DDR2 price trends

C

citizen__erased

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
445
Just wondering, what is the current trend for DDR2 memory? Is it up or down? I'm wondering whether to buy a 2x1Gb ballistix kit i've seen for £112 now, or wait until i get the rest of my stuff? I'll buy now if the prices are likely to go up in the next few weeks.
 
I heard in May the price are going back in up and also people are gonna ditch their old S939 Athlons + DDR to switch to Core 2 + DDR2 on the Intel price drop April 22nd (like me).

So I can see a lot of demand on DDR2 ram. Decided to purchase now instead. Got a good deal on a EVGA 680i SLI (Not LT) for 170$US (200$ Canadian) anyway. Just waiting for the CPU now.
 
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking along the same lines as you. I'm planning on grabbing an E6600 after the price cuts. I'm eyeing up the Asus P5N32-E 680i board which i've spotted for £123. I'm thinking i should grab some ram first though.
 
I read Balistix are pretty nice overclockers*. Personally I went OCZ Titanium VX2 PC8000 because the place I buy doesn't carry Crucial and I got a decent price on the ram.


*Well G.Skill and OCZ are also pretty nice too (anything with D9 is nice... eheh) but anyway. you can't go wrong with D9's from either of those 3 makers.
 
Cyant said:
I heard in May the price are going back in up and also people are gonna ditch their old S939 Athlons + DDR to switch to Core 2 + DDR2 on the Intel price drop April 22nd (like me).

So I can see a lot of demand on DDR2 ram. Decided to purchase now instead. Got a good deal on a EVGA 680i SLI (Not LT) for 170$US (200$ Canadian) anyway. Just waiting for the CPU now.
Click to expand...

There already is a lot of demand for DDR2 memory. Any fluctuations in price is determined by manufacturing yields as well as supply and demand.

Let's keep in tune with the big picture..... Even as a whole, DIY'ers make up such a small percentage of the market (and the percentage of those that are actually upgrading cuts that number down even further) and place only a minuscule amount of demand for components compared to all the OEM's. Even the low-end (<$500) PC's from Dell and HP have been designed to use DDR2 for quite some time now.

Sorry, but your statements make it seem like everyone that owns a PC today:
a.) built it themselves.
b.) is using DDR1 memory.
c.) is just waiting for the intel price cuts and will then move to DDR2.

All 3 of the above points are false.
 
Inventory of Dram chips was high because they expected Vista to spur the sales of RAm but it didn't happen, the price dropped but now the PC makers stocked up on ram beforet he end of Q1 and the inventory of Dram chips is lower and the price are very slowly starting to go back up but they will go back up.

And anyway you chould switch to a Core 2 on the 22nd and ditch your DDR1 ram too ;p
 
Cyant said:
1. Inventory of Dram chips was high because they expected Vista to spur the sales of RAM but it didn't happen,
2. the price dropped but now the PC makers stocked up on ram before the end of Q1 and the inventory of Dram chips is lower and the prices are very slowly starting to go back up but they will go back up.

3. And anyway you chould switch to a Core 2 on the 22nd and ditch your DDR1 ram too ;p
Click to expand...

1. Nothing wrong with forecasting. And Vista did have some impact on the market. Almost all OEM's are "recommending" to customers at least 1GB for Vista even though their base configs often come with only 512MB. And a lot of systems are being sold with 1GB+ of RAM.

2. And yes, the market is starting to feel a slight DDR2 bulk shortage (OEM's buy in mass quantity but the module manufacturers can't keep up with overall demand, which is the reason for their depleted inventory). This will eventually trickle down to the aftermarket segment and affect all us DIY'ers. Hence the rising prices at places such as Newegg.

3. Don't need to upgrade.... my system is certainly no slouch with any of today's software and games. I'll wait for the next generation GPU (beyond the 8800 and R600) to emerge and then upgrade to that before I'll need to touch anything else in my system, as a newer GPU will yield me the most performance gain alone for what I primarily use my system for. If I was running an older AXP or P4 system then yes, I would strongly consider upgrading to a complete C2D/C2Q platform.
 
Prices are not rising yet. The low point for prices is expected to come some time in May according to analysts who base their predictions on reports and statements by Micron and Hynix, among others. A month from now the deals will be better than they are today. After that prices will probably start to creep back up. This isn't just about production yields. A lot of DRAM manufacturing equipment and tooling was sold last year. The big players had already ramped up their production - not all based on Vista - and an oversupply was the result. They predicted 2 soft quarters because of oversupply, and that was taking into account a bump in demand because of Vista. Since then, the extra RAM demand for Vista failed to materialize and that, if anything, will prolong the oversupply. If you are looking for the best deal wait another month.
 
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