Unless you've been living under a very large rock, or maybe only just escaping the marathon session of Battlefield 6 to end all marathon sessions of Battlefield 6, you may have noticed that PC memory prices have spiked massively and SSDs are expected to follow shortly.
But just how far have we come, how bad has it got and what's likely to happen next? To shed at least a little light on the situation, we're going to track a number of DDR5 kits and SSDs over the coming day, weeks and quite possibly months and years.
We'll also keep an eye on the latest news and developments as we head into Black Friday 2025. Will this year's online firesale be your last chance for vague sensible DDR5 and storage prices? Or will spiralling demand from AI data centres kick in before the sales kick off?
Among the very latest developments comes news that a Japanese retailer seems to have run out of PC memory kits and is restricting purchases. The CEO of SSD controller specialist Phison has also recently warned of a shortage of NAND flash chips leading to a doubling of prices in the last six months, while predicting that demand will likely outstrip supply for several years to come. For now, then, all the signs seem to be pointing in the same direction. Upwards for prices. Youch.
December 3: The overall picture isn't pretty this week. RAM prices haven't moved hugely, but that's probably because they are already so high, there's nowhere left to go. Meanwhile, availability remains very poor, probably due to panic buying.
Over with SSDs, last week's good news has been replaced by price increases, albeit fairly incremental. The only problem is that this new rise is from a fairly lofty point. SSDs are still far, far more expensive than a year to 18 months ago.
As for GPUs, a couple of the really good deals from Black Friday last week were probably too good, with availability now very poor. That said, the Asus RTX 5070 for $527 on Amazon is holding steady. If you're even flirting with the idea of buying an RTX 5070, now is probably as good as it's going to get for some time to come.
Anywho, scroll down for the full details in all three categories, RAM, SSDs and GPUs.
DDR5 Memory
Crucial 32GB DDR5 RAM Kit
Let's kick things off with that most generic of memory brands, Crucial. Their standard and unadorned 32 GB DDR5 kit is currently listed at $186. But thanks to price history tracking we can see that it was priced as low as $69 in the Spring before stepping up to around the $100 mark in late July and then leaping up to current levels a few weeks ago.
Where it goes from here is anyone's guess. But we sense that, more likely than not, we haven't quite hit peak DDR5 pricing in this particular cycle. Whether we'll eventually see actual memory shortages to the point where DDR5 kits are difficult to buy at any price, well, we'll just have to wait and see.
December 3: Another week, and this 4800 MHz Crucial is still MIA. However, its 5600 MHz can be had...for $278. That's up from $77.99 as recently as August. Oh dear.
November 20: A little over a week in and it's sad to report that prices are still on the up, dramatically so in some cases. Crucial's 32 GB DDR5 kit has ballooned from $186 to $237, and that latter price is shipped from Germany, implying stocks are low, possibly due to panic buying by system builders.
November 26: Two weeks in and this kit is now in short supply, with the cheapest price being offered by Amazon Germany at $237.58. If shipping from overseas is worrisome, the lowest US vendor on Amazon is offering the kit for $269.99. Sad face.
Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB
Next up is Newegg's best seller, the Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB kit. There aren't any historical price tracking graphs to post for Newegg, but suffice to say this kit would have cost much less than the current $210 figure.
It's not currently available on Amazon, but when it was back in the summer, you were looking at about $100. So it's basically doubled. How much higher will it go? That what were to here to find out.
December 3: Is the memory crisis flattening off for now? This Corsair kit has been stable at $410 for a few weeks now on Newegg. Then again, it was available on Amazon for under $100 until mid August. So, perhaps there's just only so high a kit like this can go.
November 26: Horror. Two weeks in and there's no availability of the Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB on Amazon at any price. Well, not new. Used kits can be had for—wait for it—$475. Ha ha.
Still, at least it's still available from Newegg for the same painful $410 price as last week. Though there's comedy even there, as Newegg is offering a special Black Friday deal code, taking the price down to $400. What a steal!
November 20: The price increase of the Crucial kit above is peanuts compared to the Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB DDR5, which has nearly doubled from $210 to $410. That is bananas. Admittedly, the same kit is available on Amazon for $259. But that's still over 150% more than its price this summer.
Kingston Fury Beast 16 GB
To round out the DDR5 section, how about a 16 GB kit? The Kingston Fury Beast 16GB certainly seems popular, what with Amazon claiming over 100 kits have been sold so far this month. It's also interesting in that the price hasn't risen all that much.
Well, not compared to most DDR5 kits. Most of the year, this kit has bounced around between $60 and $80. Now it's $95. Yup, pretty much what a premium 32 GB kit cost earlier in the year. It used to be that RAM was cheap enough that you didn't have to entertain 16 GB kits. But as prices rise, there may come a point when 16 GB might have to do, at least in the short term.
December 3: Kingston's Fury Beast in 6000 MT/s trim is an absolute goner. It's NLA not only in this 16 GB dual-channel form, but 32 GB dual-channel, 64 GB dual-channel, and 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB single-stick formats. It's just totally sold out across the board. Panic buying, anyone?
November 26: Another week, another no show for the Kingston Fury Beast 16 GB on Amazon. It's sold out again.
Looking at the price history graph, it has been available briefly on a few occasions for the same $95 price as two weeks ago. But that's somewhat academic when you mostly just can't buy it.
November 20: One week in and this kit is completely sold out. Again, that implies panic buying in parts of the PC industry and an ongoing a run on PC memory.
SSDs
WD BLACK SN850X 2 TB
Everybody loves the WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X 2 TB SSD, despite it being over three years since I reviewed the thing. At least, peeps do on Amazon where over 2,000 of the things have sold in the last month. Wowsers.
