DDR4 RAM prices continue to surge ahead of DDR5, now averaging $25 per DDR4-3200 module

Thanks to the memory demands of AI and key manufacturers reducing production, DDR4 RAM prices have been steadily rising over the past few months. However, this rapid rise has now turned into an overwhelming surge, and in the space of just one week, DDR4 modules have almost doubled in price.

We were shocked to see spot prices for DDR4 modules reach $13 when we reported on it last week. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw the spot price for a 2 GB DDR4-3200 module averaged $25 yesterday (via semiconductor analyst Ray Wang, on X).

To put that into context, you would need to spend $200 to get the eight modules required for a single 16 GB RAM stick, and that's before you include the PCB, heatsink, packaging, etc. Of course, memory vendors that don't make their own DRAM chips (e.g. Team Group and Corsair) won't be paying full prices, as they purchase in bulk and will almost certainly have a deal in place to reduce the costs.

I checked out Crucial's online store for its DDR4 products, and it's charging $139 for a standard 32 GB DDR4-3200 kit. Crucial is a consumer brand of Micron, one of the largest DRAM manufacturers in the world, hence why that price is considerably lower than accumulated spot prices.

However, that same dual-channel kit has an asking price of £179 in Crucial's UK store, so there's a considerable variation in the price, depending on where you buy it.

DDR4's spot price now exceeds that for DDR5 by 87%, which is frankly a ludicrous situation, especially if you were hoping to grab a cheap AMD AM4 processor in the forthcoming Black Friday sales to make a budget gaming PC.

You still can, but you'll need to be savvy about how you spend your money. For example, if you're happy to stick with 16 GB of RAM, you can pick up an Oloy DDR4-3200 kit for just under $48 at Amazon. It doesn't sport RGB LEDs nor does it have the fastest of timings, but it should be fine for a simple rig.

It wouldn't surprise me if cheap DDR4 RAM kits suddenly go out of stock everywhere, because if spot prices continue to rocket to the moon, plenty of folks will see this as a quick way to earn some extra money. In other words, DDR4-3200 RAM kits could well be the new 'shares' to wheel and deal in.

Best RAM for gaming 2025

1. Best DDR5 overall:
G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB DDR5-7200

2. Best budget DDR5:
Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan DDR5-5200

3. Best high-capacity DDR5:
G.Skill Trident Z5 64 GB DDR5-6400 CL32

4. Best DDR4 overall:
TEAM XTREEM 16 GB DDR4-3600

5. Best budget DDR4:
G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB DDR4-3600

6. Best high-capacity DDR4:
Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32 GB DDR4-3200

👉Check out our full RAM for gaming guide👈