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- RAM prices in Germany are still going up at a rate of knots
- DDR5 memory is up 27% month on month, and is now 4.4 times more expensive than it was in July 2025
- DDR4 (and DDR3) RAM isn't quite as pricey, but it's catching up with DDR5's massive inflation, and these German numbers reflect the global picture
Here's your weekly dose of bad news on the RAM front, with rising prices in Germany serving as yet another indicator that the price of system memory worldwide is likely to keep increasing – even from the exorbitant levels it's already reached.
VideoCardz spotted that German tech site 3D Center updated its 'memory crisis price index' which, as the name suggests, tracks RAM pricing at German retailers (and only retailers – third-party marketplace sellers or auction sites, also known as scalpers, aren't included).
The figures for January 2026 show that DDR5 RAM (in Germany) is now 4.4 times more expensive than it was in July 2025, just half a year ago (based on an average price of 20 different DDR5 products across various RAM kit capacities and speeds).
The good news – such as it is – is that DDR5 memory is not going up as steeply now compared to the previous month, notching a 27% increase, which sounds a lot, but not when viewed through the lens of the 93% hike from November to December.
Looking at older RAM, meaning DDR4 and also DDR3 memory – and the latter is growing increasingly popular as a budget alternative for some folks with the pricing crisis – these prices are rising faster than DDR5, but are still at a relatively lower level of inflation in total.
In January 2026, the DDR4 and DDR3 RAM kits that 3D Center monitored rose by 46% in terms of their cost, which was a faster rate of increase than the previous month, when their price inflation was 30%.
Compared to July 2025, these older standards of RAM are 3.2 times more expensive, so not reaching the same levels as DDR5 yet. But month-on-month increases are steeper, meaning DDR4 (and DDR3) is catching up with DDR5 for the overall price spike experienced.
Analysis: a global headache that isn't going away
Of course, it makes sense that with DDR5 having gone truly through the roof (and still climbing skywards), those who are thinking they may need an upgrade of their DDR4 memory are now watching the price of that RAM mirror the newer standard in terms of a meteoric rise – and likely deciding to pull the trigger before things get any worse.
On top of that, perhaps those who are building a new PC are simply electing to go the DDR4 route instead – or even DDR3, maybe, if they want a PC for basic computing tasks only. However, I still wouldn't recommend stepping back in time quite that far if you can at all avoid it, although these products remain very cheap (relatively) even with price inflation (which is obviously the attraction for a niche set of buyers).
While this is just one temperature taken in terms of how the RAM market is overheating right now, the German tech scene is the biggest in Europe, and it obviously reflects what's happening across the globe. While there will be slight differences from market to market, all of us are seeing huge price spikes, and elsewhere DDR4 pricing is likely to mirror what's happening in Germany now. We're all suffering from the same dwindling RAM chip supply, after all.
Meanwhile, 3D Center points out another worrying development which is fresh for this month – GPUs are rising in price and are up 14% (compared to September 2025). That sounds nothing compared to the RAM hikes, of course, but it's still a sizable jump for products which in many cases already cost a huge chunk of cash, and some high-end graphics cards in particular have been hit badly, as we've seen.
Storage is also witnessing large hikes, with SSDs up 79% in price according to 3D Center's stats, and hard disks now up 53% (compared to July 2025). Building a new PC from scratch is becoming a much pricier endeavor as a result, as you are paying a lot more for your system RAM and SSD, and a chunk extra on the GPU to boot.
The obvious prediction is made by 3D Center, which is that high prices are not going away, and if anything, they're going to get even worse. About the best we can hope for is a shift towards a plateauing of prices for the products that have seen near-vertical climbs in their cost, notably DDR5 RAM, and a fall in pricing would only be precipitated by some big event like the AI bubble bursting (which is not likely, to put it mildly).
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