According to Taiwan tech publication DigiTimes, most AI firms are unwilling to wait two years for HDD supplies to stabilize and are shifting to SSDs instead. To contain costs, they are choosing QLC NAND-based drives over the faster, more durable, and more expensive TLC variants.
Industry observers expect the surge in QLC-based SSD demand from data centers in the US, Canada, and China to trigger a consumer SSD shortage. Since most mainstream drives already use QLC NAND to stay affordable, the shortfall could push costs even higher, adding pressure to consumers already facing record hardware prices.
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The rapid growth of the AI sector and the race toward artificial general intelligence have put a massive strain on the infrastructure supporting hyperscale data centers. Beyond GPUs and accelerators, the surge has driven unprecedented demand for every layer of PC hardware – from CPUs and memory to high-speed networking and large-scale storage arrays.
Soaring demand has pushed component prices sharply higher, with DRAM climbing nearly 50 percent in recent weeks. Reports indicate that AI data center operators in the US and China now receive only about 70 percent of their DRAM allocations, even after agreeing to pay the inflated rates.
The price surge extends beyond high-bandwidth memory. An earlier DigiTimes report notes that demand for standard DDR5 RDIMMs now exceeds supply, as major chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix divert production from consumer markets toward higher-margin AI components.
DDR5 especially has a vertical price boom. Double in just a few months in some cases. I remember a story that RAM was becoming so ubiquitous that production was scaled down to make it profitable...
DDR5 especially has a vertical price boom. Double in just a few months in some cases.
I remember a story that RAM was becoming so ubiquitous that production was scaled down to make it profitable again, not necessarily an issue, but when that reduced stock is now also hoovered up by the AI surge and you get a monstrous squeeze that will prevent any consumers from participating.
GPUs see vastly increased prices since the chip shortage, Bitcoin mining craze, and now AI prioritization that they haven't been affordable for years.
If SSDs are now also part of this gold rush it'll be a while before consumer PC builds will be viable again.
This is all exacerbated by the last line: production is moving (or has moved) from consumers to higher margin B2B sales. There's no going back from that teat unless it all blows up.
I feel like it should make low end PCs a viable alternative. No one really needs to game at 4k 120fps. But maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better. All my PCs at his point are pretty old;...
I feel like it should make low end PCs a viable alternative. No one really needs to game at 4k 120fps.
But maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better. All my PCs at his point are pretty old; the oldest one seeing regular games being an MSI laptop from 2015, the newest being my AM4 desktop with a 6700 XT that games at 1080p.
I feel pretty happy with my equipment, all of it runs the things I or my kids want to play. I don't feel much need to shell out $2000 for top of the line stuff that is going to be quickly subject to diminishing returns.
Gaming is just one thing. Hobbyist video/photo editors need some heft to their PC too. That said, gaming is entertainment and I see no issue in wanting it to look nice. Need is a strong word to...
Gaming is just one thing. Hobbyist video/photo editors need some heft to their PC too. That said, gaming is entertainment and I see no issue in wanting it to look nice. Need is a strong word to begin with, I don't need the best seat in the cinema either... But I'd like to.
This doesn't just hit people trying to optimize their rig either. Let's say my old ass stuff breaks and I want to participate (even low-end) in modern contemporary hardware I'm still getting squeezed by these companies producing fewer consumer hardware altogether. In this article they mention the cheaper QLC NAND SSDs so specifically budget builds will be shit out of luck.
Regardless, isn't low-end already the viable alternative to expensive hardware?
Edit to add: I can see the second hand market grow because of this though.
Fair enough! I hadn't actually considered such uses, even though I've helped spec and build a PC for photo editing specifically. Far as low end goes, I just feel like that zeitgeist these days is...
Fair enough! I hadn't actually considered such uses, even though I've helped spec and build a PC for photo editing specifically.
Far as low end goes, I just feel like that zeitgeist these days is the fancy stuff influencers, news and the like always seem to be pushing. Like people think gaming with a 3060 is old news and not worth the time anymore just because it's a couple years old.
I'm just big on second hand and reusing stuff too. The laptop mentioned was a gift from a friend who no longer use it. My HTPC has a second hand CPU and second hand GPU in it. My main laptop is a second hand workstation I use for gaming.
Obviously there's some market for this stuff, but it feels rarely considered.
I think there are some knock-on effects that are affecting mid/lower-end PCs and upgrading. For example, like two weeks ago, I wanted to upgrade my "lite" gaming PC. Wanted to move from 16GB (8x2)...
I think there are some knock-on effects that are affecting mid/lower-end PCs and upgrading. For example, like two weeks ago, I wanted to upgrade my "lite" gaming PC. Wanted to move from 16GB (8x2) DD4 to 32GB (16x2) DDR4. It cost me like $90. Even used on eBay was only a few bucks cheaper. That's ridiculous.
DDR5 is expensive. So I bet that's making people, like me who are on now older hardware, seek out more within-gen upgrade paths. Which is probably driving up cost. Though I know DDR4 production is on its way out, which is certainly a factor, too.
I wanted to buy a cheap NVMe last week to tinker with Linux and was surprised to see how much prices has risen from the last time I bought one a few months ago. I bought it anyway but didn't feel...
I wanted to buy a cheap NVMe last week to tinker with Linux and was surprised to see how much prices has risen from the last time I bought one a few months ago. I bought it anyway but didn't feel particularly good about it. Funny thing is, my rekindled interest in Linux is due to Windows seemingly going all in on AI. Apparently I overpaid because of it too. Can't seem to escape the damn thing.
I’ve been waiting for good deals on 2TB/4TB NVMe SSDs for like 2 years already and all Black Friday sales I’ve seen have been disappointing. Heck I’d even take SATA to make some weird SATA SSD...
