AMD & NVIDIA Could Kill Off Budget GPUs as Memory Shortages Drive Costs Up, Leaving Entry-Level Gamers With Little Options
- Thread starter LectureMaster
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PeteBull
Member
Make him farm drops instead, those young bucks usually got tons of time to spareMy 18 year old just dropped 2 grand on a gaming PC. I think I need to start charging him rent.
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willothedog
Member
why would they get 'deep discounts' when they can sell the same volume to preferred enterprise customers for more money?
Hohenheim
Member
bitbydeath
Gold Member
Why do they?
Because they order in large amounts.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Unless memory prices cause a significant delay...which feels likely.Magnus coming in with the clutch as the high-end PC alternative.
willothedog
Member
and you don't think the people who supply datacenter products don't and can pay more?
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JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Please dont tell me you are this fucking stupid.
Data centers are ordering in even larger amounts and paying more.
Who do you think gets priority?
Think McFly....Think.
bitbydeath
Gold Member
Not how that works when different products are involved. Has to be a single product put into mass production.
bitbydeath
Gold Member
You are this fucking stupid.
Data centres aren't the same product, they come in a lot of variations.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
No genius.
If that was the case, RAM prices wouldn't be going through the roof and there wouldn't be talk of the Super series being cancelled.
Mem makers are going to 100% prioritize datacenters since they are ordering more and paying more.
There are likely still some existing contracts for companies like Sony and Nintendo to get RAM at their original prices, but once that supply dries up costs will go wayyy up.
The day this AI bubble pops will be a great day for humanity.
The Gabecube is going to be less powerful than a PS5/XSX with less RAM (8GB VRAM only) and likely still be more expensive than them.
Valve isn't going to be able to order the same volumes for their console.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
The only way these remain affordable is if Valve signed a contract at a certain price before there were any indications of this being an issue.
winjer
Member
Companies that make memory kits for PCs, and/or companies that make GPUs for PCs, also order in bulk and get similar discounts. If those discounts are available.
But with the AI boom gobbling up everything, dram makers are not making discounts. They have even halted contract pricing, meaning they are just selling to the highest bidder on the moment.
jm89
Member
Gabecube is gonna be effected. Probably moreso then consoles. Might even explain the vram situation.It's all fucking destined.
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Yep, and I suspect the reason we didn't get a price is because the price isn't pretty. Especially with a PS5 going for $399 during BF. They will wait to announce the price later just like MS/Asus did the ROG Ally.
I think his point is that the datacenters themselves aren't the customers, the blade manufacturers of which there are many would be ordering their own separate volumes at their own prices. It's true to an extent but I agree with you that this would affect everything regardless of that.
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Again I think his point is that there are numerous PC GPU and PC RAM OEMs ordering lower volumes individually. To an extent he is right but this is more a supply and demand issue meaning demand outstripping supply so it will affect everything in terms of price even if some consoles might get better discounts on volume.
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winjer
Member
There are no discounts. There are no contract pricing.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Enterprise is buying in massive bulk and at a higher cost.
Do you not think Graphics card manufacturers are buying in huge bulk?
There is 3 manufacturers of memory on the planet. Console manufacturers are far from the only customers buying memory in bulk. Kinda shocked you thought that way.
Mownoc
Member
We need tech like that Neural Texture Compression to be adopted and start being used in games. "Using Neural Texture Compression (NTC), textures can be reduced in size by almost 90%. Textures make up 50-70% of VRAM usage in games"
Maybe if technology like this had already been developed and used in games earlier those budget 8gb cards wouldn't have been complete trash.
Time to focus on using AI technologies to reduce VRAM usage instead of framegen.
Maybe if technology like this had already been developed and used in games earlier those budget 8gb cards wouldn't have been complete trash.
Time to focus on using AI technologies to reduce VRAM usage instead of framegen.
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bitbydeath
Gold Member
Yeah there is, that's how contracts work.
