be equipped with DRAM chips (both PCs and tablets), the other big influence on price is that DRAM manufacturers have started to adopt smaller process technology. Samsung was the first to move to 20nm and it enjoyed reduced production costs over rivals. In a competitive market it used the 20nm advantage to beat rival prices, driving prices down, while maintaining profits. Its notable that Samsung controlled 46.7 per cent of the DRAM market in Q3 2015.

Looking into next year supply should continue to outpace demand, says DRAMeXchange, and therefore DRAM spot prices and average market prices will continue to drop.



HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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CamelCamelCamel is an Amazon tracker and $ isn't a British or European currency.

http://hardware.info gives price histories, specs and reviews from a range of suppliers in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.

My DDR4 bookmark shows that prices have been fairly stable since September/October. Hopefully next year will see the reappearance of gains for the customer's wallet.

http://uk.hardware.info/productgroup/20/memory-modules/products#filter:RY3NCsIwEITfZc49mB9js68iIiUJWqgmJIqHknd3Nwjedr6ZndnRcn2B8Fifpa4hXZcWMKGVFELeFDuHv9QslbGDpKWG-yfX2BgyKMstif1Lg3aYk7eCjsyUMR50huJjxmUS0432PiG-c9vWmKp8zd7KrKUZIyWjRpOzo4XHCZpLSDvn0PsX
CamelCamelCamel does tracking in £ as well for Amazon.co.uk :) .

Here is the first module in AnandTech article.



Roughly £140 June, then £80 Oct, (60/140)*100= 42.8% drop.

The second module in AnandTech article (G-SKILL Ripjaws V F4-3200C16D-16GVR) uk.hardware.info have no data, nor pricespy.co.uk, CamelCamelCamel does but only from Oct 15 til now so can't use.

Then the third module in the AnandTech article.



Roughly £470 June but lets go with £457, then £230 Oct but go with £243, (214/457)*100= 46.8% drop.

Been glued to HUKD since late 2014 and defo like the Hexus article state “between June and October” prices have dropped, agree not the same % as US prices.

Even DDR3 has fallen through the floor, I can recall the modules I have currently were about £140 ish crimbo 2014, come around early 2015 £115 I grabbed them, a week later they were £96, luckily as bought from Amazon they gave difference back. Now they are around £65.99 :o .

I'm not complaining. It'll make the next upgrade a lot easier to swallow. Especially if Zen takes off.