DDR RAM Prices

[bwd234]

I don't know if this has been answered on here yet, but...

Why is it that 1G DDR RAM costs way more than twice as much as 512M?

I mean, 512M DIMMs have 8 chips on one side of the PCB, while 1G DIMMs
have 16 chips...so it's the same chips, not higher density or what not.

I can get a 512M PC-3200 Crucial DIMM off Newegg.com for $87 but a 1G
stick of the same exact RAM costs $290! It's not just there, it's
anywhere I look at RAM prices on the Net.

Is this a part of that whole price-fixing scam that the RAM
manufacturers are getting in trouble for?


bwd234

 

[kony]

I don't know if this has been answered on here yet, but...

Why is it that 1G DDR RAM costs way more than twice as much as 512M?

I mean, 512M DIMMs have 8 chips on one side of the PCB, while 1G DIMMs
have 16 chips...so it's the same chips, not higher density or what not.

I can get a 512M PC-3200 Crucial DIMM off Newegg.com for $87 but a 1G
stick of the same exact RAM costs $290! It's not just there, it's
anywhere I look at RAM prices on the Net.

Is this a part of that whole price-fixing scam that the RAM
manufacturers are getting in trouble for?

You're sure Newegg's Crucial 512MB DIMMs have only 8 chips?
Last time I received any, they had 16, but it's been at
least a few months.

 

[bwd234]

You're sure Newegg's Crucial 512MB DIMMs have only 8 chips?
Last time I received any, they had 16, but it's been at
least a few months.

Yep, bought 2 of them recently for a computer I built. They only have 8
chips on one side of the PCB. The model # is CT6464Z40B.8T
The 8T at the end signifies the 8 chips as opposed to 16T.

The 1G DIMM is CT12864Z40B.16T, which is the same except for the "128"
since it's 1G but with 16 chips on it...so why the extreme price
difference? I don't get it.

 

[ECM]

I don't know if this has been answered on here yet, but...

Why is it that 1G DDR RAM costs way more than twice as much as 512M?

I mean, 512M DIMMs have 8 chips on one side of the PCB, while 1G DIMMs
have 16 chips...so it's the same chips, not higher density or what not.

I can get a 512M PC-3200 Crucial DIMM off Newegg.com for $87 but a 1G
stick of the same exact RAM costs $290! It's not just there, it's
anywhere I look at RAM prices on the Net.

Is this a part of that whole price-fixing scam that the RAM
manufacturers are getting in trouble for?


bwd234

Don't bother flaming me if I've got a word or two wrong, I'm not an
economist. But, my understanding is:

Memory is a commodity. So, the "law" of supply and demand really works
- there's a lot more supply of 512MB, and the higher demand is being
met; prices are lower. There's not a lot of demand for 1GB yet
(especially since the high end MB's are using dual channel - ie. two
sticks at a time), and the supply is small - so, high price.

Price fixing is different - (apparently) the manufacturers colluded
with each other, consciously and purposely, to keep the prices
artificially high so that supply and demand was subverted. It isn't
capitalism anymore, and usually it's illegal.

And no, this isn't very comforting when you're in the market for the
rare item - the positive side is, if you can wait a few months usually
the price goes down as the supply increases.

Peace!
ECM

 

[bwd234]

Don't bother flaming me if I've got a word or two wrong, I'm not an
economist. But, my understanding is:

Memory is a commodity. So, the "law" of supply and demand really works
- there's a lot more supply of 512MB, and the higher demand is being
met; prices are lower. There's not a lot of demand for 1GB yet

So, greater the demand, greater the price and "Not alot of demand"
should mean lower price.

(especially since the high end MB's are using dual channel - ie. two
sticks at a time), and the supply is small - so, high price.

How can the supply be small when Crucial (Micron) make their own chips
and all they have to do is solder 8 more of those chips on the DIMM to
make a 1G module?
It makes no sense! It looks more like they are "dumping" the 512s and
keeping the 1G artificially higher in price.

 

[ECM]

ECM wrote: SNIP

So, greater the demand, greater the price and "Not alot of demand"
should mean lower price.

Greater the demand, the greater the incentive to manufacturers to supply,
and so the lower the price....

How can the supply be small when Crucial (Micron) make their own chips
and all they have to do is solder 8 more of those chips on the DIMM to
make a 1G module?
It makes no sense! It looks more like they are "dumping" the 512s and
keeping the 1G artificially higher in price.

But "not a lot of demand" means no incentive to supply, so, the part remains
rare and the price remains high....

SNIP

It's very dynamic and it's just not that simple - it's not really just
"supply and demand"; there's also the manufacturers and their response to
demand, the supply of materials, the savings realized by scale of
production, etc, etc. that have a direct effect. So, demand stimulates
supply; there's a lag, but in general it's short in this industry. Supply of
an item goes up, price drops. Demand only increases price if there's a
shortfall in production of the item, ie. demand outstrips supply. If there's
low demand, small production runs mean higher cost per unit to manufacture
the item, so again, higher price.

Anyways, I repeat: I'm not an economist.... I just don't think that the
price of memory is all that out of whack right now. If you want some 1 GB
sticks, just wait a bit - they'll come down in price in a while, as the
supply increases. Probably when a new Windows memory pig comes out,
increasing demand.....

 

[John]

Who knows? Ive never seen a reason for it but on the otherhand I didnt
really care since Ive never been in the mkt for 1gig chips.

But maybe it does take a different set of mass manufacturing machines
to do 1 gig chips and as people keep pointing out the numbers just
arent there to attract a lot of players so the small number of
suppliers is smaller than even the small amount of demand making it
more of a sellers mkt than the 256 , 512 mkt.

It could even be the retailers who effect it - maybe they sell a
zillion more 256/512 sticks so they are willing to take a much smaller
profit margin - many rebaters sell below cost obviously - a while back
Office Max and others were selling 2100 DDR at zero after rebate. I
got a few sticks of that and PC133 too. Have you seen the ridiculous
prices of PC133 when its not on sale at the major retail stores now
that they arent selling that much anymore?

If thats the case obviously the huge mkt is the 256 and 512 range so
maybe there are tons of more suppliers in that range making it far
more competitive. On the otherhand there could weird reasons ,
technical or something that we dont know about thats the most
important factor or some other reason.