Unless you can actually afford the ram prices, just play older games. There’s a ton of AAA games that I’ve never played.
Then there’s tons of remastered games too. I haven’t touched those. Older games are affordable and run on max settings with any modern computer.
We already have a life time of quality games and computer parts in circulation.
I think when we look back at this time we will see how new games are optimized and intended to run on lower end hardware rather than the “look how real it is” formula.
A good example is borderlands. Cell shading was created because it was aesthetically pleasing while also consuming the least amount of resources. When optimization and performance were no longer a problem, games like border lands used cell shading but still required all lot of resources.
Still playing tf2 <3
How about we throw all the republicans in prison and use their brains for processing power
That amount of processing power wouldn’t play Doom.
If we link them all together we might be able to manage pong
It’d be funny to force crysis on them anyways.
“RAM to see ‘meaningful price increases’ before 2026 is out, as the memory crisis is predicted to last ‘at least’ another 3 years of people not buying any.”
Also it has no meaning.
I’m having difficulty understanding what you’re trying to say here. This words in bold are not anywhere in the article.
If you’re suggesting that demand for RAM is low, you simply do not understand the situation. Demand for RAM is higher than it has ever been, it’s just not consumer demand.
Demand never slows after a bubble pops. never.
Bubbles never take longer than 3 years to pop. Never.
3 more years of diarrhea, because people think the slop generating machines are finally making “AI gems”…
STOP BUYING TECH. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP. THE ONLY REASON PRICES KEEP GOING UP LIKE THIS IS BECAUSE PEOPLE AREN’T WILLING TO SACRIFICE COMFORT TO MAKE A POINT.
Buy used. Use hand me downs. Learn a new operating system to get new life out of stuff you already HAVE.
If people can’t give up access to shitty software to save tech, there’s no hope for the species. Period.
I’m not building a PC or buying a computer because I can make due with what I have a few years longer. But I do desperately need a new laptop at the office, so work is paying an outrageous sum of money for a new computer.
I’m also getting a few new employees - each of which is gonna need a computer
It businesses, not hobbyists paying these increased prices.
The prices are going up because big tech is buying it all up. Consumer sales quantities are way down due to the prices.
Nvidia hasnt even mentioned consumer grade GPUs seperately anymore in their quarter year rapport. It has been moved over to edge computing. Their main income is data center GPUs now.
Prices are high because demand is driven by AI companies with mountains of investor cash. A consumer RAM boycott doesn’t move the needle.
I’m still perfectly fine in my 6+ years old Gaming PC with 16GB.
But then again I switched from Windows to Linux about 2 years ago.
Since the time I started using PCs (over 3 decades ago), I went down the route of squeezing as much as I could from my desktop PCs by upgrading the hardware piece by piece rather than periodically buying a new one - to the point that I think I’ve done maybe just 3 full replacements in those 3 decades - the upgrades most of the time being memory, graphics cards and storage upgrades as those tend to be the best bang for the buck, though a few times all the way to replacing the motherboard (which sometimes forces things like memory upgrades and once even a computer box and power source upgrade, in the transition to ATX physical format).
All this to say that in the last few years since Windows has become so bloated and inneficient, Linux’s capabilities to run Windows software have become so good and the prices of the usually best value hardware upgrades (memory, graphics cards) have become so high that, in my (I believe informed) view, the best performance upgrade for one’s PC right now for most people is literally to replace Windows with Linux.
This isn’t fanboyism speaking - I’ve been using Linux for fun since the early 90s when I would install Slackware from floppy disks, professionally for a large part of my career (which was developing software for the server side, were Linux became dominant in the 00s) and only switched my Gaming PC to it 2 years ago because I before I didn’t feel it wasn’t at all hassle free to game in Linux and I didn’t want to come how to unwind from spending all day programming and doing bug-fixing just to be stuck at diagnosing problems running some game or other in Linux - this is genuinelly my analysis based on my experience of improving my PC almost always by targetted upgrading piece by piece to improve performance rather than regularly buying new machines.
In fact, I’ve done this upgrade not just for myself but also for a family member whose Windows 8 (!) PC had become incompatible with pretty much everything the used - put Linux in, put up the desktop shortcuts for them to get to what they use (browser, e-mail), configure the thing to auto-update and it’s problem solved.
Many people have been delaying their upgrades for a long time already. I bought my old RAM 2015 and tried to convince myself for so long that it’s still fine until I finally upgraded this year.
Buying RAM used often isnt really a good idea unless you have a friend who makes you a good deal. For example I could find the RAM type I wanted for 180€ used or pay 220€ for new parts. That’s not worth it for me and also doesn’t make a dent into the market.
Also remember that most new hardware is sold to either computing providers or businesses. ~70% of memory produced is consumed by AI data centers, leaving only 30% for mobile devices and personal computing.
Don’t get me wrong, consuming less and buying used are still good ambitions, but it realistically has no impact on how prices are formed.
Buying used is per se not a bad idea, but the high RAM prices also mean more scammers, as it is now very profitable to scam people with fake RAM. And people need tech, so not a really an option to stop buying completely.
And I doubt prices would go down if consumers would stop buying or buying less RAM. The prices are high because the tech corporations are willing to buy RAM at basically any cost. Consumers are just a drop in the ocean at this point.
