Chinese DIY PC builders turn to DDR3 as memory prices rise

Pcgamer reports that members of China's DIY PC community are reverting to older DDR3 motherboards as DDR4 and DDR5 memory prices climb.

The piece said DDR5-7200 prices have surged and sales have dipped. Citing TrendForce, it noted the average spot price of mainstream DDR4 chips (DDR4 1Gx8 3200 MT/s) rose 9.64% from US$25.407 on Jan.7 to US$27.857 on Jan.14, a near-10% week-on-week increase.

The article pointed out some builders are pairing very old CPUs with DDR3 to meet game minimums—citing Arc Raiders' minimum spec of a Core i5 6600K and at least 12 GB of RAM—and said frame rates on systems that only meet minimum specs "probably wouldn't be too pretty." It suggested slower-paced players might look back to older hardware, while noting DDR4 could still be preferable if it can be found at a reasonable price.

Key Topics

Tech, Trendforce, Arc Raiders, Chinese Diy Community