RAM

RAM prices aren't slowing down, with skyrocketing costs seeing things like a 256GB kit of DDR4 memory now retailing for over $3000... with RAM shortages here to stay until 2028, and high prices for DDR5 and DDR4 throughout 2026 and 2027.

If you thought there would be a magical fix for the DRAM shortages and price increases, you're out of luck... this is like a triple-storm all at once. DDR5 and DDR4 memory shortages will likely stay until at least Q4 2027 (two years from now), so don't expect cheap RAM prices until 2028 most likely.

Why is this happening? AI, we can all blame AI. AI is gobbling up all of the DRAM and NAND that it can get, where just a couple of days ago we had Micron dive out of the consumer SSD and RAM business with the closure of its Crucial brand, as the company goes all-in with AI. This leaves South Korean memory manufacturers SK hynix and Samsung to provide all of the DRAM and NAND for both AI and consumer products.

Setting aside the fact that it's looking increasingly likely that DDR5 memory modules are set to become as rare and pricey as gold bars as we head into 2026, XPG has just announced and launched its new ARMAX DDR5 Gaming Memory Series for PC gamers and tech enthusiasts.

Sporting a V-shaped, RGB-lit heatsink inspired by fighter jets (there's also a non-RGB version), the XPG ARMAX DDR5 Gaming Memory Series is also compatible with SFF (Small Form Factor) mini-PCs thanks to its 39.5mm heatsink height. Performance-wise, you're looking at DDR5 speeds of 6,000 to 6,400 MT/s, which XPG describes as the sweet spot for gamers and creators.

Hardware-wise, these memory modules are built with high-quality ICs, including a built-in PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) and On-Die ECC (Error-Correcting Code), and support both Intel XMP 3.0 and AMD EXPO profiles for overclocking. With their stylish design, including a light bar on the top of each module and a fighter jet look, these memory kits are tailor-made for PC builds and cases with panoramic views.

Recently, we've been reporting on the ongoing memory and storage crisis, which has led to surging prices, limited stock, and word that pretty much all 2026 capacity is being allocated to the AI market and data centers. Earlier today, we got the surprising and concerning news that Micron was pulling the plug on its consumer-focused Crucial brand, which has been one of the biggest go-to names for PC memory and storage for years. Yes, the situation is getting pretty dire.

In addition to the Crucial bombshell, there's another alarming announcement today from memory and storage company Transcend, a well-known name and brand in the DRAM (DDR4/DDR5) and NAND Flash (SSDs, microSDs) space. According to a letter and notification it has sent to its customers (via @jukan05 on X), Transcend confirms that it has not "received any new chip shipments since October."

Transcend notes that its key NAND Flash suppliers, Sandisk and Samsung, have notified the company that its deliveries have been postponed "again," which means its Q4 allocation has been "significantly reduced."

According to TeamGroup's general manager, Gerry Chen, contract pricing for DRAM and NAND products has once again surged, doubling as we head into December. As a prominent brand and name in the memory, solid-state storage, and flash-based markets, TeamGroup isn't predicting a turnaround, as availability and pricing are reportedly set to worsen throughout the first half of 2026.

And the reason for this is that during this time, existing distribution and stockpiles will have been exhausted, making allocation and acquisition difficult across all corners of the tech industry - from AI to smartphones to PCs. An already bad situation is about to get worse. TeamGroup's Gerry Chen believes that pricing won't normalize until at least 2027 (via DigiTimes), with a timeline that could extend well into 2028.

And it won't even matter if you're willing to pay obscene, inflated prices, because supply will be limited and demand will increase. It's a grim prediction, especially when you factor in that even if the most prominent manufacturers like Micron, Samsung, or SK Hynix were to start building new memory fabs today, it would still take years to ramp up production.

RAM prices are so out of control that they're being stolen mid-delivery, with a Redditor in the UK having his 32GB of DDR5 memory kit stolen, but the courier delivered it 300 miles from his house... at 4:15AM.

The UK user had purchased a 32GB kit of DDR5-4800 SO-DIMM memory from Crucial on eBay, but the parcel was marked as "delivered" at 4:15AM, some 300 miles from his house, with a unique signature which looks absolutely nothing like a real signature, and more like a Pentagram.

It looks like this Redditor isn't the only one, as his post on Reddit attracted other people who reported similar things happening to them with their packages. Another issue is that in the UK, the seller is responsible for the package until it reaches the recipient, but people that have found themselves in this situation have said that they get pushed around to the retailer, courier, and then the police, with each side of the situation trying to hand off responsibility.

