DRAM got cheaper and prices will continue to fall:
While prices for computer hardware have remained relatively high in the past few years, the slowing of PC and component sales are starting to take effect. DRAM is the latest piece of hardware to become even cheaper, and projections show that prices will continue to fall in the coming months.
According to a report from TrendForce, DRAM prices have fallen 20% in the first quarter of 2023. This is a continued decline for the DRAM market as sales have been slowing for all sectors of the industry. Some DRAM manufacturers have already started layoffs as they see their revenues on a steep decline. For the second quarter of 2023, TrendForce says that prices are expected to fall another 10 to 15%.
Despite production cuts already in effect, PC makers still have between 9 and 13 weeks of DRAM inventory. The mobile sector seems to be having healthier levels of inventory as mobile manufacturers were more conservative in their plans.
Nonetheless, mobile DRAM pricing is also expected to decline by 10 to 15%. As consumer demand for DRAM was sluggish, suppliers looked to the server side of the business for sales, however this simply resulted in a huge pile-up of inventory for server DRAM.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30, @06:29PM
Bought 32 GB of DDR4 SO-DIMM for $70.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Thursday March 30, @08:09PM (11 children)
How about adding more DIMM slots on motherboards? I bet people would buy more RAM if they had a place to install it, or if they marketed it more aggressively. "We know you keep 100 tabs open, but that's ok! We've got you covered!"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Thursday March 30, @08:57PM (3 children)
I don't buy lots of motherboards, but 4 DIMM slots is a must if I'm ever buying. I might consider 2, depending on several factors. Many of the very small MBs have only 1 DIMM slot. In growing numbers I'm seeing very tiny motherboards with SODIMMs only.
Somewhere I have some adapter boards from very long ago that let you plug 4 SIMMs into 1 SIMM (or was it DIMM?) slot. I'm pretty sure it would not work at DIMM channel signal speeds.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday March 30, @09:15PM (2 children)
See other comment. 96 GiB DDR5 is possible with 2 slots this very moment. Very few users need more than that, and they know who they are.
The 1 DIMM boards, which are usually embedded/smaller than Mini-ITX, are likely limited to single-channel (I think soldered + DIMM dual-channel is possible, but rare outside of a laptop).
SO-DIMM is going to be killed after DDR5 in favor of CAMM, a standard Dell invented. So I guess OptiPlexes will be using that in 5 years.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday March 31, @03:04AM (1 child)
Yeah, thanks. For me the issue is more of lack of upgrade path. I have 2 4GB DIMMs, and want to expand to 16GB total. It'd be nice if I could buy 2 more 4GB DIMMs for 16GB total, rather than having to buy 2 8GB DIMMs and end up with 2 perfectly good 4GB DIMMs sitting around.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 31, @09:38AM
That's been a dilemma for decades. It's probably not worth caring too much. Selling 2x4GiB is a waste of time. You can hang onto the memory, give it away to a friend, or shift it down to another system immediately if possible. You could buy a cheap ($50-$150) refurbished or barebones system specifically to take the leftover memory. That's what I might be doing this year with a lone 8 GiB stick.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Thursday March 30, @09:07PM (6 children)
With the new 48 GiB modules, you can have 96 GiB in 2 slots, 192 GiB in 4 slots. 64 GiB will probably be available within 2 years, so 128/256 GiB total.
CPU segmentation is why you don't see more memory channels and slots. You have to go up to a Threadripper Pro or Xeon W to get that. You might need a larger eATX motherboard too.
Using more memory slots also tends to lower the speeds that can be achieved. I will probably aim to only use 2 slots in the future, unless I really need more than 128 GiB of RAM.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday March 30, @09:28PM (5 children)
If they soldered on the 64GiB, they'd be able to max out the RAM that a "physical address extension"-enabled 32-bit kernel can access before having to add any more DIMMs. 64GiB ought to be enough for anybody, right?
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday March 30, @09:34PM
You can have this experience right now with an Intel Xeon Max with 64 GiB of HBM2e:
https://www.servethehome.com/intel-xeon-max-cpu-is-the-sapphire-rapids-hbm-line/ [servethehome.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 31, @02:02PM (3 children)
Soldered RAM is not what I'm looking for, thanks. If I want that I'll look for a tablet.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 31, @03:22PM (2 children)
You're going to get embedded memory in desktop CPUs eventually (5-15 years). Big L4 cache in the range of gigabytes integrated into a 3D CPU is a major path forward to more performance. If we get 8-16 GiB, one could reasonably use that for light use cases without needing external DRAM.
Desktop DDR6 is confirmed to be coming, so I believe you will be able to easily obtain traditional socketed memory until at least 2030-2035.
Renewed competition from Intel could force AMD to take the workstation segment seriously again (where you could get more and higher capacity DIMMs).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 31, @03:29PM (1 child)
Here's hoping that we'll still be able to replace the CPU with the embedded memory. One of the benefits of a desktop is replaceable parts. Maybe framework will make it to the big times and cause other laptop producers to follow suit?
https://frame.work/ [frame.work]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Friday March 31, @03:52PM
The big laptop manufacturers have reasons to not follow suit. Like all of the desktop OEMs using weirdly shaped proprietary parts for the purpose of screwing people over and controlling the supply of components. Consumers like to buy the cheapest laptops with the specs they want. Best case scenario, Framework doesn't die, and sticks around to offer their own customers upgradability.
It's possible to put socketed desktop chips in chunky laptops designed to take them [tomshardware.com], which could be an even better alternative since you could get a CPU/APU from the open market, rather than relying on a specific mainboard to be available. Framework can be as open as possible, but I take it that their mainboard is only useful for their devices?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday March 30, @08:35PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