Yes, some DDR5 RAM prices have dropped recently—but I wouldn't pop the champagne just yet
Summary
Good RAM is still eye-wateringly expensive, but some of the discounts are back at the very least.
Google's TurboQuant AI compression algorithm caused quite the stir upon its announcement last week, as it promised to cut AI model memory usage by around 6x. The news of the vector compression-enhancing algo seemed to coincide with a drop in stock price of the big three memory chip suppliers, although other market factors like production material supply shortage concerns caused by the ongoing conflict in Iran likely took their toll, too.
Still, the market shake up is currently suggested to be behind a drop in price for consumer RAM listings. Amid reports of plummeting DDR5 prices, I decided to take a look at the pricing history of some of the most popular RAM kits on the market, and yep, some of them are going down alright—but I think it's a little early to be celebrating just yet.
Take this Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 32 GB RAM kit, for example. It's the very same set of sticks I use in my personal machine, and one I bought for around $90 three years ago. That tracks with the data provided by Camelcamelcamel, where the kit trucked along at around the $90 mark until November of last year, until it soared into the $400+ range, topping out at $440 or so.
The kit wavered around this price until early March, where it dipped to $370, and appears to have stayed there ever since. That's a significant decrease from its earlier highs, although it dropped well before the TurboQuant announcement. Still, savings are savings—although it's by no means down to a price that I'd call reasonable.
Corsair's DDR5 offerings seem to be significantly cheaper than most other memory modules at the moment, which looks to be the driving factor behind some of these reports. Looking at other manufacturer prices, though, the picture becomes less rosy.
While this Crucial Pro DDR5-6400 32 GB kit is currently down to $385 at Amazon, a $35 saving over its $420 highs around the New Year period, the pricing data shows it hovering in the mid-$350 range in January, before jumping to $400 at Camelcamelcamel's last count.
(Image credit: Future)
Which does expose a slight flaw in the methodology here. Camelcamelcamel is one of the most respected price trackers on the interwebs, but it's not always the most up-to-date with its information. So instead, I took an anecdotal look at DDR5 prices across various different retailers to see if I could find significant drops elsewhere in the consumer RAM market.
And what I found were discounts. Now, as someone who puts together the best gaming PC build guide for both this website and PC Gamer magazine every month, this is something of a surprise. I've had my head in my hands since last November trying to find anything approaching a deal on decent DDR5, so a slew of "save!" tags looks suspiciously like a cool glass of water in an ever-drying desert.
They're not exactly mega savings, though. This G.Skill Trident Z5 32 GB DDR5-6400 kit has $50 off at Newegg right now, which would normally be something to shout about—except it's been knocked down from $550 to $500. An absolute bargain, I think not.
(Image credit: Future)
Or there's $60 knocked off this Team Group T-Create Expert 32 GB DDR-6000 kit, pushing it down to… $440. Or a $50 saving on a Crucial Pro OC 64 GB kit, which means it's still an eye-watering $630. It's lucky our Nick has discovered that 16 GB of RAM is still enough for gaming in 2026, isn't it?
Still, it's pleasing to see RAM discounts back on the menu, no matter how small they might be in the grand scheme of things. But a market-wide shift towards significantly lower prices, or a straight up plummet down to previous levels, doesn't seem to be on the cards just yet.
It remains to be seen whether TurboQuant, a sluggish PC part market, and wavering DRAM manufacturer stock prices end up having the desired effect. In all honesty, it's probably far too early to tell. But as things stand right now, it's still looking like an awful, awful time to buy RAM for your gaming PC.
Put the champagne on hold: I think it's likely to be a while yet before we can celebrate the return of reasonably-priced RAM.
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