The DDR Memory Apocalypse

RAM price trends. Ignore the sudden drop.

I have not written anything about the memory apocalypse but what happened today is quite interesting.

The above screenshot is from an online sale of DDR4 2400MHz kits produced two months ago.

I just checked and G.Skill seems to have these and 3000MHz RAM with plenty of supply. That is certainly also new stock.

Prices start at around 54€ per 8GB DIMM, which is somewhat higher than the 40€ I'd expect it to be based on spot prices.

PC Tip #1

If you want to buy new, it is not top of the line but G.Skill 3000 is probably the lowest cost out there and still has good timings that will perform better than 3200 JEDEC basic RAM.

But back to the story:

This individual wants to buy one of my 3200MHz kits for less than 70€ I asked for. He has at least 4x modules of 2400MHz new DDR4 for sale at 40€ each, so 80€ per kit.

So, it seems we have some scalping going on. Not sure if he is hoarding the memory or heard about this in the news and thinks DDR4 will follow DDR5. Currently it is going in the opposite direction.

PC Tip #2

No one should be buying 2400MHz or 2666 MHz memory these days but people do, which is why G.Skill sells them. (at a premium even)

Most 3200 kits from reputable brands will work just fine on old machines! DDR2 and older only had a couple of SPDs but nowadays good brands even program these kits for 1866MHz timings. (I am using 3200 in a 1866MHz AMD board)

Opposite is also true: I talked to a guy who wanted to buy 3600MHz SO-DIMMs for a Zen 3 laptop, just because he read about it online. That is memory with little supply.

Laptops typically (even gaming ones) will not support using tight CAS timings and will run 3200 CL22. That is what we found inside the laptop, a regular 3200 8GB DIMM. This guy would've wasted what was about 2x the price of a DIMM for nothing.

PC Tip #3

Do not scalp DDR4, much less old specs! This stuff is very hard to sell second hand and most of the factory demand that spiked prices was for AMD DDR4 servers that were still ramping last year.

Ordinary people who don't know much about PCs will prefer to buy a stick of 3200 than two of 2400. They do not know 2x 2400 will be faster than a single 16GB 3600 DIMM. So prices drop like a rock from upgrades.

If you are building your own machine or doing maintenance, go to the BIOS. Check XMP is turned on because many premium DIMMs have base 2133 SPD only. By default boards will only apply JEDEC SPD timings, not XMP profiles that have rated clocks for the DIMMs.

So Crucial or Kingston regular RAM can have all the SPD profiles you need but XMP enabled memory will not. People also have a preference for these, making matters worse.

PC Tip #4 - Chip Binning

If you like messing about with PCs and can't find a good deal on faster RAM, your current memory may still clock higher just fine.

A lot of memory is de-rated, because no one makes 2400 MHz chips now. Way back in the day, I was buying DDR 333 sticks that had chip markings for 400. They ran as you'd expect, as long as CAS was increased to 3 as per JEDEC, vs 2.5 originally.

I have also purchased a couple of 2400 MHz older Fury DIMMs last year that ran just fine at 2800.

Go to the BIOS and try to keep it close to recommend clocks for your CPU, increase timings if necessary.

Higher clocks are not dangerous to the hardware, it will do what it can based on silicon lottery. Do not mess with voltages, that can damage chips and also increase temperature dramatically. Stock XMP kits are usually 1.35v but standard is 1.2v up to 3200MHz.

CAS/CL is typically lower on good XMP DIMMs:

• 14 for 2666-2800,
• 15 for 3000,
• 16 for 3200
• 18 for 3600

Then get memtest86+ and test for a couple hours. Try to find something that runs for 2-3h with no errors. Leave it running overnight if possible and don't do this for anything work related.

Finally, back off 50 MHz and CAS by 1. Alternatively, bump DDR voltage to 1.25v (which is fine) and relax the main timings at by 1 cycle. This should give some margin for summer temperature changes.

If you end up at CAS 18 @ 2933MHz, it is a good increase for a 2666 CAS 20 kit! This is also true for DDR5.

Final note, I would also check that at least Ryzen 2000 & 3000 are not using high vSOC voltages. Check what it is at 2933 MHz and don't clock higher if it bumps by a lot.

At least ASUS boards seem to push these up, since for instance Ryzen 2600 is only rated for 2933 MHz and at 3200 the board begins doing actual overclock of the memory controller.