Consumers that still have the willingness to buy some new RAM can keep rejoicing over the fact that RAM is still very cheap, even though this only means that demand continues to disappoint.There were a few instances, in the recent past, when DRAM prices almost looked ready to start recovering, but this, alas, has not come to pass.
The fact that memory is very cheap right now may be a boon to people that want to buy some, but it is still, in the end, a symptom of a significant problem.
Simply put, people are no longer buying RAM as much as they used to, driving prices low.
Then again, this would not be such a big issue if DRAM makers hadn't stepped up production last year and ended up with excess inventories.
As it is, it has been about a year since demand fell so severely behind supply, with no hint that things may be getting better.
In fact, the most recent
findings from DRAMeXchange show clearly that chip prices stayed flat and, under these circumstances, this is bad enough on its own.
4 GB modules are, on average, priced at about $20 at this point, after the average selling prices of DRAM chips slid down by a cumulative 47% since May, 2011.
For those who want the exact prices, 4 GB modules sell for $19.5, which is more or less the same as 14 Euro, while 2 GB modules sell for $10.5 (7.53 Euro).
Meanwhile, 2 Gb DDR3 chips stayed flat at about $1.06 (0.76 Euro) and is expected to steadily drop.
These figures are the ones reported during what has elapsed of the second part of this month (October 2011).
The incoming holiday season might get demand at a good enough level that DRAM prices will hike a bit again, but there is no guarantee.
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