Not far from 350% inflation in one year? No, the DDR4 market is no longer protected!
We thought it was safe, protected, so to speak, by its relative technological obsolescence, while all our major customers now swear by DDR5 and, even more so, HBM memories. That's DDR4, which for a few weeks had even earned the status of "safe haven" for all those who wanted to build a machine without having to sell a kidney. Unfortunately, this sector is no longer spared in the least by inflation, which is affecting all DRAM production segments.
Over the past year, DDR4 prices have soared © TechPowerUp
The TechPowerUp website has clearly shown just how significant year-on-year inflation is in the DDR4 sector, and how it has even accelerated in recent weeks. They take the example of a 2x 16GB kit popular on Amazon, the Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 and, between February and June 2025, we see that prices remained broadly stable around the $55/65 mark. But from early summer onwards, inflation started to become very clear, with prices approaching $80 in early July, and even flirting with $90 at the end of August. It was at this point that DDR5 prices began to explode.
Empty DDR4 slots... and they're going to stay that way! Shutterstock
As the demand for DDR5 could not be met in a reasonably "affordable" way, quite a few people turned to DDR4, and by mid-October, prices had topped $130 for the same Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 kit. By mid-November, the price had passed the $150 mark, then the $200 mark in mid-January. Today, we're talking about $260 for this small DDR4 kit, an increase of over 350% in one year. Who knows, maybe it would be wiser to go back to DDR3 or even DDR2. No, better yet, I'll dig out a few EDO strips... the older ones know what I'm talking about!
