RAMnarök is Here: Why Your Next PC Upgrade Just Got Twice as Expensive
The Bottom Line: We are witnessing a predatory shift in the hardware market as AI giants hoard DRAM supply, sending consumer SSD prices skyrocketing. In just two months, top-tier storage costs have nearly doubled, effectively killing the "budget" build and forcing gamers back toward a hardware-unfriendly 2026.
We’ve seen this movie before. Whether it was the crypto-mining craze gutting the GPU market in 2021 or the factory floods of a decade ago, hardware cycles are often defined by scarcity. But what we’re calling "RAMnarök"—the current hyper-inflation of memory and storage—is far more calculated. As tech conglomerates prioritize high-margin AI farms, the average PC gamer is being left with the scraps. Our analysis shows that if you didn't pull the trigger on an NVMe upgrade back in November, you’re now paying a "greed tax" that shows no signs of receding.
The Price of Procrastination: Data Breakdown
The numbers coming out of tracking tools like Keepa are nothing short of grim. We’ve tracked three major categories—Performance NVMe, Budget DRAMless, and Legacy SATA—and the trend is identical across the board: vertical price hikes.
| Drive Model | Nov 2023 Price | Jan 2024 Price | Current Price | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WD Black SN850X (1TB) | £85 | £116 | £162 | +90.5% |
| Crucial T500 (2TB) | £140 | £193 | £240 | +71.4% |
| Samsung 870 Evo (SATA 1TB) | £83 | £110 | £140 | +68.6% |
| Samsung 990 Evo (DRAMless 2TB) | £144 (Dec) | N/A | £233 | +61.8% |
The Death of the "Budget" Workaround
In previous market shifts, we could usually recommend a "side-grade" to mitigate costs. If Gen4 NVMe drives were too pricey, you’d drop down to a SATA SSD or a DRAMless drive. That strategy is now dead. When an outmoded 1TB SATA drive like the Samsung 870 Evo is clawing at the £140 mark, the value proposition has evaporated.
Even more concerning is the Samsung 990 Evo. Despite being a DRAMless drive—meaning it lacks the expensive dedicated memory cache—it has still spiked by nearly £100 since December. This proves that suppliers aren't just passing on costs; they are recalibrating the entire floor of the market. We believe this creates a massive barrier to entry for new PC builders who are already struggling with bloated GPU MSRPs.
Why the "AI Bubble" is Killing Your Load Times
The pivot of the Crucial brand is the most "canary in the coal mine" moment of this crisis. When a staple consumer brand is essentially sacrificed to feed the AI beast, it signals a shift in corporate priority. The DRAM chips that should be sitting in your M.2 slots are being diverted to enterprise-grade HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) for data centers.
The Consequences for Gamers:
- The End of the 2TB Standard: We previously considered 2TB the "sweet spot" for modern libraries. At £240 for a T500, we’re back to the era of micromanaging installs.
- Mechanical Hard Drives are a Trap: While HDDs remain cheap, they are no longer viable for modern gaming. Trying to run a title like Starfield or Cyberpunk 2077 on spinning rust results in broken asset streaming and unplayable stutter.
- Handheld Constraints: While microSD cards haven't hit the same inflationary wall yet, the internal 2230 NVMe drives used in the Steam Deck and ROG Ally are likely next on the chopping block.
Final Verdict
We don't see a "buff" to supply coming in the near future. Even if production ramps up, the insatiable hunger of Big Tech's AI ambitions will likely intercept that stock before it hits retail shelves. If you find a drive at "only" a 20% markup, it might—infuriatingly—be the best deal you'll see for the next eighteen months. The era of cheap storage is officially in the rearview mirror.