Every builder is asking the same question right now: buy now, or wait for 2027 when things maybe calm down?
Here's the honest answer from a company that builds these for a living. Prices are not calming down anytime soon, and there is nothing on the horizon that flips this back to 2025 pricing. If you need a gaming PC next year, buy now. If your current PC still runs everything, keep it running as long as you can. There is no third option where you save money by waiting.
Here's why.
Will RAM prices go down?
RAM prices aren't expected to go down in 2026 or 2027. As of late October 2026, the forecasts still point up. TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to rise another 10 to 15% in the fourth quarter of 2026, and it warns that PC DRAM supply could shrink in 2027 as manufacturers move more capacity to AI servers.
The memory makers are saying the same thing. Micron's CEO said on September 30 that supply will be "much tighter" in the company's fiscal 2027 and 2028 than in 2026. The chairman of SK Group, SK Hynix's parent company, said in March that memory supply is unlikely to fully meet demand until around 2030, since adding new wafer capacity takes four to five years.
On the shelf, the cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit on Tom's Hardware's RAM price index was $439 on October 26, 2026. A comparable kit sold for $80 to $120 in mid-2025. If you need more RAM or a whole new PC in the next year, waiting is unlikely to save you money. If you don't, there's no reason to buy memory early, and the sections below cover both cases.
What's actually happening with RAMageddon
AI data centers are eating all the memory manufacturers can produce, and PC parts are getting squeezed.
Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron together produce over 90% of the world's DRAM. All three are diverting production toward HBM (high-bandwidth memory) that goes into AI accelerators, which sell for $30,000 to $40,000 apiece to buyers like NVIDIA, Meta, and Microsoft. When they shift wafer capacity toward AI memory, less is left for the DDR5 in your gaming PC. Less supply, same demand, prices spike.
How much? Consumer DRAM contract prices surged as much as 89% in the second quarter of 2026 according to SigmaIntel. Gartner estimated that combined DRAM and SSD prices could rise around 130% by the end of 2026. NAND flash, which is what SSDs are made of, was forecast by TrendForce to rise 55 to 60% in Q1 2026, and TrendForce expects NAND contract prices to climb another 15 to 20% in the fourth quarter.
The graphics card side got hit differently. NVIDIA shelved its entire 2026 gaming lineup with no RTX 50 Super refresh and no RTX 60 series. The RTX 60 got pushed back too. The Information reported in February that its mass production had slipped past the end of 2027, and the newest leaks point to 2028. Our RTX 60 release date breakdown tracks how the date has moved. 2026 is the first year in roughly three decades without a new NVIDIA gaming graphics card release.
The reason again is memory. NVIDIA can't get enough HBM for AI accelerators, so they are prioritizing datacenter chips over gaming GPUs. Gaming was about 46% of NVIDIA's revenue in fiscal 2022 (the year GeForce RTX 30-series peaked). In NVIDIA's quarter ending July 26, 2026, data center sales alone brought in $89.0 billion of its $96.2 billion in revenue. When the choice is a $2,000 gaming card or a $30,000 AI chip using the same memory, the AI chip wins.
Zack called this back in November 2025 in Why You Should Buy a GPU NOW, months before the shortage hit consumers hard. His prediction that 2026 would be a bloodbath for GPU pricing turned out accurate. If anything, conservative.
How much prices have already moved
Concrete numbers help here. A 32GB DDR5-6000 kit that sold for $80 to $120 in mid-2025 now runs $447. Tom's Hardware's price tracker had the cheapest 32GB DDR5 kit at $439 on October 26, 2026, and a 64GB DDR5-6000 kit at $989.
DDR4 hasn't escaped either. Manufacturers are phasing it out to focus what little capacity they have on newer standards, so 32GB DDR4 kits that ran $60 to $90 in October 2025 climbed to $150 to $180 by January and sat at $209 on Tom's index on October 26.
Graphics cards have climbed too. On October 26, 2026, Tom's Hardware's GPU price tracker had the RTX 5080 at $1,699 against a $999 launch price, the RTX 5070 Ti at $1,229 against $749, and the RX 9070 XT at $869 against $599. The RTX 5090 was listed at $8,477, following an October Tom's Hardware report that NVIDIA had stopped producing it, which NVIDIA hasn't confirmed.
