Sarah Stokely06 October 2006, 10:46 AM
Memory wholesalers are hinting that the RAM price rollercoaster is about to take a dip, which should bring some relief in PC prices in the lead-up to Christmas.
RAM buyers may be about to get a break from the recent price hikes, if predictions from a couple of memory wholesalers come true.
Shoppers -- and retailers -- have seen steady increases in RAM prices recently, as well as erratic supply. Memory wholesalers have reported price hikes of up to 40 percent in the past two to three weeks.
"The price really has rocketed up,” said PC Case Gear founder James Cameron.
“We’re also finding more and more local distributors are either selling out or failing to anticipate demand, which can be very frustrating.”
Bronet is an IT wholesaler which distributes G.Skill and Kingmax memory. “RAM prices have increased 30 to 40 percent in the last two to three weeks,” said Bronet’s Ken Barsley. This came on top of a slow, steady increase in price since the end of July, he said.
Bronet’s stocks of G.Skill RAM had been selling out since the price increases had kicked off at the end of July. “We’d get stock in and we’d run out by the end of the week, from day one until now.”
While retailers usually carried enough stock to see them through, Barsley said the RAM shortage was starting to show on retailers shelves. “I’ve noticed now that they really have run out in the past two weeks.”
“The memory shortage is putting a big strain on the IT industry. If you can’t buy memory, you can’t build systems. [If you have to buy from a more expensive supplier] that can put an extra $100 on a system.”
But prices may have stabilised, according to several distributors. Mittoni, which distributes OCZ memory, had seen prices stablise over the past week and a half.
Meanwhile, at Bronet, prices on DDR 553 dropped four percent this week, while 667 remained stable, said Barsley.
The higher end 800 MHz DIMMs, favoured by system builders, were still seeing increases, he said.
“Memory prices have risen because it’s the season for system builders to put their orders in,” said Barsley.
Buyers who play the waiting game until the end of system builders buying season could profit, said Barsley. “If buyers wait until after Christmas, they’ll probably save about 20 percent. But between now and Christmas, you’ll only see a five to 10 percent decrease, if that.”