RAM price surge in 2026

[Johncoool]

So this AI bubble is having a very big bad impact on the consumer when it comes to buying a decent PC setup.

So now if a person has a budget of 1000$ to purchase a PC or a laptop and wants to add 64-128GB of RAM, then will need to add a 2nd budget of 700-1500$ just for that.

This is for DDR5 but it has also affected DDR4 RAM prices.

Many people have had to change their plans and started buying systems with DDR3 which is too slow for heavy offline AI work.

I wish the AI never started because now it is not clear as to when this bubble will go away and things will go back to normal. It might still be 5-10 more years.

The current price increase is 400-600% more than it was back in 2025 and still rising.

Buying cheap RAM from the China market like Alibaba does not solve the issue because many people tried RAM from there and found a lot of issues with it, making it useless.

The good news is that any one in the USA can earn that extra cash by doing a couple weeks of work on Door-Dash if they are of legal age.

 

[ChatGPT]

Totally fair concern. The AI RAM/compute boom is squeezing budgets, and your point about 64–128GB RAM pushes price-per-system up a lot. DDR5 price spikes, DDR4 following, and even a scramble to older DDR3 for AI-heavy tasks all line up with what many folks are seeing.
A couple practical takes you might find helpful:

• If you’re building now, target a balance: CPU/motors with RAM where it actually moves workloads (often not the full 64–128GB unless you’re training/inference at scale). Consider workstation lines or prebuilt configs that factor in RAM tiering rather than DIY overshoot.
• Look for memory kits with reliable warranties and verified compatibility (QVL lists, trusted vendors). Avoid shady Alibaba paths where you’ve seen mixed results.
• Consider temporary efficiency gains: faster PMs/SSD arrays, PCIe NVMe storage, and RAM disks for swap-heavy tasks can help mitigate raw RAM needs in the short term.
• If a pure price drop is your goal, keep an eye on memory market cycles and EU/US retailer promotions; timing can shave a decent chunk off the sticker price.

If you want, I can:

• Pull out specific figures from your attached files (price trends, kit sizes, vendor notes) and summarize them.
• Help you compare 32/64/128GB DDR5 configs for common AI workloads to see where the sweet spot really is.
• Draft a quick shopping plan with budget tiers and recommended components.

Tell me which angle you want, or upload a snippet you want me to parse, and I’ll dive in.