DDR3 Buyers, a note for you.

PP Mguire

Build Guru
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Anybody buying into a DDR3 system currently if you aren't buying 8GB at least then I suggest you do. My predictions for Haswell-E being DDR4 are true, and we are looking at a Q3/4 2014 HEDT DDR4 release. What that means for DDR3 users is DDR3 prices have, and will continue to slowly rise in price until the mainstream market moves to DDR4.

Here is your release layout.

1150 = DDR3. 2013 Haswell, 2014 Haswell refresh.
2011 = DDR3. 2011 SB-E, 2013 IB-E
11?? = DDR4. 2015 Mainstream codename DDR4 platform
2011-3 = DDR4. 2014 Haswell-E

What that means is, HEDT will go DDR4 just around holiday season next year and the mainstream market (people buying Z series boards, 200-300 dollar CPUs) will go DDR4 in 2015.

Does this mean you should not buy into a DDR3 rig now? No. Memory bandwidth is far away from being any kind of bottleneck in our machines. Until more and more RAM starts being used we won't see a need for faster RAM speeds. DDR4 will start at 2133 and right now there is hardly a difference between 1600 and 2400+.

What this does mean, is if you are buying a DDR3 rig now, get at least 8GB unless you want to follow in the footsteps of the DDR2 people wanting 8GB now and paying double the worth later. 8GB is cheap, so really no reason not to get that amount. If you can't afford to get this much RAM and you want a gaming rig then I suggest you save your pennies a little longer.

Edit: Brought to my attention. HEDT = High End Desk Top.
 
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The DDR3 had gone up some since a few months ago. I looked up my purchase record at Newegg and I was surprised.

2x2 Gskill 1600 - was $25 in 11-1-12 now $38 (in my Celeron system)

2x4 Cor Ven 1600 - was $46 in 12-31-12 now $70 (in my i3 system)

Between 40%-50% increase already jeez.
 
Yup, and it will only slowly increase over time. Hence my post. The end of last year you could get an 8GB set for less than 40 bucks and now you're lucky to buy the cheapest set on sale for 49.
 
I'm glad I bought all the RAM I need already. I looked back at the prices for what I paid and what they're at now, jumped $23. In the span of 3 months...ouch. Thanks for the heads up PP.
 
Late question PP,
Do you foresee Intel LGA1155 boards coming down in price with the advent of the LGA1150 chipset? Or will they roughly stay the same price when compared to each other before Haswell becomes more mainstream?

Because eventually LGA1155 boards, I'm guessing, will end their run on the up and out (in price).
 
They will drop a tad before going EOL. At the current price point, as people are saying there is no point to get IB if you are getting a new set of parts because Haswell's release was cheaper than I thought it would be.
 
Thanks for the info PPM!

Fortunately I purchased a large quantity of the DDR3 RAM when it was selling 18 months ago for $40-$50 per 16GB's [Patriot was repeatedly and consistently dumping DDR3 1600 16GB's [4 sticks of 4GB] for $40-$45.

I have all I need now.

Are you saying the price will climb steeply?

Soar
 
Just look at it, the price has been going up the past 8 or so months.

Won't really be an issue until 2015 though. And by then, most of us will have already upgraded.
 
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