Now is a good time to upgrade your gaming PC. GPU prices fluctuated constantly in the 2020s as the industry faced the pandemic and AI-related shortages, but it is actually possible to get respectable mainstream and high-end GPUs such as AMD Radeon RX 9060XT And series 9070 or NVIDIA RTX 5060, 5070And series 5080 right now at or slightly below MSRP. In spring and summer this was almost impossible.
But this No This is a good time to build a new computer or replace your old motherboard with a new one that requires DDR5 RAM. And it’s all to blame for the shortage of RAM and flash memory chips, which suddenly led to a sharp rise in prices for solid-state drives and (especially) memory, caused primarily by the ongoing artificial intelligence boom and is exacerbated by panic buying by end users and device manufacturers.
To illustrate how high the numbers have risen in a short period of time, let's compare some of the RAM and storage prices listed in our system manual from three months ago to prices for the same components today. Please note that some are based on last available price and are currently sold out; we didn't study anything either such as microSD or microSD Express cardswhich can also have an impact.
| Component | Price for August 2025 | Price as of November 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Patriot Viper Venom 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR-6000 | US$49 | US$110 |
| Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 500 GB | US$45 | US$69 |
| Silicon Power 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 | US$34 | US$89 |
| Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 1 TB | US$64 | US$111 |
| Team T-Force Vulcan 32 GB DDR5-6000 | US$82 | US$310 |
| Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 2 TB | US$115 | US$154 |
| Western Digital WD Black SN7100 2 TB | US$130 | US$175 |
| Team Delta RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 | US$190 | 700 US dollars |
In short, there's no way to avoid this price increase, which affects SSDs and DDR4 and DDR5 RAM kits of all capacities (though higher-capacity RAM kits seem to be hit a little harder). If you're considering an SSD upgrade, this increase won't too much It's funny for now, but if you're thinking about upgrading your RAM, your best bet is to stick with what you already have and hope nothing breaks anytime soon.
