let’s talk about ram. specifically ddr4 ecc ram. and what that means for everyday hobbyists like us who enjoy n-1 or n-2 latest gen servers.
it’s skyrocketed over the past year. like 100%, and if you aren’t good at math, that means doubled. i think. i’m not good at math. in some cases its even tripled. in some cases fipled. is that a word? fuck.
i pay for a store subscription to ebay, with this, i’m able to get pricing insights across the marketplace. we’ll use this to map out pricing of ram last year vs today. i want to be clear that i do not source my ram on ebay outside of special requests for very specific ram modules as it doesnt make sense. i buy in bulk from other fellow dudes. i don’t ask questions and neither do they. its a thing? i dunno. as a dude in a garage, i operate things terribly. i use spreadsheets and i use my gut. its a vibe thing. i say vibe now because im cool. right guys? right??……..
lately something interesting has been happening. it hasnt happened before. ive been having businesses want to buy all of my ram. and i have a lot. they don’t want the servers, they want just the ram. like this guy..
this guy..
and these guys..
theres a shit ton more of these accounts, but i think you get the point and i got tired of scrolling my ebay messages. i was starting to get inundated with people who just wanted to buy ram. this continues to happen today. it triggered me. why? what’s going on? so i started googling. just kidding. what is this 2020? i asked chatgpt to google search for me. and, well, i think i understand what’s going on now.
look at this headline from tom’s hardware back in june: The end of an era — DDR4 production to essentially end this year, Micron the final domino to fall (link to article)
uh-oh. that doesn’t sound good. or how about this one: Chip crunch: how the AI boom is stoking prices of less trendy memory (link)
oh shit. less trendy memory? what the fuck does that even mean rofl.
or this one: Black Friday storage bloodbath incoming! Micron, Sandisk set to dramatically increase NAND and DRAM prices, with a direct impact expected on SSD and RAM prices within weeks (link)
blood bath??? oh fuck. like the starcraft map? no? fuck
the TLDR of this is that major manufacturers are no longer making ddr4 ram to pivot to higher price ram like those used for AI and DDR5. so shit is definitely going to hit the fan. i am grateful to keep my prices affordable because i have a stockpile, which translates to competitive pricing across, but i will be exercising more care when i get requests from people asking for business or enterprise grade ram amounts (512gb+). that will trigger alarm bells for me going forward.
so now knowing this, and assuming the ITAD resellers know this, lets take a look at how the ebay marketplace has been reacting to things over the past year. that should be fun right?
spoiler alert chart (look at me go i made a CHART for this post rofl this is a HIGH EFFORT POST GUYS):
lets back up those lines of fuckery with data. real data.
lets go back in time to october of 2024:
10x16gb ddr4 sticks for 100 bucks. thats 10 dollarydoos per stick.
16x32gb ddr4 sticks for 250 bucks. thats.. uhh…. hmm.. 15 dollars a stick.. yea….
ok let’s go back six months:
8x16gb sticks for 130 bucks. 16 bucks per.
20x32gb sticks for 415 bucks. 21 per.
and lets look at october of 2025
8x16gb for 170: 21 per
10x32gb sticks for 450. 45 per!
buckle up buckaroos. its only going to get worse.
rest assured – as a dude out of a garage – you have my word i will offer the most competitive pricing. and if at the end of the day i cant source ram, or cant afford ram, or cant compete, or what the fuck ever. its been a blast.
but until then. fuck the ITAD resellers. thx for this pic, google gemini. yes i used two ais to help with this post. because i fucking can