DirtInUrEye
Member
Live service games love this environment. Little wonder everyone is trying to make the next big one (whilst dumb enthusiast gamers with no understanding of the market continue to complain about their uptick).
I got that from your previous post, I know. Though I'm not sure that applies universally, especially if contracts were made before for future products. where did you read about this no contract pricing btw?
I'm just saying his logic about volume makes sense compared to blades/OEMs even if ultimately that has little effect because I agree with you that the issue is something else entirely and the discount wouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of things if there is a shortage with high demand meaning the RAM suppliers will jack up prices for everybody who doesn't already have a contract in place.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Yes, but memmakers are going to go for the bigger profits every time. Manufacturer A for datacenters offers so much money, while someone like Valve can only offer so much. WHo are the makers going to prioritize? It's not rocket science.
The only hope is that Valve (and Sony, AMD, nvidia, even MS) has already negotiated a price that they can use for the time being. Once that allocation is used up, prices for them will go WAY up. Unless this crashes pretty soon.
bitbydeath
Gold Member
NVIDIA, Intel and AMD? Yes, they absolutely buy parts in bulk.
Console manufacturers buy large amounts of the exact same item in bulk, that's where the discounts come in.
It's from the article that is linked in the OP, the basis of the thread. It's a rumour. This is how they assess rumours.
winjer
Member
It was in the news, a few days ago, that Samsung was no longer accepting contract pricing. And the other 2 manufacturers are probably following suit.
Regarding volume, PC manufacturers are probably ordering more than console makers. Dram is not only being used for gaming PCs, they are also used for millions of PCs for general working, browsing the web, etc.
And remember that PC market grew 7% in 2025.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
You do understand that contracts have clauses, right?
Like, In the event something drastic happens that affects global supply agreed pricing is no longer on the table, those manufacturers of memory will just tell the console manufacturers that this is the situation, this is the cost of chips, . If the customer refuses to accept the increases they can wait until stock of THEIR chips is available at the agreed price. Its a lot more complicated than that was the agreed price in a contract. Manufacturers will just de commit on orders.
Fabieter
Member
It really comes down to the contract and its not worth discussing stuff we don't jnow about.
If they miss such clause it could be more expensive to not fulfill the contract.
Of course the answer is whoever pays the most for their short supply of memory. That might not necessarily be a datacenter supplier though even if datacenters are seeing rapid growth and are a bigger pie overall than gaming hardware. Same chip shortage happened during the console launches but the consoles were reasonably priced in short supply.
Cakeboxer
Member
For products that are widely available at normal prices, that may be true. But for products that are in high demand and whose prices are rising, you can forget about getting any meaningful volume discounts.
I've read the report that the contract prices jumped 60% this month but I've not read anything about them not accepting "contract pricing" anymore. They will not disclose their contract pricing formally now but they still have them with customers I believe. Otherwise they would lose customers to the other two for those who prefer risk aversion.
Define "PC manufacturers" here. There are a lot of them meaning individually they could very easily be ordering less for several product configurations that require different modules. Sure the market for workstations, laptops and notebooks grew as people moved away from the security risk of Win 10 support ending but there are literally hundreds of OEMs and product combinations there contributing to a tally of fundamentally different products.
winjer
Member
DRAM Prices Have Risen by a Whopping 172% This Year Alone, Prompting Memory Manufacturers to Halt New Orders For DDR Modules
DRAM prices have reached a 'mind-boggling' level, and it seems like the consumer memory industry is expected to be affected drastically.
wccftech.com
Doesn't matter if some companies are risk averse. When the market is buying every memory chip and still wants more, the 3 dram makers can do whatever they want.
No need to define anything. On the PC there are a few companies that buy dram chips, them make the memory modules that are then sold to consumers and AIBs alike.
Wccftech is confused. They delayed disclosing their formal price because supply is volatile. They didn't stop making contracts for a given volume at a given price.DRAM Prices Have Risen by a Whopping 172% This Year Alone, Prompting Memory Manufacturers to Halt New Orders For DDR Modules
DRAM prices have reached a 'mind-boggling' level, and it seems like the consumer memory industry is expected to be affected drastically.
