Memory Scaling on Haswell CPU, IGP and dGPU: DDR3-1333 to DDR3-3000 Tested with G.Skill
by Ian Cutress on September 26, 2013 4:00 PM ESTPricing and the Effect of the Hynix Fire
When I started testing for this overview, I naturally headed over to Newegg in order to see the prices for memory kits using each of the timings we used. A 2x4 GB memory kit covers most of the major user scenarios, and a 2x8 GB of each is often available for near-double the pricing. As it stood at the beginning of August, we had the following pricing:
At the time, a 1333 C9 was the cheapest at $50, moving up through to $700 for our extreme DDR3-3000 C12 kit. Anything 2666 MHz and above requires a larger bump in price, however the movement from 1333 C9 to 2400 C11 in the grand scheme of things was relatively small ($13) but jumping to 2400 C9 is a 2.16x increase.
However, on September 4th, fire struck Fab 1 and Fab 2 of SK Hynix’s operation in Wuxi, China.
Source: Kitguru
Reports vary, with some suggesting that these Fabs were used for production of NVIDIA GDDR5, and others stating they were part of a general plant manufacturing DRAM. In a statement, SK Hynix has stated that ‘there was no material damage to the fab equipment in the clean room, and thus we expect to resume operations in a short time period so that overall production and supply volume would not be materially affected’.
To put this into context, these Fabs combined produce 12-15% of the world’s supply of DRAM silicon: Hynix themselves command 30% of the memory chip market and Reuters reports that this plant produces around 40-50 percent of Hynix’s total output.
Of course the initial reaction to the incident was directed at pricing. Any suspension of manufactured goods can cause other companies to raise their base line, or the reduction of supply will cause other companies to react and make the most of their production. Memory kits have been rising in price per Gigabyte over the past year anyway, and the prediction of a 10-20% bump in price is not welcome. Using price tracking website camelcamelcamel.com, we chose a few 2x4 GB kits to see how prices have spiked:
A few memory kits show a bump around the Sep 4-10th timeframe, such as the Corsair 1866 C9 kit, the Kingston DDR3-2400 C11 kit and the Patriot 2133 C11 kit. However the majority of kits did not in our small sample. Going back to the original list of prices I obtained from Newegg, I got a fresh set of numbers:
Some pricing has obviously moved – 1333 C9 is now $15 more expensive, and the budget kits are clearly 1600 C9 and 2400 C11. Most of the high end has not moved, although 2666 C11 is now under $100 for a 2x4 GB kit. 1866 C9 is $2 cheaper over the timeframe, but 2133 C9 is $8 more expensive than before. The ultra-high end kits have not adjusted much.
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Nagorak - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
Why did memory prices fluctuate so much since the end of last year and now? The Hynix fire looks to have next to no impact, but the price of memory has nearly doubled since last November/December.aryonoco - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
Ian, I do not want to disparage your work, please take this as nothing but constructive criticism. You do amazing work and the wealth of technical expertise is very clear in your articles.But you have a terrible writing style. There are so many sentences in your articles that while technically grammatically correct, are the most awkward ways of saying what you mean. Take a very simple sentence: "In terms of real world usage, on our Haswell platform, there are some recommendations to be made." There are so many ways, much simpler, much cleaner, much shorter to say what you said in that sentence.
I really struggle with your writing style. I know journalism isn't really your day job and you have a lot of important things to attend to, but please, if you care about this side job of yours as a technical writer, being technical is only half the story. Please consider improving your writing style to make it more readable.
Bob Todd - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
I'd wager most of the readers didn't struggle as mightily as you. If you want to critique another's wordsmithery, you might want to find a classier way to do it. Our first exhibit will be sentence one of paragraph two. Surely you could have strung together a couple of words that got your point across without sounding like an ass?Impulses - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that starting a sentence with a But is something you'd typically avoid...Dustin Sklavos - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
"You have a terrible writing style."Constructive!
How would you like it if someone came to your place of business and told you "Look, I don't mean to disparage your work, but it makes my cat's hair fall out in clumps."
ingwe - Friday, September 27, 2013 - link
Yep. This definitely wasn't constructive.Ian, I don't see anything wrong with your writing, and I would rather you concentrate on getting articles out than on spending lots of extra time on editing your work.
jaded1592 - Sunday, September 29, 2013 - link
Your first sentence is grammatically incorrect. Stones and glass houses...Sivar - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
What a great article. Tons of actual data, and the numerous charts weren't stupidly saved as JPG. I love Anandtech.soccerballtux - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
so bandwidth starved apps with predictable data requests (h264 p1) really like it but when the CPU has enough data to crunch (winrar) the lower real-world latency time in seconds is worth having.gandergray - Thursday, September 26, 2013 - link
Ian: Thank you for the excellent article. You provide in depth and thorough analysis. Your article will undoubtedly serve as a frequently referenced guide.