Price Check Q3 2016: DRAM Prices Down Over 20% Since Early 2016
by Anton Shilov on July 25, 2016 12:01 AM ESTDDR3 Modules Are Getting Cheaper Too
While the transition to DDR4 is proceeding as planned, there are a number of competitive Haswell and Skylake processors that support DDR3 and DDR3L memory. Therefore it makes sense to examine retail prices of previous-generation modules in retail too. While most users building new high end systems will be leaning on DDR4, we recognise that mid-range and low cost buyers may still be buying older platforms as new. As a result, we will analyze several mainstream speed bins for DDR3.
Kingston’s HyperX Fury Low Voltage DDR3L-1866/CL11 16 GB (2×8 GB) kit (HX318LC11FBK2/16).
Intel’s newest processor line, the Skylake CPUs, officially supports DDR3L as well as DDR4 memory, if you find the appropriate motherboard. Note that it is DDR3L and not DDR3, due to the memory controller implementation. As a result, we start with Kingston’s HyperX Fury Low Voltage DDR3L-1866/CL11 16 GB (2×8 GB) kit (HX318LC11FBK2/16). Very early this year the set retailed for $90, but its price fell to $83 in February. By now, the price of this dual-channel DDR3L-1866/CL11 kit dropped to $73 at Amazon and $73 at Newegg, which is somewhat higher than the price of mainstream dual-channel DDR4-2133/CL15 or even DDR4-2400/CL16 kits, which retail for less than $65. The gap between DDR4-2133 and DDR3L-1866 got a little smaller than it was earlier this year, but being less widespread in general, the DDR3L is a bit more expensive.
Kingston’s HyperX Fury Black DDR3-1866/CL10 (2×8 GB) kit (HX318C10FBK2/16)
If you need to upgrade a previous-generation platform, you can opt for Kingston’s HyperX Fury Black DDR3-1866/CL10 16 GB (2×8 GB) kit (HX318C10FBK2/16), which retails for $69.99 (in line with prices of mainstream DDR4 modules). This kit used to cost around $80 early this year, so, it has got over 13% cheaper in the recent months. The dual-channel set of DDR3 memory modules briefly retailed for $53 in early June, so, it is possible that in the coming weeks its price will hit that spot again.
Kingston’s HyperX Savage DDR3-2133/CL11 2×8 GB kit (HX321C11SRK2/16)
If you need fast DDR3 modules, then Kingston (as well as other makers) offer DDR3-2133 DRAM sticks.
For example, Kingston’s HyperX Savage DDR3-2133/CL11 16 GB (2×8 GB) kit (HX321C11SRK2/16) costs $99.99 at Amazon, up from $90 earlier this year (but down from over $100 last year). For this amount of money, it is possible to get 16 GBs of DDR4-3200/CL17 memory.
Kingston’s HyperX Savage DDR3-2400/CL11 (2×8 GB) kit (HX324C11SRK2/16)
If you plan to push your DDR3 memory sub-system even further, you may want to consider Kingston’s HyperX Savage DDR3-2400/CL11 16 GB (2×8 GB) kit (HX324C11SRK2/16), which costs $100 at Amazon (so, the same amount of money as the DDR3-2133 kit). Earlier this year this dual-channel set of DRAM modules cost over $100 and its current price is around the same.
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Minion4Hire - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
JoeyJoJo, just select 180 days instead of 120 on that first chart you link to and you'll see quite clearly that Anandtech's reporting is correct. Compared to the beginning of the year, the current prices are lower. Sure, there have been even lower prices than right now, but prices are still lower than they were 7 months ago.milli - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Here in Belgium the same. Prices are up massively. 20 to 40%yuhong - Tuesday, July 26, 2016 - link
DRAMeXchange also shows a higher price for 4Gbit DDR4 than months ago, while 4Gbit DDR3 prices did not increase as much. I noticed that 8Gbit DDR4 is getting close to crossover now.yuhong - Friday, July 29, 2016 - link
8Gbit DDR4 has hit crossover on DRAMeXchange. At the time of this writing, "DDR4 8Gb 1Gx8 2133 MHZ" is at $3.664 and "DDR4 4Gb 512Mx8 2133 MHz" is at $1.836.iwod - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Not really interested in consumer DRAM pricing, I mean they are already very very cheap. And it is properly more interesting for LPDDR4 to drop price, since that will be use in some Laptop, Smartphone and Tablets.More interested would be 32GB DIMM and 128GB DIMM drop price, so we can fit 128GB to 1TB Memory on server for very cheap. SQL and Cache Servers.
Flunk - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Past trends don't show much connection between the price of DRAM and Nand on phones and tablets. Most of the time then manufacturer pockets the difference.yuhong - Tuesday, July 26, 2016 - link
Interestingly, even 32GB DDR3 LR-DIMMs has been dropping in price. I wonder if this is due to oversupply.tipoo - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Offset a bit by the CAD being down to 76 cents American now :(Story of my life is piece together a nice mid range PC on PCpartpicker, oh nice I got it under 1000 - crap, forgot to hit the Canadian flag. Price is now 33% higher plus 15% tax plus the "we hate canadians" markup companies like to do despite nafta. Delete build and cry self to sleep. Repeat monthly.
JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Nobody hates Canada; That's just the price of doing business there in Canada, along with the taxes and other such exchange related problems that businesses are facing and then unfortunately have to reflect down to you, the consumer.If you're upset about Newegg charging you ~40% more than the American website does, then either go across the border and have your parts purchased and mailed there for cheap, or complain to your government officials about the relatively weak Canadian dollar. This really just boils down to economic policy and what your government is doing about it.
andrewaggb - Monday, July 25, 2016 - link
Well to be fair, the whole 'buy america' thing comes across as 'hates Canada'. There's some pretty ridiculous stuff that has resulted, like tearing down a bridge for too much Canadian Steel and stuff like that. And Obama really had it out for the Alberta pipeline, despite plenty of US oil projects and pipelines being built.Anyways, I doubt our current government will do much to improve the $. I think it's more about social policy, child care, etc this time around.