If you can find a good gaming RAM deal right now, grab it. That’s because prices are rapidly on the rise, thanks to demand from AI data centers putting a huge strain on DDR memory supply. We’ve already seen prices more than double in just a month, and there’s no strong sign yet that they’ve plateaued.
While you could wait for one of the no doubt many Black Friday deals that will appear in the coming weeks, there’s absolutely no guarantee they’ll beat today’s prices. We also can’t guarantee that prices for the best gaming RAM will stay as high as they are already or that they’ll continue to rise, but until the AI bubble bursts or RAM production ramps up – the benefits of which would likely take months to come to fruition – this is the new reality for now.
PC RAM isn’t always the most exciting upgrade, but having enough and it being fast enough is an essential requirement for a smooth-running gaming PC. We generally recommend a minimum of 16GB these days, but 32GB is a safer bet for ensuring future games run well, even while you have dozens of tabs open in your web browser with Discord running in the background.
Looking at some specific examples of price rises, this Teamgroup 32GB DDR5, 6000MHz kit was around $85 back in September – a price at which it’s a no-brainer to get your system upgraded to 32GB. Now, it’s $217.99, which is its highest price ever, with nearly $40 added just in the last week alone.
It’s not just DDR5, either. This G.Skill 32GB DDR4 kit hit as low as $58 earlier this year. Now, it’s $144.99. In the case of this particular kit, that means it hasn’t quite reached as high a price as it was back in 2021-2022, when tech prices were massively inflated after the pandemic, but it’s closing in.
There were signs that these rises would be incoming, with industry analysis in the last few months pointing to an increase in raw memory chip prices due to increased demand from AI systems. However, the effect on consumer PC RAM prices has been more dramatic and rapid than many people expected.
A check on pcpartpicker.com’s price trackers (duplicated below) shows that prices may have steadied slightly in the last few days, but it’s too early to say if this is just a temporary reprieve or if another jump will occur soon.
Elsewhere, there is also significant demand for solid state storage, causing some slight increases in SSD prices. However, the movements have so far been far less significant than for RAM. For instance, we’ve seen the price of this 2TB Samsung 9100 Pro drive sit steadily at around $200 for several months, then start fluctuating between $200 and $220 in the last few weeks. As such, it might actually be the perfect time to grab one of the best SSD deals, in case prices start to rise.
Back to RAM, though, and we can’t definitively say whether you should rush out and upgrade right now, as it is possible prices will stay steady, and in turn some Black Friday deals might see prices drop significantly again. However, what is certain is that if you see what looks like a great deal at the moment, it’s probably well worth grabbing it before it’s too late.
Thankfully, while RAM and SSDs are seeing price increases, there are plenty of other PC upgrades that are seeing prices fall. Some of the best graphics card options right now are as affordable as they’ve ever been, while the best gaming mouse and keyboard options remain at steady prices too, though you might want to wait for Black Friday deals on those.
