Weekly Memory Prices - Week of Dec 9, 2001 - Page 2

Weekly Memory Prices

SDRAM

Unlike last week's rather stagnant prices, this week's include a whole lot of price increases. All of the 512mb modules of SDRAM we track went up in price this week; most noticeable was the PC133 CAS2 512mb memory, which went up by $20 to its new price of $77.00. While a few others held steady in price, we saw only a couple of price drops. We did have one bigger drop, which was on the PC133 CAS3 256mb module. It went down in price $13 to $15.00 this week. As much as I hate to say it, I think we may have seen the last of the "below $5" SDRAM prices.

DDR SDRAM

Following the pattern we saw with SDRAM prices, PC2100 512mb went up $11 to $108.00 this week. All other DDR SDRAM prices remain unchanged, but one has to wonder how long Crucial will keep prices low when everyone else is selling DDR SDRAM at higher prices.

RDRAM

RDRAM has pretty much stayed on track, this week, with only one price drop and no increases, which is good news for consumers. The biggest price drop came in on the PC800 ECC 256mb, which fell $7 to $82.00. Along with this price change, we see an assortment of RDRAM price drops, ranging from $1 to $3.

Overall

We think it's safe to say that we all knew "low and falling lower" memory prices wouldn't last forever; but it's still sad to see the prices come back up so quickly. Big price drops of $15+ are not as common as they once were, as smaller price fluctuations have become the norm. But when compared to prices we charted six months ago, overall memory prices are still down.

Vangie"Aurora" Beal
News & Interviews Editor