So, I was reading this thread on Reddit, you know, where this guy finally saved up to build his first gaming PC after years, and then RAM prices just went through the roof out of nowhere. He’s asking if he should wait or just accept the higher cost as the new normal. And the discussion that followed… it’s like a snapshot of the whole PC building community’s frustration right now.
The overwhelming consensus is that prices aren’t dropping anytime soon. People are saying it’ll likely be a year or two, maybe even until 2027. The main culprit everyone points to is AI data centers. They’re buying up all the production, leaving very little supply for regular consumers. It’s being compared directly to the crypto mining craze that drove GPU prices insane a few years back—once that demand hit, prices never really came back down to what folks considered “normal.” There’s a real sense that this is just the new reality, that we’re competing with entities that have basically infinite money.
The conversation naturally spiraled into talking about GPU prices too, which feels like an old wound that never fully healed. Someone mentioned spending 800 euros on a high-end GPU back in 2017, and now that’s what a mid-range card might cost. There’s a lot of bitterness about how a top-tier card can now cost $3000, and the justifications for that price. Some argue those cards aren’t even for gamers anymore—they’re for professionals or the extremely wealthy, or people making questionable financial decisions. Others try to add perspective with inflation, noting that $800 in 2017 is like $1000 today, but that logic doesn’t seem to comfort many.
A big side theme was whether chasing the absolute highest-end graphics is even worth it. A few people chimed in saying that the thrill of new, maxed-out graphics wears off fast, and you adapt. They reminisced about having more fun with older games on worse hardware. This tied into another point: people buying these powerful cards often pair them with super high-resolution monitors that even premium hardware struggles to run, creating a cycle of needing more power. A few admitted they’ve gone down that rabbit hole with massive ultra-wide monitors and “there’s no going back now,” laughing and crying at the same time.
Given the bleak outlook on prices dropping, the practical advice for the original poster centered on workarounds. A popular suggestion was to look for motherboard, CPU, and RAM bundles from retailers like Microcenter, though even those are getting scarcer or being altered. Another strong thread of advice was to just build on the older DDR4 platform—go for a used AM4 system with a CPU like a 5800X3D, which is still a fantastic gaming chip. The idea is to sit out this DDR5 price insanity entirely. Of course, others immediately pointed out that even those older, discontinued CPUs are getting overpriced now due to demand.
Buying used RAM was another common tip, with folks sharing stories of snagging kits on Facebook Marketplace. The sentiment is that if you need a PC now, waiting might just mean paying more later, because as soon as one component (like RAM) becomes affordable, another (like GPUs before) will spike. It’s a constant cycle. A few even suggested buying a pre-built system to harvest the parts, or just getting a console to tide you over, though others countered that console hardware is outdated too.
There’s a real undercurrent of fatigue. People are sharing war stories from the crypto boom and the pandemic shortages, talking about buying GPUs for double their price right before the market crashed. There’s a sense of “I finally built my PC after six years of setbacks,” mixed with “I just got lucky and bought my parts right before this latest spike.” It feels like the community is tired of always being at the mercy of these huge market forces—first crypto, now AI—that make a hobbyist’s dream build feel perpetually out of reach. The final piece of advice, which many seemed to agree with, was a resigned: if you want to build now, either accept the hit on DDR5, go with a DDR4 build, or buy a pre-built. Waiting for the perfect price moment could mean waiting for years.