We all know about skyrocketing RAM prices, but it looks like the huge leap in RAM prices is leading to a major drop in motherboard sales, forcing motherboard manufacturers to "significantly revise" their sales targets downward in the near future.

In a new report from GazLog from Board Channels, motherboard makers like ASUS, MSI, and GIGABYTE are noticing a whopping 40-50% reduction in motherboard sales compared to the same period of 2024. Motherboard sales are normally higher at this time of the year due to all of the festive season discounts -- Black Friday, etc -- but thanks to skyrocketing DRAM prices, it's now reported that motherboard vendors are completely re-thinking their sales strategies for the near future.

Taiwanese motherboard makers like ASUS, MSI, and GIGABYTE have reportedly decided to lower their sales targets for both November and December 2025, which will make for a very interesting (and hopefully not too depressing) CES 2026 which kicks off in January.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has some words of reckoning in regards to skyrocketing RAM prices, where he says that they will be a "real problem" for the high-end gaming market for "several years" to come.

We have all seen the explosive uptick in RAM prices over the last few weeks and months, with the AI race being blamed as companies are gobbling up as much high-end GPU technology it can, and all of them come with copious amounts of RAM (GDDR7 and HBM3, HBM3E, and HBM4).

Sweeney posted on X, where he said: "RAM price increases will be a real problem for high-end gaming for several years. Factories are diverting leading edge DRAM capacity to meet AI needs where data centers are bidding far higher than consumer device makers".

The DDR5 overclocking world record changes almost on the daily, with a new DDR5 speed record hit using Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory and the GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard, and overclocker "Sergmann" with an incredible 13,530 MT/s speed.

Overclocker "SaltyCroissant" had achieved a new DDR5 world record earlier that day using CENS DDR5 memory at 13,322 MT/s, hitting 6703.9MHz or 13,407 MT/s using a single Corsair Vengeance 24GB DDR5 module on the GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard.

However, later that day, Sergmann reached a new record of 6765.2MHz or 13,530 MT/s for a new DDR5 OC world record, using the same Corsair Vengeance DDR5 memory and the same GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard. The only difference between the two overclockers' achievements is that SaltyCroissant used an Intel Core Ultra 5 265K processor, while Sergmann used the higher-end Core Ultra 9 285K processor.

You can buy an entire PlayStation 5 console for less than what a 64GB kit of DDR5-6000 memory would cost you, and it's only going to get worse.

The RAM shortage is being blamed on the AI boom, which is consuming as much of the best DRAM memory chips it can, increasing the price of DDR5 memory and DDR5 memory kits for the PC. It's gotten to the point that a $205-$220 memory kit from a few months ago -- the G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB series 64GB DDR5-6000 memory kit -- now costs $599, and that's with some discount applied.

Looking at the tracking data of DDR5 RAM prices, you could get a 64GB DDR5 memory kit for just $140, but now 64GB kits are $500+ in the last couple of months. Sony has its PlayStation 5 Digital console priced at $399, and the Microsoft Xbox Series S also at $399, while the PS5 Slim Disc costs $449, and the more powerful PS5 Pro costs $649.

SK hynix is one of the largest DRAM manufacturers on the planet, and while it has invested tens of billions of dollars on its semiconductor prowess, the South Korean memory giant is set to increase DRAM production by a factor of 8x in the near future due to DRAM shortages and skyrocketing prices on every product with DRAM inside of it.

In a new report published by Korean media outlet Hankyung, SK hynix has plans to increase its DRAM production capacity by more than 8x by 2026, in order to meet the demand of CSPs and companies like NVIDIA and AMD, which both make graphics cards and AI GPUs, both using more and more of the most advanced DRAM on the planet with HBM4 onwards, and GDDR7 onwards.

This falls in line with rumors that we wrote about back in June 2024, that there was a coming DRAM memory shortage, as manufacturers were pushing all-in on HBM production for HBM memory. Then just this September 2025, NVIDIA reportedly asked Samsung to double its GDDR7 production, ready for its new B40 AI GPU for China.

LPDDR6 prices are set to be much higher than anticipated, with rumors swirling that Qualcomm and MediaTek will be the only ones with flagship chipsets in the future that feature the next-gen LPDDR6 memory standard.

