DRAM market remains weak, 2GB DDR3 modules to hit $10

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104

Remember how we said RAM prices probably wouldn't get much cheaper in the near future? Well, that was very wrong. Citing anonymous industry sources, DigiTimes reports today that Kingston has cut deals to sell its 2GB DDR3 modules for as cheap as $11 (yes, that's eleven bucks), and that move has prompted competing firms lower their prices as far as $10. By offering lower prices, DRAM manufacturers expect shipments to rise, but DigiTimes' sources believe the overall demand will remain weak.

Based on DRAMeXchange's stats, contract prices have plunged more than 15% during July and that's expected to continue through August. Average contract prices for 2GB DDR3 modules fell 9.4% to $14.50 in the second half of this month while 4GB modules dipped a similar 9.7% to $28. At the same time, 1Gb and 2Gb chips were $0.75 and $1.59. Etail prices via Newegg are hovering around $25 to $30 for budget 2x2GB DDR3 1333MHz kits, while individual 2GB modules are between $15 and $20.

Last Tuesday, iSuppli released a report claiming DRAM prices would continue to fall -- albeit increasingly slower. "Following a drop of 14.2% in the first quarter of 2011, the global average decline in pricing for DRAM slowed to 12% in the second quarter. The rate of decrease is expected to decline to 9% in the third quarter and then dwindle to just 4% in the fourth quarter. The rate of decrease will further slow to just 1% in the first quarter of 2012, and then remain in the 3 to 4% range during the rest of 2012."

In a separate report released last month, the research firm said DDR4 DRAM would arrive in 2014 and rapidly eclipse DDR3 sales by 2015. Although DDR3 will remain relevant for at least a year or two following the launch of DDR4 modules, the newer technology is expected to represent some 56% of the market only one year after it hit shelves. That's a significantly faster adoption rate than witnessed with DDR3, which took two years to achieve 24% of the market and three years before it finally outgrew DDR2.

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venomblade said:
that's just beautiful
Yea, and I just bought 8GBs for my new rig about 10 months ago at $70.
But hey, that happens in most technology markets these days, I still got a better deal than the >$100 prices we had for 8GB DDR3 about a year and a half / 2 years ago.
 
Guest said:
Think this is encourage sales of 64-bit Windows?

No. Unless your current system is 64-bit compatible you won't buy an upgrade for a 64-bit edition. Most people who are switching from 32-bit to 64-bit are likely building or buying completely new systems (at least the motherboard and processor anyways).
 
Btw, I just saw 2x4gb corsair value series ram on amazon for $51.99 When 16gb of ram is under $100 you know its getting really cheap.
 
pcnthuziast said:
I still remember paying $200 for 2gb DDR2 800mhz ouch!

I remember buying a 1gb ocz ddr kit for that price.

I was planning on upgrading later, but with ram this cheap I might have to reconsider.
 
There, there now chlldren, don' panic. You're not going to have to open savings accounts or anything like that. The oil companies will step back and show you how to get rid of that filthy money you just saved on RAM. :haha:.
 
captaincranky said:
There, there now chlldren, don' panic. You're not going to have to open savings accounts or anything like that. The oil companies will step back and show you how to get rid of that filthy money you just saved on RAM. :haha:.
Ain't that the truth.

And btw, I remember paying about $100 for 128MB SIMMs once upon a time. Pretty sure I paid that much for 64K chips too, but my memory gets fuzzy that far back. You kids, stay off my lawn!
 
I paid 100$ about 2 years ago for my 2x 2gig ddr3 ram sticks (1600), I still have not seen my computer use max ram playing video games but when I get some spare cash I might grab another 4 gigs with these prices plummeting before it goes the way of ddr which was the same cost of my ddr3 because no one uses it anymore.
 
I hope the prices of premium memory kits drop too. I'm looking at the Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3-1600 16 GB kit for my next upgrade.
 
My eyes have always watered at paying for RAM; I think it might be with how small it is for what you pay. There's like this auto opinion that the bigger something is, the more you think and expect it's gonna cost.

Downward the better i think.
 
TeamworkGuy2 said:
venomblade said:
that's just beautiful
Yea, and I just bought 8GBs for my new rig about 10 months ago at $70.
But hey, that happens in most technology markets these days, I still got a better deal than the >$100 prices we had for 8GB DDR3 about a year and a half / 2 years ago.
I was lucky enough to buy my DDR3 before the price explosion. I paid $74 (after $20 rebate) for my 6GB 1333 RAM. 6 months later, it was in the high 100s to low 200s. It's nice to see that RAM is stupid cheap again!
 
I remember when you actually had to go to a store for ram, not just going to your living room or family room and going to newegg.com
 
TeamworkGuy2 said:
venomblade said:
that's just beautiful
Yea, and I just bought 8GBs for my new rig about 10 months ago at $70.
But hey, that happens in most technology markets these days, I still got a better deal than the >$100 prices we had for 8GB DDR3 about a year and a half / 2 years ago.

just bought 12GB, dang...
 
I recall a time that going from 4k to 16k for a trs-80 color computer was a $150 upgrade.
 
Paid $120 to Crucial for 4x4GB DDR3 for a new iMac. I'm hoping to recoup part of the cost by selling the 2x2GB DDR3 sticks it came with on Ebay. Had to set a $25 BIN price though, but hey that means I got 16 GB of RAM for $100! Man that seems like a crazy deal to meal, since I haven't bought RAM since a 2009 purchase of 1gb stick for $38.

Oh and yeah, I'm sure 16 GB is complete overkill! I would like to figure out what I could possibly do to use up most of that RAM on my iMac. We do have multiple users, perhaps if they all have mutitple tabs in Safari opened at the same time, over a long period of time?!
 
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