- RAM prices in Germany continue to rise at a dizzying pace
- DDR5 memory has increased by 27% month on month and is now 4.4 times more expensive than in July 2025
- DDR4 (and DDR3) RAM isn’t that expensive, but it’s catching up with massive DDR5 inflation, and these German figures reflect the global picture.
Here’s your weekly dose of bad news on the RAM front, with rising prices in Germany serving as another indicator that the price of system memory around the world is likely to continue rising, even from the exorbitant levels it has already reached.
VideoCardz discovered that German tech site 3D Center has updated its ‘memory crisis price index’ which, as the name suggests, tracks RAM prices at German retailers (and only retailers – third-party marketplace sellers or auction sites, also known as resellers, are not included).
Figures from January 2026 show that DDR5 RAM (in Germany) is now 4.4 times more expensive than it was in July 2025, just half a year ago (based on an average price of 20 different DDR5 products in various RAM kit capacities and speeds).
The good news, as it stands, is that DDR5 memory is not increasing as steeply now compared to the previous month, posting a 27% increase, which sounds like a lot, but not when viewed through the lens of the 93% increase from November to December.
If you look at older RAM, i.e. DDR4 and also DDR3 (and the latter is becoming more and more popular as a cheap alternative for some people with the price crisis), these prices are increasing faster than DDR5, but are still at a relatively lower inflation level in total.
In January 2026, the DDR4 and DDR3 RAM kits that 3D Center monitored increased by 46% in terms of cost, which was a faster rate of increase than the previous month, when price inflation was 30%.
Compared to July 2025, these older RAM standards are 3.2 times more expensive, so they still don’t reach the same levels as DDR5. But the monthly increases are steeper, meaning DDR4 (and DDR3) is catching up to DDR5 for the overall price increase experienced.
Analysis: a global headache that won’t go away
Of course, it makes sense that with DDR5 truly through the roof (and still going skyward), those who think they may need to upgrade their DDR4 memory are now seeing how the price of that RAM reflects the newer standard in terms of a meteoric rise, and will likely decide to pull the trigger before things get worse.
On top of that, perhaps those building a new PC will simply choose to go the DDR4 route, or even DDR3, perhaps, if they want a PC just for basic computing tasks. However, I still wouldn’t recommend going back that far in time if you can avoid it, although these products are still very cheap (relatively) even with price inflation (which is obviously the attraction for a niche group of buyers).
While this is just one temperature taken in terms of how overheating the RAM market is at the moment, the German tech scene is the largest in Europe and obviously reflects what’s happening around the world. While there will be slight differences from market to market, we are all seeing huge price increases, and elsewhere DDR4 prices are likely to reflect what is happening now in Germany. After all, we are all suffering from the same decline in the supply of RAM chips.
Meanwhile, 3D Center points out another worrying development that’s new for this month: GPUs are rising in price and are up 14% (compared to September 2025). That sounds like nothing compared to the RAM increases, of course, but it’s still a considerable jump for products that in many cases already cost a lot of money, and some high-end graphics cards in particular have been severely affected, as we’ve seen.
Storage is also seeing big increases, with SSDs rising 79% in price according to 3D Center statistics, and hard drives now rising 53% (compared to July 2025). As a result, building a new PC from scratch is becoming a much more expensive undertaking, since you’re paying a lot more for your system’s RAM and SSD, and an extra amount for the GPU to boot.
The obvious prediction is made by 3D Center, and that is that high prices are not going to disappear and, if anything, they are going to get even worse. The best we can hope for is a shift toward a stabilization of prices for products that have seen near-vertical increases in cost, particularly DDR5 RAM, and a drop in prices would only be precipitated by some major event like the bursting of the AI bubble (which is not likely, to put it mildly).
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.
