I bought 64G DDR5 (2x32 crucial) a month or so  ago for 400 CDN which I thought was way too high

Today I  thought 128G would be better so off I raced to amazon only to find the same ram was 818 (CND)

Some pairs  (2X32) were 1200 $$$ CDN

All due to AI demand of higher end RAM

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by John-Allen

3 minutes ago, John-Allen said:

I bought 64G DDR5 (2x32 crucial) a month or so  ago for 400 CDN which I thought was way too high

Today I  thought 128G would be better so off I raced to amazon only to find the same ram was 818 (CND)

Some pairs  (2X32) were 1200 $$$ CDN

All due to AI demand of higher end RAM

And manufacturers not wanting to up production levels, which they can do, for fear of suddenly having over-supply....we lose again.....

6 minutes ago, YMMB said:

And manufacturers not wanting to up production levels, which they can do, for fear of suddenly having over-supply....we lose again.....

I read it was because they focused all production towards these higher end RAM (higher $$) for AI which left little production capacity for us regular consumers. Greed just the same.

So AI will burst our progress balloons, since they don't expect a return to normal pricings till 2027. And may even increase prices  before then. 

 

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by John-Allen

I’m glad I upgraded my computer a couple of months ago. I wouldn’t be able to afford it now.

14 minutes ago, mwilk said:

I’m glad I upgraded my computer a couple of months ago. I wouldn’t be able to afford it now.

Same here as some are predicting a decade before the prices come down.

This to me is a first real life sign of AI trouble

Likely our residential power rates will skyrocket once AI is fully functional.

 

I bought 96 Gbs of DDR5 ram in Aug for $345 on Amazon and now the same is selling for $1175. I kid you not. Crazy

9 minutes ago, CanAmRyder said:

I bought 96 Gbs of DDR5 ram in Aug for $345 on Amazon and now the same is selling for $1175. I kid you not. Crazy

And likely to only rise for years to come

Welcome to the end of the age of personal computers.

It's not just "high end" RAM.
September 2024: 32 GB of DDR4 was £58.66.
The Amazon buy it again price is now £159.94.
I make that a 272% increase.

I payed $230 for 64GB of DDR5 6000mhz CL30 from Amazon in April. The same ram is now $1250 at Amazon.

Well word not allowed, I guess I'll keep my AM4 system for a while longer. At least with a 5800X3D and 64Gigs of RAM it's still going to be good enough for a while.

4 hours ago, Reader said:

It's not just "high end" RAM.
....

 

by high end i meant a species of ram meant for AI and not the usual consumer called HBM or high-bandwidth memory

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by John-Allen

2 minutes ago, John-Allen said:

by high end i meant a species of ram meant for AI and not the usual consumer

This is what AI has to say about itself. 

 

Spoiler

There is no specific "species" of RAM for AI, but certain types of memory technology are optimized for AI workloads, prioritizing high capacity, speed, and bandwidth. The key types include DDR5 DRAM, HBM (High Bandwidth Memory), GDDR memory (specifically GDDR6X and GDDR7), and ECC RAM. 

 

Types of Memory Optimized for AI

• DDR5 SDRAM: This is the current standard for main system memory in modern AI PCs and workstations. DDR5 offers significantly higher bandwidth, faster speeds (e.g., up to 8000 MT/s or more), and larger capacities per module than its predecessor, DDR4, making it a "future-proof" choice for general AI tasks.
• HBM (High Bandwidth Memory): Used primarily in high-end data center and professional AI GPUs (like the NVIDIA A100), HBM provides the highest bandwidth and power efficiency for external memory options. It is crucial for training massive AI models, such as large language models (LLMs).
• GDDR Memory (GDDR6X, GDDR7): Originally designed for graphics cards, GDDR memory is now widely used in both consumer and professional AI GPUs (like the NVIDIA RTX 4090). It offers an excellent balance of bandwidth, power efficiency, cost, and reliability, making it suitable for a wide range of machine learning tasks.
• ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM: While not a performance standard, ECC memory is critical for professional and enterprise AI applications. It includes circuitry to detect and correct random data faults, ensuring stability and data integrity during long, intensive training sessions.
• LPDDR (Low-Power DDR): This mobile-focused memory is becoming increasingly important for "on-device AI" (AI running locally on smartphones or laptops) due to its high efficiency and speed. 

 

19 hours ago, YMMB said:

fear of suddenly having over-supply

Entirely fictional fear as a means to abandon the lower profit margins associated with desktop/laptop memory.

Computers that are processing AI (using LLMs and/or other variants) will not be using standard consumer SDRAM (DIMM or SODIMM), they'll be using more expensive options like ECC RDIMM or more likely HBM3.  Because of the hype associated with Narrow AI (not AGI), the demand has skyrocketed.  So the relatively small HBM3 market prior to AI, has now grown significantly such that Micron want to shift markets ... completely, as in no longer producing or selling consumer grade memory starting Feb 2026.  

IMHO, seems like a risky move to put ALL you eggs in one basket, especially when AI will eventually reach it's conceptual maximum processing accuracy in a relatively short period of time.   But I guess when demand for HBM3 drops, they'll shift back to standard consumer memory ... maybe? 

The EBITDA margin quest that corporations live by (and die by) ... or commonly know as the race to the Trillionaires club ... Billionaires are yesterday's news.

I just checked. The 32GB of Corsair DDR5 that I paid $140 in August is now on sale for $409. I don't know what the regular price is now.