In a new post by leaker Digital Chat Station on the Weibo forums, we'll only see "Pro-level" chipsets with next-gen LPDDR6 RAM in 2026, and that Chinese memory manufacturers are preparing for mass production of LPDDR6 memory next year, which should give Qualcomm and MediaTek some leverage when it comes to pricing for their next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Dimensity 9600 processors, respectively.

Digital Chat Station wrote: "industry forecasts suggest that memory price increases may ease in 2027, with the latest LPDDR6 standard expected to see significant price hikes next year, likely only appearing in Pro-level flagship processors like the Dimensity 9600 and Snapdragon 8E6".

It's been one of the most talked-about topics in recent weeks: an unprecedented shortage and supply of DRAM and flash memory for technology, driven by unrelenting demand from the data center, AI, and cloud sectors. With industry and financial analysts sounding the alarm, the price of 16 Gigabits of DDR5 has more than doubled in the past month, rising to $24.80 per unit on November 17.

And that's Gb, not GB, which would make it 2GB of DDR5 memory that's 130% more expensive now than it was a month ago. As detailed in a new report over at Hankyung, memory can account for anywhere between 20 to 50% of the cost of devices like smartphones or PCs, so a price increase of this magnitude will have a massive impact on the profitability of countless products.

The analysts at TrendForce predict that fixed or contract pricing for DRAM in the fourth quarter will increase by 75% year over year. Unfortunately, this means that the global smartphone, laptop, and PC markets will most likely shrink in 2026. TrendForce has lowered its growth rate prediction for PC production from +0.1% to -2.0% for 2026, while the smartphone market is expected to be hit even harder, with its growth rate dropping from +1.7% to -2.4%.

We've got a new DDR5 memory frequency world record courtesy of German extreme overclocker CENS, who set a new speed of DDR5-13322 (13,322 MT/s). CENS partnered with G.SKILL and ASUS for this achievement, with the new world record achieved using a 24Gb module of G.SKILL's popular Trident Z5 DDR5 memory, ASUS's flagship ROG Maximus Z890 Apex motherboard, and the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor. Plus, plenty of liquid nitrogen.

It feels like we're in the middle of OC season, as the DDR5 memory frequency record has been broken a few times over the past few weeks. A couple of weeks ago, we saw GIGABYTE's in-house overclocker HiCookie set a record of 13,034 MT/s, and last week, overclocker AiMax broke the 13,200 MT/s barrier with a speed of DDR5-13211.

This is a roundabout way of saying that we're not sure how long this new record by CENS will stand.

RAM shortages are causing more issues than higher pricing for consumers, with motherboard makers like ASUS and GIGABYTE enjoying that distributors are now forcing RAM purchases to be tied to motherboard purchases.

In a new report from the Taiwan Economic Daily, we're hearing that Taiwanese distributors are forcing customers to buy motherboards with RAM module purchases, meaning that if you are looking to buy DDR5 RAM, you'll need to purchase a motherboard at the same time.

In retail this isn't so new, as distributors will often tie purchases of one product to another. I worked retail for 10 years before my now huge 15+ year stint here at TweakTown, and I personally remember dozens of times where in order to get our hands on bleeding-edge CPUs at the time, we had to bundle in entry-level and mid-range motherboards as well. The same thing happened with high-end HDDs at the time, we would have to order a bunch of other mid-range drives to get other products before competitors (or to even get our hands on them at all).

If you're unfamiliar with CUDIMM memory, it stands for 'Clocked Unbuffered DIMM,' with the primary difference from standard DDR5 DIMMs being the inclusion of a dedicated chip that generates a clock signal. The result is a clock generator that sits closer to memory chips and hardware, resulting in higher-performance memory designed for demanding workloads, where speed, low latency, stability, and capacity are key.

This week, ADATA has announced that, working alongside MSI, it has developed the world's first 128GB DDR5 CUDIMM Memory Module using the innovative 4-RANK architecture. By doubling the capacity compared to traditional 2-RANK modules, ADATA notes that this new memory is "engineered for large-scale applications and data-intensive workloads," retaining the speed and performance of its existing CUDIMM lineup.

These new 128GB DDR5 CUDIMM Memory Modules will support up to 256GB on 2-DIMM platforms, delivering a substantial capacity for desktop systems using the Intel Z890 platform. And yes, this new memory is also optimized for gaming performance.