But how is it faring in the current memory and storage supply armageddon? Actually, not too badly. It's been as low as about $125 in the last year. But $150 to $160 has been the more usual price. And right now, it's only a tick higher at $170 on Amazon.
However, if the CEO of SSD controller specialist Phison is correct, I doubt that will last. He reckons flash chip prices have doubled in the last six months and supplies will be tight for years. Here's hoping the price holds long enough to see one or two half-decent Black Friday deals. But if it was me, I'd be tempted to buy right now.
December 3: Uh oh. After dipping to $170 last week, the WD Black SN850X 2TB spiked briefly to $216. It's now running at $199.99 on Amazon. That's well above the $129.99 is has occasionally been available for this year and its all-time low of $109.99. Looks like the crisis is beginning to hit SSDs.
November 26: What's this? Doth mine eyes deceive me? An actual price drop?
Yep. The WD BLACK SN850X 2 TB is currently listing at $167.99 on Amazon. That's not only lower than last week. It's lower than week one. Huzzah!
November 20: Here on the SSD side of the equation, the increases are more modest, but things are still going in the wrong direction in week one. The WD BLACK SN850X 2 TB has crept up from $170 to $178 on Amazon.
Team Group MP44L 1 TB
Outside of the usual Samsung and WD suspects, this is the most popular 1 TB M.2 drive on Newegg right now. Yours for $91 on Newegg, it's actually cheaper on Amazon right now at $82, so we'll keep our scanners peeled to both vendors in the coming days and weeks.
For what it's worth, there's no price history for this drive on either Amazon or CamelCamelCamel. But thus far, SSD prices haven't really begun to spiral. So we suspect the same applies to the Team Group MP44L thus far. Likewise, should SSD prices begin to rocket up, it's unlikely this drive will be immune.
December 3: This week, Amazon and Newegg agree that this Team Group drive should go for exactly $95.99. Overall, it's only slightly up on recent pricing, but miles above the $54 you could have had it for in September on Amazon.
November 26: This week, it's another tiny price rise for the Team Group MP44L 1 TB. It's up on Amazon from $87 last week to $89 this week.
On Newegg, it's gone up rather more. Originally, we had it listed at $91. Now it's going for $99. Still, at least that's nowhere near the price rises that have hit memory kits.
November 20: The Team Group MP44L 1 TB is up marginally in week one, from $82 to $87. Really major price rises have yet to hit the SSD market.
Samsung 870 EVO SATA III 1 TB
M.2 drives running over a fast PCIe interface are obviously the optimal storage solution. But what if you need a SATA drive? Might you be spared the price gouging?
Probably not, but the pricing of the Samsung 870 EVO SATA III in 1 TB trim has yet to really lift off. In fact, go back a year ago and it was actually more expensive at $105. Today it can be had on Amazon for $100.
Of course, it's also true that it was going for $85 in the summer. So, there's definitely an upward trend in the last few months. But it's not the steep cliff that DDR5 prices have run into. At least, not yet.
December 3: A slight uptick to $109.99 for the Samsung 870 Evo means that the overall picture for SSDs this week is incremental but not yet catastrophic price increases. At least, of late.
Wind back to summer 2023, and this drive could be had for under $50. Sad face.
November 26: Rejoice. For the Samsung 870 EVO SATA III 1 TB is cheaper this week than last. By how much? Full $1. So, it's now yours for $103.
It's another indication that SSD prices have yet to take off. But most industry experts seem to think that is only a matter of time.
November 20: Finally among the SSDs, the Samsung 870 EVO SATA III 1 TB has edged up slightly from $100 to $104. For now, then, SSDs aren't seeing the huge prices spikes that memory is experiencing. But by all accounts, that could be coming all too soon.
Graphics cards
ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB
Indeed, by historical standards, that's a great price for a 5070 and it's somewhat surprising to see it holding firm after the Black Friday madness. We've said it before, but now is very likely the best opportunity to get a good GPU deal for some time to come.
November 26: Nvidia's RTX 5070 is something of a gold standard, for better or worse the mid-range GPU most gamers go to if in doubt.
So, let's go with the most popular 5070 on Amazon, the ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5070 12 GB. And you know what? Right now, it's about as cheap as it ever has been on Amazon at $527.03. Question is, how long will that last?
PowerColor Red Devil AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB
December 3: Maybe this GPU was too good a deal. It's sold out on Amazon Prime. Third-party Amazon retailers still stock it. But for $996. No thanks!
That price almost certainly doesn't reflect this GPU's level when it does come back into stock. But it sold for over $800 for much of this year. So, the best deal for this GPU may now have passed.
November 26: Believe it or not, as I write these words this is listed as the most popular graphics card on Amazon. Yup, all $649's worth of PowerColor Red Devil AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB.
Again, the very good news is that this is an all time low in terms of price tracking for this card on Amazon. Back in June, it was just under $900. Ouch.
Again, the great imponderable is when and if GPU prices will be dragged upwards by the memory chip shortage. But if you're thinking about a 9070 XT, now feels like a good time to pull the trigger.
PowerColor Hellhound Spectral White AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB
December 3: Looks like Black Friday has done for the PowerColor Hellhound Spectral White AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB. It sold out on Amazon last Friday after going on sale for $369.99.
What price it will reappear at, we'll have to wait and see. But it will probably be higher.
November 26: For our final GPU, let's get a touch more mainstream with the PowerColor Hellhound Spectral White AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB.
An ongoing Black Friday deal puts it at precisely $369.99 on Amazon. Once again, that is as cheap as it's been on Amazon, at least in terms of the available data going back to August when it was priced at $419.99.
It will be interesting if, when and by how much a card like this goes up. It's a mainstream GPU, but loaded with 16 GB of memory, and thus a prime candidate for a potential price spike.
