RAM prices have completely exited the realm of reality, and trying to piece together a PC build at the end of 2025 is a lot more difficult than normal.
The ongoing RAM crisis — RAMageddon, as I've seen some call it — is not only making PC building and laptop upgrades difficult, but it's also threatening to drive up the prices of practically all tech that uses DRAM (and that's a lot of tech). I recently wrote a more in-depth look at what is causing RAM prices to spike, but the short story is that AI firms are buying all the DRAM they can for use in AI datacenters.
Update December 18, 2025: With how quickly the RAM market is changing, I jumped in to give updates in a few key areas. I added a few RAM bundle deals, as well as some new pre-builts that haven't yet been hit by the price spike. — Cale Hunt
Watch out for bundled RAM at a low price
During Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year (as well as the weeks after), some desktop RAM was selling for a very reasonable price. The catch? It was bundled with a motherboard.
Whether you need the motherboard or not, finding a bundled RAM deal is a great way to not overpay. You can always sell or give away the motherboard to a friend.
Unfortunately, these bundles have mostly disappeared, but that doesn't mean there won't be more that pop up in the near future. Your best bet is to keep an eye on Newegg, as it was the retailer offering the cheapest deals.
Update December 18: I found this MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi motherboard bundled with 32GB of DDR5-6400 Corsair Vengeance RGB RAM and a Cooler Master 240 Elite Liquid AiO cooler for $650.98 at Newegg. Considering the board alone costs $500, and the AiO cooler costs $90, you can look at this like you're only paying about $60 for 32GB of DDR5 RAM.
A more affordable bundle includes a similar Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB DDR5-6000 kit and an ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi motherboard for $459.99 at Newegg.
Make peace with slower, plainer RAM kits
Now is not the time to get fancy with your DDR5 RAM choice. When buying memory for a desktop PC, you generally have a lot of choices. Some RAM kits have RGB lighting and stylized heat spreaders, while others are basically just a PCB with some modules attached. Then there are also timings and speeds to consider, especially in a high-end build.
Although this shouldn't be treated as a rule, I am generally seeing lower prices for those less flashy RAM kits that don't have as high a frequency. Makes sense.
For example, Team Group's Vulcan DDR5-5200 32GB RAM kit without RGB currently costs about $269.99 at Newegg. Corsair's Vengeance 16GB DDR5-5200 kit with RGB lighting drops down to about $219.99, but that's for half as much memory.
Normally, I'd recommend buying faster RAM with tighter timings. But in this current market, I recommend focusing more on capacity than speed.
Find a great deal on a pre-built or laptop
Gaming laptops and pre-built gaming PCs could be the answer to high RAM prices, but only for a limited time. I urge you to check out our picks for best gaming laptops and best pre-built gaming PCs in 2025 to get an idea of what's hot right now.
Once the systems that were put together before the current RAM price spike sell out, prices will almost certainly rise — Lenovo, Dell, and HP have signaled that they will raise PC prices in the near future, as have CyberPowerPC and Maingear — but you might still be able to snag one at a great price.
This option doesn't do much for those who only need some new memory for their PC, but those hoping to put together an entire system could have good luck.
If you're interested in an AMD system, iBuyPower's Slate Mesh pre-built that I reviewed is discounted at Best Buy. It has a Ryzen 7 8700F CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD, all for just $1,499.99.
Want to spend less? iBuyPower's Slate Mesh with an Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5060 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD is down to $979.99 at Best Buy for a very limited time (deal ends December 18).
Plan a build using DDR4 RAM instead of DDR5
The current memory squeeze is mainly affecting DDR5 RAM prices; it's the stuff (alongside HBM) that is most coveted for use in AI datacenters.
That leaves older DDR4 RAM prices (for now) at a much more reasonable level. That could change as PC builders gobble it up and cause another new squeeze, but for now, you can reliably get a pretty nice kit of 2x8GB DDR4 RAM for around $100.
Of course, you'll have to ensure that the PC the RAM is going into is compatible with DDR4, and you'll also want to ensure that the PC's owner is comfortable taking a slight performance hit.
DDR5 RAM is indeed an upgrade over DDR4, but at the current DDR5 prices, it should be a lot easier to reconcile with the older standard.
Wait for prices to return to normal
If all else fails, there's really nothing to do but wait for DDR5 RAM prices to return to normal. How long that takes is anyone's guess. The theorized AI bubble could pop, sending RAM prices crashing back down to earth, but then again, it might only ramp up its demands for DRAM.
The three major RAM makers in the world — Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron — could also ramp up DRAM production faster than expected, loosening the squeeze, but that will take years to realize due to the time it takes to get a fabrication plant up and running.
Worsening the situation is the fact that Micron recently announced it's exiting the consumer RAM business with its Crucial products.
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