According to an analytical company that has just revised its forecast, computer memory may soon become a bit cheaper to suggest larger drops in RAM prices.
TrendForce (opens in a new tab) tells us that in the DRAM market, Korean manufacturers are lowering prices to stimulate customer demand in the face of oversupply, and these reduced prices will lead to much cheaper memory modules in the future.
While TrendForce previously estimated a decline in consumer RAM prices of 8% to 13% in Q3, this has been revised to an anticipated quarterly decline of at least 13% and maybe even 18% – almost a fifth cheaper.
That’s a pretty sizable decline, and it’s a trend that will apparently continue into the fourth quarter, the analyst firm notes, where a further 3% to 8% decline is forecast (again, more than the original forecast, which was only 5% or less at most). and at best, price tags will remain unchanged in Q4.
Additionally, TrendForce believes that “the possibility of a permanent decline cannot be ruled out,” meaning we may see a further downward move as 2023 arrives.
Analysis: Play a RAM Waiting game if you can
The upshot of all this is that if you’re thinking of buying new RAM, it might be worth waiting a bit longer for some decent further price cuts – especially when it comes to more expensive system memory or higher-capacity modules that you have your eye on.
The caveat is that while this is very likely the case with DDR4 memory, at least if the analytics firm is right – and all the signs point to it – the price tags for the latest standard, DDR5 RAM, may not come down to the same range.
That said, once DDR5 matures, it will become cheaper (and more efficient) anyway, so it’s worth pausing for a while, but only on that basis. As you may recall, DDR5 has already experienced major price drops in the past few months, and there is no reason to believe it will not continue.
So, if you’re considering upgrading your RAM, we’d advise you to stay strong and hold on a little longer. And even those who are building a new PC might want to play the pending game, not just for slightly lower RAM prices, but possibly a few old drops with GPU prices that are likely available in tabs now (so to speak). Indeed, with Ryzen 7000 and Raptor Lake processors, as well as next-gen graphics cards coming soon, it’s surely a good time to be patient.
By Tom’s gear (opens in a new tab)