Key Highlights:
- The global storage and DRAM module crisis has affected PC gamers the most.
- Not even prebuilts are spared from this ongoing situation.
- The fallout will be huge once the bubble pops, and it will take some time to recover.
The ongoing great RAM shortage has started to trickle down into consumer electronics, having affected the enthusiast PC market the worst. DRAM and storage modules are now priced exorbitantly, commanding 3-4 times the original price.
The reason for this is simple; the ever increasing compute demands from AI workloads has brought about the worst in manufacturers, and we’ve seen brands such as Crucial being entirely killed off by a parent company (Micron) as the latter focuses more on AI, which is a far more lucrative option.
PC gaming might be too far gone at this point, with the damage done having long lasting effects.
RAM Prices Soar to Astronomical Levels
If you’ve been paying close attention to the current tech space, you’ll have noticed by now that RAM and storage options have steadily increased in price over the past 2 or so years.
This started right around after the AI explosion happened, and has been going downhill since. GPUs are starting to be affected by the shortage now too, (since they use newer GDDR7 modules) reminding one of the crypto craze.
It Will Take a While to Recover
There’s little doubt that the AI bubble is not sustainable. The usage of AI has increased manifold in the past year, but most use cases most certainly do not need this much compute.
At best, most of the AI features touted by big corporations such as X and Google are kind of a novelty, with no real practical usage. AI works best as an expanded, more powerful search engine.
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With the ‘pop’ in place, the question arises of ‘when?’. Estimates vary, but probably before the next year arrives, I reckon. We’ve already seen companies such as Microsoft and OpenAI publicly admit AI’s shortcomings and falling demand, citing that there won’t be ‘much of a reason’ to power all this compute if they don’t do anything to justify the cost.
That being said, once the bubble pops, the fallout will be massive. There’s years of contracts and deals that have pre-booked these modules, and with nowhere to go, we might find ourselves in a precarious situation.
Don’t go expecting RAM prices to change overnight, and it will take a while for everything to stabilize.
It’s Not Just PCs That Are Affected
The DRAM and storage shortage has started to trickle down to other electronic items as well. It’s not just enthusiast PCs that are affected now, even prebuilt systems and laptops have been heavily affected by this entire debacle.
Pricing is wild, and we’ve seen mentions of the industry slipping back to 8 GB RAM on PCs in a bid to combat RAM shortage, when the current standard is double.
Smartphones, smart TVs and all manner of electronic devices that use some form of memory will be affected by this rapid change. Expect prices to get dearer, and specs to be downgraded during the course of the year.
