# RAM, why so expensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846 "2004-09-18T14:15:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/1 "2004-09-18T14:15:03Z")
So I´m here writing down a list with the stuff I want on my new PC when it dawned on me that RAM is quite overpriced, for example the motherboard I choosed is an Intel D865 GBF with a 800MHZ bus, that´s listed at U$$ 165, and then the RAM a 512 Mb PC3200 Kingston bank, at U$$ 134; that´s almost as much for the RAM than for the whole MB and I can´t understand why a bunch of chips is almost as expensive as a much larger bunch of chips, connectors and sundry electronic stuff. So, what´s the straight dope on RAM prices? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/2 "2004-09-18T14:20:30Z")
Can’t answer your question, i’m afraid, but you can get 512Mb of Kingston RAM at [newegg](http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-402&depa=1) for $100. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/3 "2004-09-18T14:34:28Z")
Good question. The electronics on Motherboards are so complicated, yet are commonly cheaper then a stick of chips, pcb board and simple etching (By industry standards, I’m not saying I could make one!). Maybe the materials in the memory chips are different, otherwise, I cannot see why it costs so much more. The only thing I can think of is, if many people are buying them at those prices, what incentive do they have to lower their prices? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/4 "2004-09-18T14:39:37Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Can’t answer your question, i’m afraid, but you can get 512Mb of Kingston RAM at [newegg](http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-402&depa=1) for $100. I think that after the shipping costs and taxes at the customs office I´ll end up with a 60% price increase. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/5 "2004-09-18T15:09:07Z")
RAM is expensive because it’s small. It takes an incredible amount of ingenuity and technical perfection to cram that much data into that small an area. Motherboard’s are typically 2 - 3 generatons behind state of the art in terms of transistor density which makes them a lot cheaper to make. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/6 "2004-09-18T15:09:10Z")
Because the RAM is as densely packed as it can be (affordably) under current production standards. Sure you might squeeze out another factor of two for not too much more $/byte, but beyond that the prices shoot up. (The fact that RAM sizes come in “powers of two”, due to its structure and addressing also adds an interesting quirk, you don’t see 10% bigger RAM chips, as you do with most thing. With RAM, it’s double or nothing) Think of it this way, a Pentium IV has 7.5 million transistors, if I recall correctly. but 512MB of RAM means multiple transistors per bit, eight bits per byte, plus some addressing and refresh circuitry, and spare banks that are switched in at the factory to replace faulty banks during production. It easily exceeds 8-10 BILLION transistors. There are probably 1000x as many transistors in a computer’s RAM as the rest of the computer put together. RAM is dirt cheap. People are just numb to the huge numbers involved. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/7 "2004-09-18T15:17:35Z")
> [@KP](#): > > Think of it this way, a Pentium IV has 7.5 million transistors, if I recall correctly. but 512MB of RAM means multiple transistors per bit, eight bits per byte, plus some addressing and refresh circuitry, and spare banks that are switched in at the factory to replace faulty banks during production. It easily exceeds 8-10 BILLION transistors. Wow… I think that nails it, thanks **KP** ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/8 "2004-09-18T15:49:22Z")
Nitpick: The P4 contains on the order of 100 Million transistors. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/9 "2004-09-18T15:52:33Z")
> [@KP](#): > > Think of it this way, a Pentium IV has 7.5 million transistors, if I recall correctly. Actually, the Northwood core Pentium 4’s have ~55 million transistors. Prescott core Pentium 4’s have around 125 million transitors. (Despite this, Prescotts are often _slower_ than their similarly clocked Northwood sibilings. :eek: ) Still, your point stands - RAM chips do contain a huge number of tranistors, and that is why they are relatively pricey. Also, the OP lives in Uruguay, were tech prices must be higher than they are here in the states - I can get Corsair or Crucial (better brands, IMHO, than Kingston) RAM for $75-$80 for half a gig. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/10 "2004-09-18T16:20:28Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > Actually, the Northwood core Pentium 4’s have ~55 million transistors. Prescott core Pentium 4’s have around 125 million transitors. (Despite this, Prescotts are often _slower_ than their similarly clocked Northwood sibilings. :eek: ) Uh-oh… would you please elaborate on that?, my choice for the new PC is a P IV 3.0 Prescott, I´m looking for the best performance here (I´m into 3D animation, I need the horsepower) > [@RandomLetters](#): > > I can get Corsair or Crucial (better brands, IMHO, than Kingston) RAM for $75-$80 for half a gig. Grrrr!, I hate you 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/11 "2004-09-18T19:47:26Z")
