Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now Is a Bad Idea, Part 1: Expensive DDR4 Memory

[Julio Franco]

There was plenty to be excited about PC hardware in 2017, but there's a lot to be upset about as well. Part one of this series will be dedicated discuss DDR4 memory pricing and why it's so high. RAM pricing is currently a big issue plaguing those wanting to build a new computer or update an old one, more than doubling in price in less than two years.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1561-build-a-pc-bad-idea-ddr4-memory/

 

[Evernessince]

I remember I originally bought my 16GB kit at a mere $100. Now it's worth double that price, it's insane.

 

[ET3D]

I bought 2x8GB DDR4-2400 in 2016 for $70, in anticipation of AMD's Bristol Ridge being released. Ended up using it almost a year later with a Pentium G4560. So that was a lucky buy.

I've been tempted to upgrade my desktop, but RAM price is certainly in the way. I'm kind of sorry I didn't buy RAM when I could buy 2x8GB DDR4-3200 for $140, but really, I don't need that upgrade, and I think I'll just buy a Ryzen 3 2200G when it arrives and keep it in the box, take it out sometimes to smell it.

 

[gamerk2]

And my 2600k will continue to chug until at least 2019...

 

[Badelhas]

And my 2600k will continue to chug until at least 2019...

So will me 2500K overclocked to 4.4Ghz...

 

[Vulcanproject]

The past 12 months have been flat out terrible for building a PC in general. The arrival of Ryzen one of the few positives.

DRAM has hit crazy highs and SSD prices have naturally also risen. All decent graphics card prices increased significantly due to miners. AMD's Vega posed no real threat whatsoever to Nvidia's high end dominance. Intel's 8th gen paper launched with no supply, and no mid range or low end chipsets.

In view of all this 2018 can only get better. New graphics cards from Nvidia, maybe DRAM prices will drop at the end of the year, and you might be able to pick up an 8th gen intel on a budget board along with a Ryzen refresh.

 

[ET3D]

BTW, I'm wondering what NAND flash production has to do with RAM prices.

 

[Spence1115]

BTW, I'm wondering what NAND flash production has to do with RAM prices.

I'd assume they use similar manufacturing processes, and if there's higher profit margins then manufacturers will be more interested in that than RAM.

 

[Whiteninjazx6r]

Uhhhh, Skylake used DDR3L and DDR4 and Haswell-E used DDR4. This article is very incorrect. Most boards have been using DDR4 only for years now. At least back to 2015, of not late '14. Ugh.

 

[ET3D]

In view of all this 2018 can only get better.

It can get worse. I see no reason why NVIDIA or AMD would release anything new to the desktop GPU market. Miners are lapping up whatever GPU they can get, and AMD could easily go back to producing high end 28nm chips and still sell all of them.

RAM and Flash likely won't go down any time soon..

The Ryzen half-gen is nice, but won't be as earth shattering as Ryzen.

At least laptops might be somewhat more interesting, with the Intel/AMD chip, mobile Vega and Ryzen Mobile.

 

[Rservello]

Big problem for me is...I need a workstation with 128GB of ram! In May it was $800. Now it's $1800. That's ridiculous!!!!!! That's robbery! Also...1080 graphics cards are impossible to find currently and there is no release date for volta. So I really need another machine and can't get one because of this BS!!

 

[Rservello]

In view of all this 2018 can only get better.

It can get worse. I see no reason why NVIDIA or AMD would release anything new to the desktop GPU market. Miners are lapping up whatever GPU they can get, and AMD could easily go back to producing high end 28nm chips and still sell all of them.

RAM and Flash likely won't go down any time soon..

The Ryzen half-gen is nice, but won't be as earth shattering as Ryzen.

At least laptops might be somewhat more interesting, with the Intel/AMD chip, mobile Vega and Ryzen Mobile.

Geforce 1080 cards are no longer available.... anywhere. So I expect the volta refresh soon.

 

[dirtyferret]

Reasons not build a PC

1 - overpriced RAM due to supply
2 - overpriced GPU due to mining
3 - if you have a OC i5-2500k or better you are fine on the CPU side. New Gen consoles just launched and they simply re-used the previous consoles CPU with a slight OC. AAA pc games won't be as CPU demanding as fan boys hope for 1080p 60 FPS gaming the next few years, until replacement consoles launch (2020-2021).
4 - monitors outside of 1080p 60hz are still pricey especially if you want an IPS model as opposed to cheaper TN.
5 - 6 core+ CPUs have yet to mature on the tech and software side. Remember how great the intel Q6600 and Phenom IIx4 955 were? Great to OC, fantastic synthetic benchmarks, yet on the intel dual core 8400 was outperforming them in gaming. Fan boys stated wait until games are optimized for multicore...and they were...eventually...when the intel 2500k launched. That chip made minced meat out of both the Q6600 & phenom II x4 and instantly became the go to gaming CPU.

 

[Vulcanproject]

It can get worse. I see no reason why NVIDIA or AMD would release anything new to the desktop GPU market. Miners are lapping up whatever GPU they can get, and AMD could easily go back to producing high end 28nm chips and still sell all of them.

RAM and Flash likely won't go down any time soon..

The Ryzen half-gen is nice, but won't be as earth shattering as Ryzen.

At least laptops might be somewhat more interesting, with the Intel/AMD chip, mobile Vega and Ryzen Mobile.

It won't get worse, whether you believe it or not new Nvidia cards are coming. Nvidia will launch likely early this year, and move the game on. I have already noted the prices of mid range cards has settled somewhat and they are appearing for less than they were 6 months ago, the pressure is easing.

