DDR Prices - WTF - BitCoin Miners to blame? | SevenString.org
DDR Prices - WTF - BitCoin Miners to blame?
Discussion in 'Computers, Electronics, IT & Gaming' started by schwiz, Jan 30, 2018.
Ok... seriously, what in the hell is going on with DDR prices right now? Holy cow.
The same 2x8gb DDR4 PC-3000 RAM sticks I bought a year and a half ago for like $90 are now $220. Prices of RAM and Video Cards have over doubled. The 1080TI's are now ~$1200. Who honestly can justify that cash right now?
I blame the BitCoin miners who are building these insanely powerful rigs, only to spend more on the engery they use to mine the coins, than they actually get in coins.
As far as I understand, there are really only 3 big DDR manufacturers... and the top one is Samsung. Are they charging more because demand is higher? Probably... it's basic economics. However, when will we see this trend shift? I'm patiently waiting. There is no such thing as a budget gaming PC build anymore.
I think BitCoin is a huge scam, and I don't know 1 financial advisor (I do happen to know more than a few) who's like "Yeah, invest in BitCoin!!". Nope. Not one. I asked a buddy and he laughed at me. It seems like the Asian countries are putting a whole hell of a lot of energy into mining. I read a statistic that said all the BitCoin miners could power the entire country of Iraq... I suppose that's not saying a whole lot, but still. When will it die?
it’s completely the coin miners. So much so nvidia even asked retailers to try to sell to people actually building computers and not miners.
7 Strings of Hate, Jan 30, 2018
Yes. Nintendo has pushed off releasing games on the 64gig switch carts because the part price drops have not lined up with long term projections.
Replacing RAM used to be a super cheap thing you could do yourself.
I wish manufacturers would release cards that were objectively better/more efficient at whatever mining does that it would make “enthusiast” cards inferior by comparison.
You shouldn’t need high GFX capabilities to mine coins for $4,600/coin electricity bills? Idk.
Manufacturers are already running at capacity. Increasing that capacity is expensive, and they're banking on crypto crashing sooner than later. If that happens, the increased production capacity would be a wasted investment.
Unfortunately, that leaves enthusiasts in the lurch. I was planning to build a new rig once the Ryzen refresh dropped (originally wanted to build last summer, but the shortages...), but given current sky-high GFX/RAM costs I think I'll try to squeeze a bit more life out of my old rig.
InfinityCollision, Jan 31, 2018
AxeHappy, schwiz and Curt like this.
Are you sure miners are to blame? You can't mine with GPUs and get anywhere these days, so you'd have to buy an ASIC. All these asian countries are building ASIC farms at this point. So of course these need RAM components too, but I'm not entirely sure that's where the fault is these days.
Another consideration is the GPUs needed for AI, which has been a driving factor behind Nvidia's stock price rocketship the past two years.
narad, Jan 31, 2018
This is a good argument and something I didn't consider.
If I go on craigslist there are multiple people selling mining rigs with 4 or 5 GPU's running the rigs. I recently upgraded my CPU and mobo and Micro Center put in a new policy where they will only allow one GPU sale per person. While I think they are attributing to RAM costs, I don't think they are the sole reason for the spike. There are other economics at play here, some of which you have highlighted.
It looks like Samsung is the leading manufacturer of ASIC chips... maybe they are putting more of their development into that, instead of producing RAM? They are the leading RAM manufactuer right now.
schwiz, Feb 1, 2018
If this crypto ends up crashing, we all might get some good craigslist specials on hardware! haha!
DDR Prices - WTF - BitCoin Miners to blame? | SevenString.org
DDR Prices - WTF - BitCoin Miners to blame?
Discussion in 'Computers, Electronics, IT & Gaming' started by schwiz, Jan 30, 2018.
Ok... seriously, what in the hell is going on with DDR prices right now? Holy cow.
The same 2x8gb DDR4 PC-3000 RAM sticks I bought a year and a half ago for like $90 are now $220. Prices of RAM and Video Cards have over doubled. The 1080TI's are now ~$1200. Who honestly can justify that cash right now?
I blame the BitCoin miners who are building these insanely powerful rigs, only to spend more on the engery they use to mine the coins, than they actually get in coins.
As far as I understand, there are really only 3 big DDR manufacturers... and the top one is Samsung. Are they charging more because demand is higher? Probably... it's basic economics. However, when will we see this trend shift? I'm patiently waiting. There is no such thing as a budget gaming PC build anymore.
I think BitCoin is a huge scam, and I don't know 1 financial advisor (I do happen to know more than a few) who's like "Yeah, invest in BitCoin!!". Nope. Not one. I asked a buddy and he laughed at me. It seems like the Asian countries are putting a whole hell of a lot of energy into mining. I read a statistic that said all the BitCoin miners could power the entire country of Iraq... I suppose that's not saying a whole lot, but still. When will it die?
it’s completely the coin miners. So much so nvidia even asked retailers to try to sell to people actually building computers and not miners.
7 Strings of Hate, Jan 30, 2018
Yes. Nintendo has pushed off releasing games on the 64gig switch carts because the part price drops have not lined up with long term projections.
Replacing RAM used to be a super cheap thing you could do yourself.
I wish manufacturers would release cards that were objectively better/more efficient at whatever mining does that it would make “ent
husiast” cards inferior by comparison.
You shouldn’t need high GFX capabilities to mine coins for $4,600/coin electricity bills? Idk.
Manufacturers are already running at capacity. Increasing that capacity is expensive, and they're banking on crypto crashing sooner than later. If that happens, the increased production capacity would be a wasted investment.
Unfortunately, that leaves enthusiasts in the lurch. I was planning to build a new rig once the Ryzen refresh dropped (originally wanted to build last summer, but the shortages...), but given current sky-high GFX/RAM costs I think I'll try to squeeze a bit more life out of my old rig.
InfinityCollision, Jan 31, 2018
AxeHappy, schwiz and Curt like this.
Are you sure miners are to blame? You can't mine with GPUs and get anywhere these days, so you'd have to buy an ASIC. All these asian countries are building ASIC farms at this point. So of course these need RAM components too, but I'm not entirely sure that's where the fault is these days.
Another consideration is the GPUs needed for AI, which has been a driving factor behind Nvidia's stock price rocketship the past two years.
narad, Jan 31, 2018
This is a good argument and something I didn't consider.
If I go on craigslist there are multiple people selling mining rigs with 4 or 5 GPU's running the rigs. I recently upgraded my CPU and mobo and Micro Center put in a new policy where they will only allow one GPU sale per person. While I think they are attributing to RAM costs, I don't think they are the sole reason for the spike. There are other economics at play here, some of which you have highlighted.
It looks like Samsung is the leading manufacturer of ASIC chips... maybe they are putting more of their development into that, instead of producing RAM? They are the leading RAM manufactuer right now.
schwiz, Feb 1, 2018
If this crypto ends up crashing, we all might get some good craigslist specials on hardware! haha!