Graphics Cards With DDR3 Memory To Rise In Price

According to various industry sources the price of GDDR3 video RAM is set to rise in price over the coming months. The expected magnitude of the rise in prices is going to be in the 10-15% region, a cost that is almost certainly expected to be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher prices.

The reasons for the hike can be put down to two key factors. First, is that existing stocks of GDDR3 based graphics cards are being consumed by the market quite quickly and are close to running out. Second, is that DRAM producers have significantly reduced production of GDDR3 memory because GDDR5 is becoming the norm for most graphics products.

The price rises are almost ironic in that they will only hit sub-$100 graphics cards because most $100+ graphics cards utilise GDDR5 memory. With the price rise we could see GDDR3 cards getting dangerously close to their GDDR5 counterparts making it almost foolish to not make the GDDR5 upgrade.

The price rises are expected to come fully into play from June onwards as Intel’s new Haswell platform stimulates a flurry of system upgrades.

How will these price rises affect you? Could this force you to consider buying a different graphics card? Or should people already be using GDDR5 based video cards by now?

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