Memory prices won't get any higher than the peaks of 2017. They might not decrease significantly until the very end of the year, but there is a small chance they will drop a bit by the holidays 2018.

I also disagree when you dismiss the half generation of Ryzen. Ryzen never really fully caught Intel, especially with the lack of ability to scale the clocks high enough of the consumer enthusiast parts for gaming or single threaded performance. It put AMD back in the game, but still not on equal footing.

The refresh might finally be the first point in over a decade where AMD can offer something that is on par for your average gamer. If it does absolutely nothing else but allow another 10 percent clocks across the board it'll be a great 2018 for CPUs.

As for the laptops side then it's a huge year. All those APUs filtering into the market and proper mobile Ryzen parts. Potentially large integrated graphic upgrades and the year where quad core notebooks become the bottom rung, at a budget level.

 

[Polycount]

Still sitting on 16GB DDR3 RAM, bought a year and a half back. Certainly not going to be upgrading any time soon. Video card prices are my main concern, and that nightmare doesn't seem to be ending any time soon...

 

[maestro0428]

High memory prices and no GPUs to be found anywhere....

 

[ET3D]

Geforce 1080 cards are no longer available.... anywhere. So I expect the volta refresh soon.

I doubt that's related. Just the normal crypto shortages.

Titan V will be made available, sure, but it makes no sense to release low cost cards (or even what were once high end cards) in this market. When a GeForce 1060 or Radeon RX 580 cost $600 and up, releasing a new $600 flagship looks silly.

Financially, if Volta chips are cheaper to make than Pascal, it would make sense to release them and price them very high. I mean, sell a GeForce 1060 equivalent for $600 up front, so the profits go to NVIDIA, not the sellers.

 

[Cryio]

The sad thing is you are kind of required to get 16 GB DDR4 at 3000 or 3200 for the best performance out of Ryzen or Coffe Lake. Those easily go for ~370$ in Romania for example.

 

[Cryio]

Reasons not build a PC

1 - overpriced RAM due to supply
2 - overpriced GPU due to mining (AND RAM suply)
3 - if you have a OC i5-2500k or better you are fine on the CPU side. New Gen consoles just launched and they simply re-used the previous consoles CPU with a slight OC. AAA pc games won't be as CPU demanding as fan boys hope for 1080p 60 FPS gaming the next few years, until replacement consoles launch (2020-2021).

Yeah and no. Quad core i5's are no longer good enough for best performance in today's games, even with midrange GPUs like RX 580 and 1060 6 GB.

 

[Docus]

Any idea when the chipmakers will be able to release CPUs that avoid the spectre/meltdown issues and (hopefully) recoup the losses in performance that come with the current workarounds? On the one hand, I'm angry that Intel will probably sell a lot of CPUs because of this, but on the other hand... gotta have that powerful PC.

 

[dirtyferret]

Yeah and no. Quad core i5's are no longer good enough for best performance in today's games, even with midrange GPUs like RX 580 and 1060 6 GB.

thank you for stating your incorrect opinion but allow me to prove you false with facts rather then hyperbole opinion of a fan boy wishing something to be true like santa.

An OC i3-8350 beats the AMD 1600 even when OC with ease in gaming, it even beats stock intel six cores. No need to thank me for educating you.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i3-8350k-cpu,5304-5.html

It's hard to beat an overclocked Core i3-8350K for gaming unless you have the cash for a pricier Core i5 or i7. In fact, the i3-8350K is surprisingly competitive with those more expensive Coffee Lake-based models if you spend some time overclocking. And Core i3-8350K destroys Kaby Lake in everything. An overclocked Ryzen 5 1600 provides the biggest challenge from AMD, but it's only able to go up against the stock -8350K. Overclocking propels this chip into a league of its own. The less expensive Ryzen 5 1500X also makes a compelling case for enthusiasts willing to turn the overclocking dials, but its much lower stock performance isn't as attractive.

 

[wiyosaya]

IMO, there are quite a few reasons beyond DRAM prices not to upgrade at the moment.

It will probably be at least another year or two for me.

 

[darkzelda]

It seems I'll keep my core i7 4790K and 16 Gb DDR3 for a long time, but I really want to change the GTX 970 I have.

 

[R00sT3R]

I'm just grateful that I've lost all interest in PC Gaming, therefore I look on the bright side to all this..

PC Gaming has never been cheaper for me...

With a bit of luck prices will have collapsed in 2019, and I'll have rediscovered my love of gaming, just in time for a new PC build for Cyberpunk 2077.

Hmm, i7 9700K, 32GB DDR4 & Nvidia 1180Ti

In the mean time my i5 4690K, 8GB DDR3 and 970 will do just fine for media & web browsing, which is all I really use my PC for these days TBH.

 

[R4LRetro]

Reasons not build a PC

1 - overpriced RAM due to supply
2 - overpriced GPU due to mining (AND RAM suply)
3 - if you have a OC i5-2500k or better you are fine on the CPU side. New Gen consoles just launched and they simply re-used the previous consoles CPU with a slight OC. AAA pc games won't be as CPU demanding as fan boys hope for 1080p 60 FPS gaming the next few years, until replacement consoles launch (2020-2021).

Yeah and no. Quad core i5's are no longer good enough for best performance in today's games, even with midrange GPUs like RX 580 and 1060 6 GB.

That's not true at all. My rig plays any game right now just fine:

-i5-3570k OCed to 4.2GHz
-16 GB dual channel Kingston Hyper Fury X
-ASUS RX 470 4GB Strix Stock OC
-3TB WD storage
-Win 10

Even unoptimized junk like PUBG runs at 60 FPS.