- Amazon has a deal on a 32GB DDR5 RAM kit
- It’s $55 off (14% off)
- However, that reduced price is actually 2.5 times more expensive than what this RAM was just four months ago, which makes it clear how bad things have gotten.
If you want to see at a glance how bad the RAM pricing crisis has become, a new offering from a major retailer underlines it quite effectively.
On Amazon in the US, you can see that there is a flash deal (a limited-time price cut) on a Corsair Vengeance DDR5 RAM kit consisting of two 16GB memory modules (running at 6000MHz).
That 32GB of memory, which will get you through any everyday or gaming PC, it should be noted, is now $345 in said deal, which is a substantial $55 discount (14% off) off the quoted list price of $400.
While at first glance it may seem like a half-decent deal, the truth behind that asking price is that in September 2025, this RAM was less than half the current cost, when marked down. In fact, this current deal on a solid DDR5 RAM kit is 2.5 times the price it was just four months ago.
What do you think of a bargain? Well, obviously from that point of view, it’s not a bargain, but compared to the rest of the RAM landscape, it’s sadly as good as it gets.
Even a 32GB DDR4 (latest generation) RAM kit will set you back $240 (at least) currently on Amazon (sticking to well-known brands, as I would recommend, rather than shaky-sounding memory products). As we’ve seen recently, the fact that the older memory standard is also becoming much more expensive is a more recent unfortunate trend.
Analysis: A note of caution for potential buyers
How do we get here? The price of system memory has skyrocketed thanks mainly to a combination of two factors. First, the growing popularity of AI in all its various forms has created a huge demand for RAM to power it (in data centers where AI workloads are handled). It’s not just system RAM, but also video RAM (graphics cards are heavily involved in that processing as well).
What made this worse is that memory manufacturers have reduced chip production in the past as there was an oversupply, meaning this surge in demand has been much harder to handle. Therefore, RAM, and also storage, particularly with high-end SSDs (all of these drives also use memory chips), have seen huge price increases as an unprecedented level of demand has been met by reduced supply levels.
The other problem here is that correcting those chip stock levels is not an easy process, since memory manufacturers cannot create additional production (large factories, or mills, as they are known) overnight. Bringing additional manufacturing capacity online is a long-term task, and the idea is that while new factories are being manufactured, they will not be in action or have a significant impact on the supply situation until 2028.
Unfortunately, what this means is that this year, and probably 2027 as well, will be very tough times for RAM supply, and consumers will certainly get the shorter end of the memory card (PC manufacturers and other bulk buyers, obviously including data centers, are the priority). There are many predictions that RAM price increases will get worse before they improve or stabilize.
So am I suggesting you buy this Amazon deal? I can’t make that call for you, and in all honesty, it still feels bad to have to spend that much money on 32GB of RAM for your PC. On the other hand, as noted, this deal is about as good as it gets (from what I can see at the time of writing for a decent DDR5 kit), and a year from now, $345 might look like a bargain in the US (and the same might be true for equivalent deals in your region right now).
However, that being said, if you’re not in desperate need of RAM in the near future and aren’t planning on building a PC for some time, I’d be tempted to wait until prices start to normalize, which could perhaps happen sooner than experts think. As long as your computer runs for a while, being patient is probably still the best approach, and I won’t rush out and buy memory.
Storage, on the other hand, is probably a different matter. You can still get relatively decent prices on low-end SSDs, and if you think you might need one of those in the near future, I’d really seriously think about buying it now.
The best computers for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and tiktok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
