{"id":1440314,"date":"2025-12-26T18:42:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/LXpGQtRnNvu3iTie9vsxFh"},"modified":"2025-12-26T18:42:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:42:17","slug":"pc-gaming-has-a-pricing-problem-and-the-memory-crisis-is-compounding-it-in-a-way-thats-utterly-heartbreaking-for-our-hobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/pc-gaming-has-a-pricing-problem-and-the-memory-crisis-is-compounding-it-in-a-way-thats-utterly-heartbreaking-for-our-hobby\/","title":{"rendered":"PC gaming has a pricing problem, and the memory crisis is compounding it in a way that’s utterly heartbreaking for our hobby"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Occasionally, on one of my rare jaunts out into the real world, someone will ask me what I do for a living. “I write for PC Gamer,” I invariably respond. “Oh that’s cool,” comes the reply. “I’d like to buy a gaming PC, but I looked at the prices recently and\u2026”<\/p>\n

You get the idea. I’m also constantly asked by gamers, both online and in the real world, what PC they should buy on a budget, and my response often starts with: “What do you mean by budget?”<\/p>\n

We exist in a space where an “affordable” gaming PC usually costs the best part of $1,000, and that’s before you get to the monitor, the keyboard, and all the rest of it. Budget by PC gaming standards, sure. Budget by almost any other? Not really.<\/p>\n

It’s a lot of cash, no matter which way you look at it. And now, thanks to a memory pricing crisis<\/a> that looks destined to become much, much worse before it has any hope of getting better, those budget rigs are starting to become even more expensive. Our hobby has always had a gatekeeping aspect to the price of entry, but now? It’s becoming downright ridiculous.<\/p>\n

You can still buy a sub-$1,000 prebuilt<\/a> with great specs, but that’s while current stocks last. All indications suggest that, come 2026, DRAM prices are going to bite so hard when it comes to memory modules, SSDs, and even VRAM<\/a>, that a decently-powerful rig for less than a grand is going to be very hard to find. And in terms of the DIY market? We’re already in deep\u2026 waters.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Remitski via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two years ago, I paid around $100 for the 32 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 kit currently sitting in my machine. Yesterday, I found it for $425. Today, I can’t find it in stock anywhere, despite it being, until very recently, one of the most affordable memory kits on the market.<\/p>\n

In fact, the cheapest 32 GB DDR5 kit I can find on Amazon at the time of writing is this G.Skill 5400 MT\/s set for $340<\/a>. That’s budget DDR5, for mainstream graphics card <\/em>money.<\/p>\n

Speaking of graphics cards, we’ve seen the prices stabilise over the past few months after the ludicrous retailer markups<\/a> the market was subjected to earlier this year. You can now find most <\/em>current-gen GPUs for around their MSRP, but that’s still cold comfort for those looking to build a machine on a tight budget.<\/p>\n

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\"MSI<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can pick up an 8 GB RTX 5060<\/a> for sub-$300 prices, but it’s still pretty thin-going if you want to turn the settings up in the demanding stuff at anything over 1080p. DLSS upscaling and Frame Generation help, no doubt. But it’s not exactly a graphics card we’re jumping up and down over\u2014and should you wish to make the jump to the mid-range, an RTX 5070<\/a> is still $500 at best.<\/p>\n

These are serious sums to lay down on single components that still require a whole host of extra hardware before they render a single frame.<\/p>\n

You could go AMD, of course, and pick up a 16 GB RX 9060 XT<\/a> for its $350 MSRP. Actually, the cheapest I can find right now is $380<\/a>, which probably speaks to the card’s popularity. Budget gamers needed a win, and in a year with very few, the little AMD card stood out by being decently priced for the level of performance it delivers.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s where we’re at, folks. A budget GPU is considered darn good value at $380. Add potential VRAM price increases on top, passed on to the customer, and expect that premium to climb even further.<\/p>\n

Stack that on top of ridiculous system RAM pricing, and we have a serious problem. And while SSDs have been slower to rise, they’ve certainly begun their ascent\u2014with sub-$100 1 TB drives now becoming very hard to find, and good 2 TB Gen 4 models<\/a> starting to bump into the $200 mark.<\/p>\n

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Prepare to pay more than you did previously. Substantially more, for that matter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Let me make myself clear\u2014if we continue to price out the less well-heeled from entering the PC gaming space in this fashion, we risk chopping off the entry point into the hobby.<\/p>\n

All pastimes need a constant supply of fresh blood in order to thrive. If the budget-conscious, entry-level roots of PC gaming are cut short, the whole tree looks in serious danger of, if not toppling over, at the very least withering in the sun. And that’s bad for everyone, even if you can afford to pay the extra hit.<\/p>\n

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