Huh, the 32gb of DDR3 I found in the dumpster might actually be worth something now
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2026
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Was the dotcom bubble also this dumb? I find that hard to imagine
The dotcom bubble was very dumb but I don't remember it taking the rest of civilization down with it. Some idiots who jumped on a bandwagon they didn't understand got venture capital for saying a buzzword, they bought expensive office chairs and then lost their shirts, but it didn't quadruple the price of a cheeseburger.
A couple years ago I bought a PC that came with a 32 GB stick. I had the option of paying an exorbitant amount to the manufacturer for an additional 32 GB. I declined and then spent about $10-$15 less than the manufacturer wanted for that extra 32 GB and purchased a full 64 GB from somewhere else. Long story short, where is the best place to resell 32 GB of DDR5?
This is why there should be laws regarding RAM prices. A couple of companies buying the entire supply shouldn't be allowed.
It is because the involved tech companies have formed a cartel, which isn't allowed in the first place, but in the US pedocratic oligarchy laws doesn't matter for rich people.
Technically, they are buying manufacturing capacity. Datacenters don't use consumer DDR5 sticks with epic RGB lighting, they use server grade hardware, and are contracting the manufacturers to make stuff for them at high premiums. That means they either aren't making consumer hardware at all - causing shortages - or if they are, they are asking a premium because they could be using the time better making the server stuff.
Kind of like a medieval baker - if the king offers to buy 1000 cakes from you at a ridiculous price, you aren't going to be spending time baking any bread for the peasants to eat.
I believe at first AI companies bought the future supply for HBM, which caused ram scarcity since the same companies that make DDR5 are focusing on HBM. Currently a lot of the DDR5 future and current supply is going to Data centers, not leaving much for normal consumers.
I agree. i dont think there is a shortage. the ram companies are just using the buying spree to jack up prices and make investors happy. i didnt think about price caps till you mentioned it but ram really is essential to people's livelyhood. i am soap boxing this moving forward :)
The AI companies are also buying tons of it and just locking it away. They can't use it, they are keeping competitors from using it. If competition with you will cost me $20 billion in revenue, but buying $15 billion worth of RAM stops you from being able to compete, buying the RAM just to destroy it is a no brainer.
Nobody is buying to destroy. They're all starved for compute right now. Hence the dynamic pricing to stop people using at peak times.
Not physically destroy, you're right, but they are buying to shelve until obsolescence. Which is as good as destroyed.
They are also starved for compute. Because they cannot get data centers physically built-out fast enough.
I should start digging through my old hardware to find stuff to sell.
Need a way to take HBM and adapt it to DRAM modules... so we have a fast path to getting consumer RAM...
... that and we need consumer mobos to be able to run RDIMM modules.
AMD already proved they have HBM memory driving capabilties.. Some years ago they did a special edition R9 card with HBM memory on die as a "compact" GPU option.
I'd imagine the overproduction of HBM wafers will not take long for them to start running DDR5 wafers in their stead when the implosion comes. Currently theres a pent up demand for cheap DDR so the memorycos will ride this out.
No joke, I recycled a bunch of this last year.
I've still got a pile of DDR2 around, mostly 512MB-1GB sticks in the slower speeds. The better stuff got used, some of it is still in use.
The real money is the 2x16GB 2400MHz DDR4 sticks I have sitting on a shelf. Not long ago I figured it wasn't worth trying to sell some old, slower DDR4 memory but now it's apparently worth something. On the other hand, I might need it myself if one of the old DDR2/DDR3 era systems kicks the can.
At our local makerspace, we have a drawer thats labeled "memories" with just random RAM chips for the last 20 years. Its probably worth some $$ now.