If tech is going to be usurped entirely, then reject it. I’ve started doing everything I can by mail and physical presence. Don’t buy the hype that you NEED tech. If your friends won’t let you change how you get in touch with them, then they’re not that good of friends and you don’t really need them.
If all of my stacked 15 year old computers here stop being able to access Lemmy? Oh well. It’s been fun.
This is a war. They are winning because we are willing to have a point where we say, “Well, this is the limit… I have to capitulate now.” They rub their hands together gleefully waiting for you to cave.
Don’t. Be stubborn. Because if we don’t it’s already over. Legislators and underfunded foundations are not going to save us.
Yeah I’d rather no computer or no internet at all than to accept the cloud. I’ll find other hobbies and entertainment.
My eight year old computer is going to be getting towards eleven years old by the time I upgrade it again at this rate.
Could you upgrade one part at a time or is it a laptop? A used GPU could be a cheaper upgrade, or a cpu if you’re not maxed out for the socket
That’s the age of the motherboard and cpu. The cpu could be upgraded significantly, but the main problem I’ve been seeing is insufficient pci-e lanes, which would require the motherboard replacement I’d been vaguely planning for early this year.
We should organize raiding parties on data centers to get PC parts, pirate style yarrrr, and disrupt AI while doing it. Burn it down to leave no trace.
Pull in close and fire grapeshot broadside!
Please don’t shoot frag into the booty you want to loot.
Jokes on you we will soon be raiding data centers for fresh water
Two birds…two birds
Because what are we going to do with PC parts when we don’t have any electricity anymore. Sadface
I demand it end now
Yeah, but guys… Be reasonable.
At best AI will be amazing and steal our jobs, enrich the wealthy further, and destroy the environment.
And at worst it will reach a wall it can’t overcome and continue to fuck up humanity.
It’s a win-win!!1!
The massive financial crash that will wipeout those assholes might the only real “win” the rest of us get.
Of course, judging by the last one in 2008 (which, IMHO, I suspect will turn out to be smaller than the AI one), governments the world over will try to save the assholes and make the rest of us pay for it with Austerity - if there’s one thing I’ve learned from living through a couple of major crashes (in the very industries most hardly hit) and several minor ones is that when those in power see that they can rescue the wealthy whilst making the rest pay with no consequences for themselves, they’ll do it again and again in ever more extreme ways, until things at a societal level rather than just crack, actually blow up.
We shall see - there is really no way the rest of us can stop the desperate feeding frenzy amongst the increasingly panicked elites and their politician minions before the whole thing crashes from the systemic accumulation of inbalances, so no matter what we (the common folk) do, we’re going to get a massive AI crash - probably as big as the Net Crash and the 2008 Crash together - the more the feeding freenzy lasts (and governments as usual are activelly trying to delay the day of reckoning, hence making the feeding frenzy last longer and hit deeper) and the more of the broader Economy the sharks can reach, the worse it will be.
microsoft’s own evaluation chills me, because it’s spot on, and THEY STILL WENT FULL FUCKIN HOG deepthroating this garbage:
“Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” an internal Microsoft document admitted.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-is-creating-doom-loops-all-over-the-economy
I’m tired boss
It’s not a crisis when it’s artificial… Just stop allowing companies to hoard shit…
But hoarding shit and accumulation is what capitalism does.
OpenAi is set to run out of money mid next year. All the other dominos in this bubble will follow. Chip factories will be begging for consumer demand well before 3 years
the only memory crisis is the forgotten memory that all this is for made up volume that can’t be delivered until the datacenters are built.
What RAM?
The prices keep going up because the willingness to pay isn’t slowing down. As long as people are willing to over pay, the prices will keep going up! Of course the suppliers are predicting price increases, they know there’s a crowd that HAS to have the latest and greatest even when previous gen hardware still hangs, and they have deep pockets and no patience. Then u have people paying for cloud services and shit, increasing demand. This isn’t even getting into the AI craze or cloud computing. I have a friend that won’t build a gaming PC because “it’s cheaper to pay to stream a PC from my laptop” while complaining about ram shortages, which he is actively funding. I am perfectly happy with my ryzen 5 running ddr4 and a rx6600, it plays everything on my 1080p 75hz monitor just fine. I won’t dare think about upgrading till the madness stops, and if it doesnt then fine I’ve been priced out of gaming. My sub 800$ PC is already more expensive than half the cars and motorcycles I have owned 😭 no I’m not spending 2k to build a rig jeeezum
Yes, this is true that prices are continuing to rise because they’re still being bought at that high price, but most of that isn’t consumers (and/or “enthusiasts”) absolutely needing it no matter the cost.
The price is what it is because ai and cloud compute companies are willing to pay that insanely inflated price, so if you want even the chance to get any dram, you need to be willing to pay more than OpenAI/Microsoft/Google/NVIDIA/etc are, for Samsung/SK Hynix/Micron to even consider you.
Why would they bother selling their dram chips in consumer packages for a fraction of what enterprises are willing to pay. The price is what it is, because that’s the price that it becomes worth it for the dram manufacturers to actually care about the consumer market.
It’s also not consumer ram that is taking up the fab capacity either, they’ve shifted to producing more HBM because it allows huge models to be loaded fast.
Yeah exactly, why bother making DDR4/5 memory when HBM makes so much more money since companies are willing to pay insane amounts for it.
So the price of DDR4/5 will rise to whatever price AI and compute companies are willing to pay for HBM as that’s the only point it becomes somewhat worth it for manufacturers to care.
