Seemingly high prices DDR-2 System RAM

[Zoltar]

Just my little rant for the day: A little while ago I ventured out to build an HTPC on a budget. We have a 32" flat screen in our kitchen / bar area and since my needs are minimal, I thought, hey, let's see how cheap we can go and still have a *decent* build, if you know what I mean. By "decent" I mean quality but not necessarily high end / gaming, etc. So, I have acquired everything, component by component all from NewEgg, all assembled, just waiting for some DDR-2 800 4 twin sticks of 4gig total to stick in there - waiting for it to go on sale. No go.

I recall not too long ago seeing pricing for 2 gigs at less than $30. That would translate to $60 for what I'm looking for. But it's hard to find 4 gigs under $100. So I have got good deals on everything else, but no, not the sys memory

[Steve R Jones]

I paid a 100 bucks for a one gig stick of DDR way after DDR2 came out....So 30 bucks for 2 gigs was allways SUPER CHEAP to me...

Its the good ol law of supply and demand kicking here since DDR3 is becoming the mainstream.

[RicheemxX]

Ahh the good 'ol days of cheap memory. I think I paid a total of $20 for the 4gbs I've got in this system now.

If this is just going to be an HTPC and you are looking to save some cash then you really don't need 4gbs of RAM. 2gbs would be more than sufficient.

[Zoltar]

I have thought about just going with 2gb but my mobo only has 2 slots. I suppose if I wanted to in a few years, swap out the mobo / memory / processor and sell the old one on Ebay (which I have done a few times and you get decent $$ as well )

[demonknightdk]

i'm running windows 7 ultimate 64 on 2 gigs and a P4 HT 4.0Ghz with a GTX 260 and play back on my 32 inch is amazing.. media PC dosent need insane power (my gfx card was a steal buddy of mine needed cash I held a 100$ in his face )

[ShyguyXPC]

its not just DDR2 thats expensive DDR3 has also gone up in price, a year ago I bought my 3GB of Crucial Value stuff for $40 on newegg, now, at least for the last 6 to 9 months anyways, that revision of the kit I bought has been discontinued, and a new revision released, but same exact specs, goes for $85

Somewhere I had read that one of the big players in producing/supplying RAM chips fell on their face or went kaput, and as a result its thrown a wrench into the cogs of the RAM stick manufacturers , raising prices or something.

German RAM Manufacturer Goes TITSUP….. RAM Prices Skyrocket…. WTF? « The IT Nerd

DRAM prices spike as German manufacturer goes belly-up

http://www.dramexchange.com/WeeklyRe...st/2/1938.html

besides the switching of old to new DDR generations, the whole industry is sort of in a mess right now with one of its major players gone.

less competition, less reason to compete and drop pricing also helps in rising costs. Greater demand, less product out there, again, increased prices.

all these factors have contributed to the rising ram prices in the last year, and probably haven't seen the tip of it yet, will probably be another year or so at least before we see RAM as cheap as it was a year or so ago.