With the AI boom and the rise of next-gen data centers in nearly every major city, as well as cloud-based computing, we've seen several reports in recent months of an unprecedented shortage of flash-based memory and storage expected in 2026. And as we're heading into the final weeks of 2025, it sounds like the price hikes and limited availability are already here.

According to a new report from Reuters, Samsung Electronics is already raising the price on DDR5 memory modules by up to 60%. Prices for 32GB of DDR5 memory have increased from $149 in September to $239 in November. "The boom in artificial intelligence has stoked intense demand," the report writes, noting that memory chips are included in the rush to purchase every high-end GPU that is currently being manufactured.

The report states that Samsung has delayed formally announcing this new pricing, citing information from sources "briefed by Samsung." Based on this information, the pricing for DDR5 modules at the company has increased across the board, ranging from 30% to 60%.

A week ago, we reported on a new DDR5 speed record set by GIGABYTE's in-house overclocker extraordinaire HiCookie, with an impressive speed of 13,034 MT/s. This remarkable achievement was then overtaken a few days ago by Saltycroissant, who recorded an impressive overclocked DDR5 memory speed of 13,153 MT/s. Fast forward to today, and the 13,200 MT/s barrier has just been broken by overclocker AiMax.

The one thing all world record entries have in common is that they pair an 'Arrow Lake' Intel Core Ultra CPU (with E-Cores disabled) with GIGABYTE's Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard. Although different DDR5 modules can be found across the top ten world record speeds, the GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE is the go-to motherboard for memory overclocking.

For the CPU and RAM, AiMax's system utilized the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K processor, and a 24GB module of the award-winning Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 DDR5 memory with CL68-127-127-127-2 timings. Naturally, the 13,211 MT/s world record attempt also included plenty of liquid nitrogen cooling for the CPU and memory.

According to a new report from the Commercial Times (CTEE), DRAM contract prices increased by a massive 171.8% year-over-year in Q3 2025. The outlet notes that this increase has surpassed the rise of gold, with Tom's Hardware confirming that the flow-on effect is already in place, as evidenced by the price of 32GB of Corsair's Vengeance DDR5 memory doubling on Newegg since July.

A $183 versus $91 price difference for system memory is a significant price hike, and it all comes down to supply not being able to keep up with the insatiable demand from the cloud-based AI and data center market. This news also follows our report from a few weeks ago, in which ADATA Chairman Chen Lebai said we were on the cusp of a historic shortage of DRAM, SSDs, and HDDs.

At the time, he noted that we would begin to see the effects of this as we head into 2026, with Phison's CEO adding that the shortages could last up to a decade. Foundries all over are struggling to keep up with demand, and client-focused customers like Corsair are now directly competing with AI and cloud companies for capacity. AI and cloud-based companies are buying up as much capacity as they can.

GIGABYTE has just set a new DDR5 memory OC world record using its Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard, with in-house overclocker "HiCookie" hitting 13,034 MT/s speeds.

As it stands, GIGABYTE is enjoying the top three positions for DDR5 OC memory speed records using its Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard, where it was just last month that the motherboard spilled over the 13,000 MT/s barrier, and now it's done it again with 13,034 MT/s.

GIGABYTE's in-house overclocking legend, HiCookie, is behind the feat, using an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor installed onto a Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard. The CPU had its E-Cores disabled, and was using just a single 24GB module of ADATA's XPG Lancer RGB DDR5 memory.

KLEVV's URBANE V RGB DDR5 Gaming OC memory not only launched with a futuristic and stylish all-white aesthetic, but with low-latency speeds of up to 8400 MT/s while running cool. In our review from earlier this year, regardless of the voltage applied, temperatures never rose above 43°C. Pair solid performance, fast speeds, tight timings, and a robust 'limited lifetime warranty', and it's no wonder the 32GB kit we reviewed earned an Editor's Choice award.

Although white PC gaming hardware is becoming increasingly popular and a go-to aesthetic for many gamers, black remains the preferred choice for many enthusiasts. And with that, it's great to see that KLEVV has finally launched a Jet Black Edition for its URBANE V RGB DDR5 Gaming OC memory. At launch, the only option was Brilliant White, with KLEVV adding black to broaden the number of builds URBANE V RGB kits can seamlessly slot into.

This is strictly a secondary color option, as you've got the same 2mm-thick aluminum heatsink, the stylish futuristic look with RGB "dual-beam" light bar, and low-profile height of 42.5mm. And yes, it remains one of the best-looking DDR5 memory kits in 'Jet Black' and one of the best-performing.