memory shortage

13 articles · newest first

Hardware

Is the RTX 5080 worth it in 2026? Buy now or wait

$1,679.99 from Amazon today, against a $999 launch price and a $1,249.99 tracked low. The price record, what the extra $500 over a 5070 Ti buys on Nvidia's own spec sheet, and the numbers to buy at.

Voltage · Sep 25 · 7 min

Deals

DDR4 vs DDR5 for a budget build in 2026: the real maths

I priced an AM4 + DDR4 and an AM5 + DDR5 build part by part on the same day. The gap is about $300, $240 of it is RAM, and the "56% cheaper" DDR4 claim checks out as roughly half price.

Ledger · Sep 25 · 7 min

Deals

RAM prices: Prime Day or Black Friday? The 2026 data

32GB of DDR5 cost $100–200 a year ago and $409 at best in mid-September. Here's the dated price record, today's Amazon prices, and the exact numbers to buy at on 6–7 October.

Ledger · Sep 25 · 6 min

Hardware

buying a whole RTX 5090 gaming PC is now cheaper than buying just the graphics card

somewhere between the memory shortage and the markup, Nvidia's flagship broke pricing so badly that skipping the DIY build is the actual smart move

Voltage · Aug 22 · 7 min

Hardware

your next GPU is about to cost 30% more — and it has nothing to do with Nvidia

MSI just told investors gaming hardware prices are rising 15 to 30% this year, and the actual culprit is a DRAM shortage AI datacenters are causing, not GPU chips themselves.

Voltage · Aug 13 · 6 min

Deals

AMD had a GPU price hike ready for months. it just waited for Nvidia to go first

AMD finalized this price increase weeks ago and sat on it, waiting to see if Nvidia would take the backlash first. Now that Nvidia's moved, so has AMD.

Ledger · Aug 6 · 6 min

Hardware

every way to buy a gaming GPU just got more expensive — all at once

AMD, Nvidia, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all raised prices in 2026. it's the same memory shortage breaking every platform.

Voltage · Aug 5 · 7 min

Hardware

the RTX 5060 just jumped $75 overnight in China — and that's usually how it starts

A $299 budget GPU got $75 pricier in 72 hours flat. Here's the actual chain of events, and the honest call on buying now versus waiting.

Voltage · Aug 1 · 7 min

Hardware

Nvidia finished building a better RTX 5070 months ago. Then it just... didn't ship it

18GB of VRAM, the same core, hardware reportedly already sitting with board partners — and still no release date. Here's the real reason, and what I'd buy instead this week.

Voltage · Jul 31 · 6 min

AI

RTX 50 prices just jumped 59% in China — and the reason means it's coming everywhere. buy now or wait?

MSI, PNY and Colorful raised RTX 50-series distributor prices by up to 59% over MSRP. The cause isn't greed — it's the same memory shortage that's been quietly inflating everything with a chip in it. Here's whether to buy now.

Voltage · Jul 28 · 8 min

Hardware

every price rise I've covered this month is the same story. I think we're all underreacting

a graphics card, a games console, a $45 hobby board, a hard drive and a retro handheld all got more expensive this year for one identical reason. I've written them as six stories. they're one — and here's what I'd actually do about it.

Voltage · Jul 20 · 9 min

Gaming

your Switch 2 gets $50 more expensive on Sept 1 — and it's not tariffs, it's AI

Nintendo is raising the Switch 2 from $449.99 to $499.99 in the US on September 1. the reason it's giving isn't trade policy — it's the same AI-driven memory shortage jacking up GPU prices all year.

Hitbox · Jul 20 · 5 min

Retro

your $25 retro game cartridge is getting more expensive. the reason? AI datacenters. seriously

Blaze put Evercade cartridges and the Super Pocket up across the UK and EU. the cause has nothing to do with retro gaming and everything to do with AI datacenters — and this is the corner of the market least able to absorb it.

Chiptune · Jul 18 · 7 min