"Graphics card prices in the 2020s have undulated continuously as the industry has dealt with pandemic and AI-related shortages, but it's actually possible to get respectable mainstream- to high-end GPUs like AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT and 9070 series or Nvidia's RTX 5060, 5070, and 5080 series for at or slightly under their suggested retail prices right now. This was close to impossible through the spring and summer."
"But it's not a good time to build a new PC or swap your older motherboard out for a new one that needs DDR5 RAM. And the culprit is a shortage of RAM and flash memory chips that has suddenly sent SSD and (especially) memory prices into the stratosphere, caused primarily by the ongoing AI boom and exacerbated by panic-fueled buying by end users and device manufacturers."
"To illustrate just how high things have jumped in a short amount of time, let's compare some of the RAM and storage prices listed in our system guide from three months ago to the pricing for the exact same components today. Note that several of these are based on the last available price and are currently sold out; we also haven't looked into things like microSD or microSD Express cards, which could also be affected."
"In short, there's no escaping these price increases, which affect SSDs and both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM kits of all capacities (though higher-capacity RAM kits do seem to be hit a little harder). If you're thinking about an SSD upgrade, those increases haven't become too ludicrous just yet, but if you were thinking about a RAM upgrade, your best bet is to hold on tight to whatever you already have and hope that nothing breaks any time soon."
Mainstream- to high-end GPUs such as AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT and 9070 series and Nvidia's RTX 5060, 5070, and 5080 series are available at or slightly under suggested retail prices. That availability was rare in spring and summer. A shortage of RAM and flash memory chips has driven SSD and memory prices sharply higher, primarily due to AI-related demand and panic buying by end users and manufacturers. Price increases affect SSDs and both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM kits, with higher-capacity RAM hit harder. Some components are sold out and prices compared to three months ago show steep increases. SSD upgrades remain less severely affected, but RAM upgrades are now expensive; retaining existing memory is advised.
Read at Ars Technica
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]