RAM Prices Went Up Again — Should I Buy Another Graphics Card Now?
14 August 2026
I had been thinking about adding another graphics card.
Here I run a 24GB card and a 12GB card. I wanted to load something a bit larger, so I went to look at the price of a second 24GB board — and stopped there.
Memory prices are back in the news in August 2026. Things had moved since I last looked, so I went back over whether buying now is actually a good idea.
This article is a summary of published information and reporting. Prices move daily, so I have noted the date I checked (14 August 2026).
How far have prices actually risen?
The clearest picture came from the price of plain PC memory (DDR5) itself.
| Item | Around 2025 | 2026 | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| DDR5 32GB (2 x 16GB) | $80–120 | about $375 | roughly 3–4x |
| DDR5 64GB (2 x 32GB) | $150–200 | over $600 | roughly 3–4x |
Measured from the bottom, figures of 300–600% are being quoted. Three to six times — and no sign of easing.
Graphics cards are following the same current. The RTX 5090 was reported at retail prices in South Korea equivalent to well over half a million yen. Its launch list price was $1,999, so that is more than double.
Why they are rising
The cause is not the graphics card itself but the memory sitting on it.
From the position of running AI locally, this is not somebody else’s problem. Loading a large model needs a card with plenty of memory, and memory is exactly what has risen most.
The cards with more memory are the harder ones to get
One thing I read had not occurred to me.
NVIDIA is reported to be throttling production of the higher-memory versions and prioritising the lower-memory ones onto shelves. Using less memory per card means more cards from the same supply.
The higher-memory version is precisely what local AI wants. So the price is up and the number being made is down at the same time.
Will waiting help?
This was what I most wanted to know. As far as I could find:
Chipmakers themselves have said the shortage could run to 2028.
Which makes “wait until it gets cheaper" a hard plan to hold. You would be looking past one or two years, not within them.
So should I buy another one now?
I worked it through for my own case. What I have is one 24GB card and one 12GB card.
| What I want to do | Is what I have enough? | Need to buy? |
|---|---|---|
| Run models up to the 13B class | Enough | No |
| Run the 27–32B class | Fits in 24GB | No |
| Run the 70B class | Does not fit | Even two more 24GB cards gives 48GB — still not enough |
| Run something larger still | Does not fit | Adding boards does not solve it |
Writing it out broke my own assumption. What is holding me back is not the 24GB range but the 70B class beyond it. And the 70B class is nowhere near reachable by adding one more 24GB board.
One way past that wall is to keep a single mini PC with a very large pool of memory. I have one with 128GB, and everything from the 70B class up to the 235B class runs on it. The case for buying another board turned out to be thin.
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What about someone starting from scratch?
Already owning hardware and buying your first are different situations. Here are the options that came up.
- A used 24GB card. Less exposed to the increase, and a used RTX 3090 still comes up as the cheapest route per gigabyte
- Start with a 12GB card. Plenty for the 13B class. Think again when it stops being enough
- Buy a machine with the memory already in it. There are situations right now where this beats buying memory on its own
- Rent by the hour. If you only touch a large model a few times a month, renting works out cheaper
[kimono_product id="16559″]
[kimono_product id="16833″]
In summary: I decided against buying
- Memory is up three to six times from the bottom. DDR5 64GB is over $600, and the RTX 5090 has been listed at over half a million yen in some regions
- The cause is demand from AI, and little easing is expected within 2026. The second half of 2027 was the earliest forecast
- On top of that, the higher-memory versions are the ones being throttled. What local AI wants is the hardest thing to get
- In my case the problem was never the 24GB range but the 70B class. One more board does not fix it
My conclusion was to leave it. Not because of the price, but because buying at that price would not solve what is actually bothering me. Less “hold off until it drops" than “there was no reason to buy in the first place".
Since waiting will not bring prices down, I will make do with what is here. The gap gets filled by the large-memory mini PC, and by renting when I actually need to.
Sources
Checked 14 August 2026. Both prices and forecasts change. Overseas prices are given in dollars as published.