The first processors on the market to support DDR5 RAM were the Intel Alder Lake processors . The problem with these memories has been in the initial scarcity (very difficult to find them in the market) and their high prices. But, how are the prices of DDR5 RAM a little more than six months after the launch of Intel processors?
Doing a little review, DDR5 memories are currently only supported by a few Intel processors. The next AMD Ryzen 7000 will already support this new RAM memory standard. Alder Lake (12th Gen Intel Core) support both DDR4 and DDR5, and motherboards as well. Due to the high price of this new standard, many have opted for DDR4.
Absurd prices and initial stock shortages for DDR5 RAM
Within the hardware industry, being the first gives a certain name and prestige to brands. The user, normally, does not care enough to acquire a product that “innovates” in certain aspects. Moreover, it is normal to wait a while before purchasing a new product, since the first or first shipments may arrive with certain problems.
In the case of DDR5 memories, there are not many who were able to acquire these modules. When Intel Alder Lake launched, few stores had stock of DDR5 RAM and those that did, it was more expensive than the processor and motherboard itself, combined. But it has not been a major problem either, since you could opt for a motherboard with support for DDR4 RAM without major problems.
The first weeks we saw how a 16 GB module used to be around €300-400 , a real madness. If you wanted to buy two modules, in most cases, the price was more than double. While 16 GB of DDR4 RAM could range from €120-150, for more or less simple models.
Evolution of the price of the Kingston HyperX Fury Beast DDR5 RAM memory kit according to CamelCamelCamel
But now can we afford it?
A little over half a year later, it seems that prices are normalizing, even “returning affordable”. We can find a 32 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 kit with a frequency of 5,200 MHz for €280, which is not bad. More attractive is the 32 GB Kingston HyperX Fury kit running at 4,800 MHz which is priced at around €216. Here below we leave you the links of both products.
While the Corsair kit hasn’t changed in price, the HyperX Fury kit has dropped quite a bit. CamelCamelCamel tells us that the initial price was €320, but it has dropped to €229 (price without discounts). We can see how the price has been reduced by around €100, which is great.
We are going to compare the HyperX Fury DDR4 and DDR5 kit. Both products have the same heatsink, what changes is the type of memory used. This allows us to make an interesting comparison regarding the price of the products. We see that the DDR4 kit is priced at around €190 (without discounts) while the DDR5, according to CamelCamelCamel, is around €240 (although €270 is indicated on Amazon)
As we can see, the price of DDR5 RAM has been falling quite a bit in recent weeks. Possibly, when AMD launches its Ryzen 7000, as the stock should increase, it is possible that the prices will be adjusted a little more. That if, for now, it seems unlikely that DDR5 is priced below DDR4.