Doesn't matter if some companies are risk averse. When the market is buying every memory chip and still wants more, the 3 dram makers can do whatever they want.
Well thats defining it but which few companies buy DRAM chips from the likes of Micron and supply all the OEMs like kingston, crucial, corsair, integral, Dell, Lenovo, etc? Why does this additional middleman I've never heard of exist? Would they not be supplying the likes of Sony and Nintendo too and them just ordering higher volumes from the middleman?
winjer
Member
You are mixing up everything.
Like what? You've done a poor job explaining. how are PC OEMs ordering higher volumes when there are so many of them to that overall "PC" pie. What are the few or so companies ordering higher volumes on behalf of the numerous OEMs I mentioned?
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
And that box will be expensive too since it's an AMD APU with the same expensive DRAM on the same overloaded nodes with hardly future-proof 8GB of video memory.It's all fucking destined.
Everyone expecting for Gabe to somehow undercut even the current PC market or subsidize the hardware by $100 is in for a very rude awakening.
winjer
Member
Companies like kingston, crucial, corsair make volume production of memory kits, that are then sold by the million to AIBs and consumers.
Just in 2024, there were 262.7 million PCs that were shipped worldwide. This is as much as all consoles put together, in a generation cycle of 7 years or more.
And in 2025, PC sales are already up 7%.
Hohenheim
Member
Amen to that!
Sorry, that's just plain false. There are more than those three even for just "memory kits", what happened to ADATA, Integral, G.Skill, Timetec, etc?
The 262.7M figure is not covered by all those you and I mentioned either. In fact those memory kit manufacturers don't even make up the majority of those 262M machines.
For example Apple, Asus, Dell and Lenovo the biggest contributors to that figure dont use any of the above memory kits for most of their devices but manufacture their own. Not to mention some of those devices have soldered on memory and dont need a memory kit manufacturer to begin with. So what did I mix up? And as I said there are also several different products within those manufacturers requiring different module orders from Micron or whoever their actual RAM supplier is. It's you who's mixing things up.
winjer
Member
Yes, there are more memory kit manufacturers, but there is a huge PC market. Much bigger than consoles.
Whine all you want, most of these companies buy more dram chips than a console manufacturer.
And what are you on about Apple. They don't make any of their own hardware.
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Nobody is whining but you.
You claimed there are only a few companies that buy dram chips, then make the memory modules that are then sold to consumers and AIBs alike. when I namedropped the numerous manufacturers you claimed that I was "mixing things up". I asked you to clarify then you namedrop the same companies I mention and omit the actual bigger players sourcing from Samsung and Micron too that I had mentioned.
The only other major thing you failed to whine and make excuses about is that these numerous OEM orders from "PC" are for 100s of different product cycles using different memory modules too.
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winjer
Member
I listed the same memory kit companies as you did first. Because they are the most well known, and probably the biggest.
Companies like Micron, Hynix and Samsung are the companies that make dram chips. And the ones that sell to companies that make dram kits.
Though Samsung also makes kits. But they are different stages of the process.
Companies like ADATA, Integral, G.Skill, Timetec, etc, buy from these 3. And so do companies like Sony, Nintendo and MS.
But consoles sell a fewer units per year than PCs. By a gigantic difference.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
This I dont disagree with. The Gabecube is nice, but I dont believe it will change the game in a significant way like the SteamDeck did.
And let's be real, in the grand scheme of things, the SteamDeck is a blip on the radar of Gaming PCs
They're not the biggest especially if you go by the number of "PCs sold". In desktop builds maybe they are. Yes I'm well aware that they all get chips from the likes of Micron, Hynix and Samsung including the console manufacturers. But "these big 3" are the suppliers the customers on the PC side are more than "a few" and even those many customers have many product cycles with different order amounts for modules. You've done nothing to show that they are putting in bigger volume orders for a given module from those suppliers. You've just ranted about PC this, PC that.