It’s not just transistor count either. SDRAM requires a capacitor as well for each bit. That all takes up a lot of space. The bigger your Integrated Chip, the higher the manufacturing cost. And think about what those little ICs have to do. They’re interfacing with your CPU at 400 MHZ. And they’re double data rate, so internally they’re working twice as fast. That’s an amazing data transfer rate. Usually, SDRAM profit margins are razor thin at best. And often, there is a glut in the market so they’re sold below cost. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/12 "2004-09-18T20:58:40Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > … I can get … RAM for $75-$80 for half a gig. You people are spoiled rotten. In my day you couldn’t get a thousandth that much memory for 80 bucks. We didn’t have lowercase letters either. Didn’t need 'em. Or backspace keys. You had one chance to enter everything perfectly, or else the computer hanged. _And_ you had to type in the operating system from scratch, in hex, every time you turned on the machine. _Spoiled . . . rotten._ ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/13 "2004-09-18T21:10:30Z")
> [@](#): > > RAM, why so expensive? You children clearly don’t remember back in the old days (c. 1986) when most computers had, at most, 512K (that’s **kilobytes** , not **megabytes** ) of memory, couldn’t address anything over 1 MB without special drivers, and most programs couldn’t access it anyway. This is back in the dark, pre-Windows 3.1, DOS days. I remember getting a promotional mailer from IBM with a chip in it, and the big announcement: 1 MB! on a single chip! Whoo hoo! And just guess how much that chip cost. Go ahead, guess. US$1,000. For 1 MB! And some of us paid that price. So the OP is complaining about 500 times that amount of memory costing about one eighth that price. And it’s apparently available some places for about half that price. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/14 "2004-09-18T22:48:12Z")
Infineon(a major ram producer) was fined for price fixing the other day. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/15 "2004-09-18T23:00:50Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > You children clearly don’t remember back in the old days (c. 1986) when most computers had, at most, 512K (that’s **kilobytes** , not **megabytes** ) of memory, couldn’t address anything over 1 MB without special drivers, and most programs couldn’t access it anyway. This is back in the dark, pre-Windows 3.1, DOS days. You think you had it bad?, well on _MY_ days I started with a ZX Spectrum, packing a whooping 48Kb of RAM, no fancy harddrives, we had to use audio cassettes to load and save programs. So there. 😛 Anyway, the question was why it was so expensive compared to other, apparently more complex and bigger components. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/16 "2004-09-18T23:36:56Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > You think you had it bad?, well on _MY_ days I started with a ZX Spectrum, packing a whooping 48Kb of RAM, no fancy harddrives, we had to use audio cassettes to load and save programs. > So there. 😛 Oh, I was there. I remember going to see the [Altair](http://oldcomputers.net/altair.html) computer in 1975 (I was 20), arguably the first microcomputer. No keyboard, no monitor, 1K of memory. And it was a kit, you had to build it yourself. I never bought one, partly because I couldn’t see what you could possibly do with it. (Also because $400 to me in 1975 might as well have been a million dollars.) My family’s first computer was a [Kaypro II,](http://oldcomputers.net/kayproii.html) which used CP-M, a pre-DOS operating system, had two 360K 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, no hard disk. One drive held the program disk, the other held your data files. It was a 30-lb “portable” with a 9-inch monochrome monitor built into the same case as the drives. When we upgraded to the Kaypro 10, which had a 10 MB Winchester hard drive, we just thought that 10 MB was as good as infinity. How could you possibly fill up 10 MB? Now where’s my tapioca? [Totters back into the nursing home, drooling.] ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/17 "2004-09-18T23:48:02Z")
1 meg for 500 dollars - DIP sockets - ISA add on boards. - memory management & tweaking utilities to make max use of that meg or two of precious RAM… in the snow, uphill both ways! …Wheeze… ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/18 "2004-09-18T23:54:41Z")
Goddamn, go to pricewatch. [http://www.pricewatch.com/](http://www.pricewatch.com/) PC3200 DDR 512MB starts at $57. I don’t know how much shipping would be though. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/19 "2004-09-19T00:01:03Z")
Pish. Back in _MY_ day (1975) , my university’s academic computer system had a whopping 128 KB of RAM. Not per user. For the whole damn time-sharing system, a couple of hundred concurrent users. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846/20 "2004-09-19T02:55:09Z")
Newbies. When I was a senior in college in 1973, Ed Fredkin came to our architecture class and boldly predicted that someday memory would be a penny a bit. The first computer I used, built in 1962, was an LGP-21, with 4 k of memory - but on a disk. RAM, such as it was, was limited to a few registers. The PDP 11/20 I used in grad school had 24 K, which someone in our group upgraded to 28K. He proudly said that no one would ever run out of memory again. My Star Trek program did just that five seconds later. Our 286 PC had a 20 MB disk, by the way. You people are spoiled indeed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ram-why-so-expensive/264846.md?page=2)