I’ve been waiting for good deals on 2TB/4TB NVMe SSDs for like 2 years already and all Black Friday sales I’ve seen have been disappointing.
Heck I’d even take SATA to make some weird SATA SSD NAS/Home Server, but I guess that’ll have to wait until… idk, 2030?
Is there a specific price point you're hoping for? Anecdotally, I check slickdeals pretty often, and it seemed like there were some pretty good deals over this past summer. I went and looked up...
Is there a specific price point you're hoping for? Anecdotally, I check slickdeals pretty often, and it seemed like there were some pretty good deals over this past summer.
I went and looked up some price trends, and it seems like the lowest prices were observed in Aug/Sep of this year, with the average close to 18 month lows as well, although it seems like prices are trending up since Oct.
I’ve had 2TB 980 Pro a couple of years ago for around$ 100, regret not picking up multiple back then. Deals on SATA drives would be neat too but they’re as expensive as NVMe drives if not more. I...
I’ve had 2TB 980 Pro a couple of years ago for around$ 100, regret not picking up multiple back then.
Deals on SATA drives would be neat too but they’re as expensive as NVMe drives if not more.
I typically check our local Amazon for them since they include VAT and shipping in the final price, NewEgg would probably make the discount moot by shipping costs.
From the article:
...
DDR5 especially has a vertical price boom. Double in just a few months in some cases.
I remember a story that RAM was becoming so ubiquitous that production was scaled down to make it profitable again, not necessarily an issue, but when that reduced stock is now also hoovered up by the AI surge and you get a monstrous squeeze that will prevent any consumers from participating.
GPUs see vastly increased prices since the chip shortage, Bitcoin mining craze, and now AI prioritization that they haven't been affordable for years.
If SSDs are now also part of this gold rush it'll be a while before consumer PC builds will be viable again.
This is all exacerbated by the last line: production is moving (or has moved) from consumers to higher margin B2B sales. There's no going back from that teat unless it all blows up.
I feel like it should make low end PCs a viable alternative. No one really needs to game at 4k 120fps.
But maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better. All my PCs at his point are pretty old; the oldest one seeing regular games being an MSI laptop from 2015, the newest being my AM4 desktop with a 6700 XT that games at 1080p.
I feel pretty happy with my equipment, all of it runs the things I or my kids want to play. I don't feel much need to shell out $2000 for top of the line stuff that is going to be quickly subject to diminishing returns.
Gaming is just one thing. Hobbyist video/photo editors need some heft to their PC too. That said, gaming is entertainment and I see no issue in wanting it to look nice. Need is a strong word to begin with, I don't need the best seat in the cinema either... But I'd like to.
This doesn't just hit people trying to optimize their rig either. Let's say my old ass stuff breaks and I want to participate (even low-end) in modern contemporary hardware I'm still getting squeezed by these companies producing fewer consumer hardware altogether. In this article they mention the cheaper QLC NAND SSDs so specifically budget builds will be shit out of luck.
Regardless, isn't low-end already the viable alternative to expensive hardware?
Edit to add: I can see the second hand market grow because of this though.
Fair enough! I hadn't actually considered such uses, even though I've helped spec and build a PC for photo editing specifically.
Far as low end goes, I just feel like that zeitgeist these days is the fancy stuff influencers, news and the like always seem to be pushing. Like people think gaming with a 3060 is old news and not worth the time anymore just because it's a couple years old.
I'm just big on second hand and reusing stuff too. The laptop mentioned was a gift from a friend who no longer use it. My HTPC has a second hand CPU and second hand GPU in it. My main laptop is a second hand workstation I use for gaming.
Obviously there's some market for this stuff, but it feels rarely considered.
I think there are some knock-on effects that are affecting mid/lower-end PCs and upgrading. For example, like two weeks ago, I wanted to upgrade my "lite" gaming PC. Wanted to move from 16GB (8x2) DD4 to 32GB (16x2) DDR4. It cost me like $90. Even used on eBay was only a few bucks cheaper. That's ridiculous.
DDR5 is expensive. So I bet that's making people, like me who are on now older hardware, seek out more within-gen upgrade paths. Which is probably driving up cost. Though I know DDR4 production is on its way out, which is certainly a factor, too.
I wanted to buy a cheap NVMe last week to tinker with Linux and was surprised to see how much prices has risen from the last time I bought one a few months ago. I bought it anyway but didn't feel particularly good about it. Funny thing is, my rekindled interest in Linux is due to Windows seemingly going all in on AI. Apparently I overpaid because of it too. Can't seem to escape the damn thing.
I've not had to buy any tech products for a while, but I'm getting very tired of tech bubbles making components scarce and expensive for consumers.
I’ve been waiting for good deals on 2TB/4TB NVMe SSDs for like 2 years already and all Black Friday sales I’ve seen have been disappointing.
Heck I’d even take SATA to make some weird SATA SSD NAS/Home Server, but I guess that’ll have to wait until… idk, 2030?
Is there a specific price point you're hoping for? Anecdotally, I check slickdeals pretty often, and it seemed like there were some pretty good deals over this past summer.
I went and looked up some price trends, and it seems like the lowest prices were observed in Aug/Sep of this year, with the average close to 18 month lows as well, although it seems like prices are trending up since Oct.
https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/internal-hard-drive/#storage.ssdm2nvme.4000
I’ve had 2TB 980 Pro a couple of years ago for around$ 100, regret not picking up multiple back then.
Deals on SATA drives would be neat too but they’re as expensive as NVMe drives if not more.
I typically check our local Amazon for them since they include VAT and shipping in the final price, NewEgg would probably make the discount moot by shipping costs.
I have two of these. I bought them for $130/$140 respectively and they've been great.