If you priced out a build in mid-2025, the RAM alone now costs roughly four to five times as much, and the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti and RX 9070 XT sit 45 to 70% over their launch prices. It is not done climbing.
When it gets better (spoiler: not soon)
Not to 2025 levels, and not for a while.
SK Group's chairman has put full supply relief at around 2030, and none of the 2027 forecasts covered above point to a reversal before then. Relief depends on AI demand slowing or new fab capacity coming online, and neither looks likely in the next 12 months.
On the graphics card side, Tom's Hardware reported in October that rumors put NVIDIA's RTX 60 series at late 2027 at the earliest, and the most recent leaks point to 2028. Whenever it lands, it launches into whatever memory market exists at that point, which probably means higher MSRPs than the RTX 50 series.
AMD and Intel could gain ground during this gap, but neither has the manufacturing capacity to fill NVIDIA's vacated space in the high end. Realistic expectation: the RTX 5000 series stays the current high-end lineup through 2027, and pricing on those cards stays elevated because supply is limited.
Anyone telling you prices will drop back to 2025 levels is guessing.
So what should you actually do?
There are really two answers here, and one caveat.
If you need a gaming PC in the next 12 months, buy now
Memory and graphics card prices climbed sharply between mid-2025 and now, and the forecasts covered above expect memory to keep climbing into 2027. TrendForce expects DRAM contract prices to rise another 10 to 15% this quarter alone, so waiting 6 to 12 months is more likely to cost you money than save it.
The "wait for the next generation" logic doesn't apply this cycle because there is no next generation from NVIDIA in 2026, and the memory side isn't tied to a product refresh cycle anyway. You're not waiting for something better. You're waiting for something more expensive.
If your current PC still runs what you play, keep it
Nothing about this market rewards you upgrading before you actually need to. Squeeze what you can out of your current build. If a component fails, replace just that component rather than doing a full rebuild. And if you're on an older platform like DDR4 and AM4, hold onto it as long as possible, because replacing the platform now is significantly more expensive than it was a year ago.
The caveat: don't buy speculatively
Grabbing components for a future upgrade "before prices go up" sounds smart in theory. In practice, you're not saving money, you're just spending it earlier. And if the component sits unused for six months, you've tied up cash for no benefit. Buy what you'll actually use in the next 90 days.
What to look for if you're buying now
Two things matter more than usual: get the specs you actually want the first time, and buy a machine with room to upgrade later without swapping the whole platform.
On specs, buy 32GB of RAM if you're on a mid-range build, 64GB if you're doing content creation. Upgrading RAM later means paying tomorrow's prices, which will be higher than today's. Same logic for storage. Our RAM sizing guide covers how much you need for the games you play.
On upgrade paths, AM5 is the strongest platform to buy into right now. AMD has publicly committed to supporting AM5 through 2029, which means the CPU you buy today can be replaced by a newer Ryzen chip in a couple of years without a new motherboard or memory.
For graphics cards, RTX 5070 Ti or RTX 5080 hit the sweet spot for most builders. The 5090 is a beast, though it's now selling for several times its launch price. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is a strong 1440p alternative to the 5070 Ti if you don't need CUDA. As for DLSS, FSR 4 has closed most of the upscaling quality gap with DLSS, but DLSS still covers more games (especially older titles) and offers higher frame-gen multipliers.
If you'd rather not source parts and negotiate this market yourself, that is what we do every day. Our Night Reaper build guide shows what a fully-configured system looks like at target specs, and our custom PC builder locks in your spec at current prices before the next round of increases lands.
Once you have the machine, here are the first six things to do before you launch a game.
FAQ
Will PC prices come back down in 2027?
Not to 2025 levels. TrendForce expects PC DRAM supply could shrink in 2027, Micron expects tighter supply in 2027 and 2028, and SK Group's chairman has said memory supply is unlikely to fully meet demand until around 2030.
Should I buy a used PC to avoid the price increases?
Used prices have risen alongside new prices in this market, so the savings aren't what they were. If you find a used system priced like it's still 2024, that's a genuine deal. Most sellers have already adjusted.
Is it worth waiting for the RTX 60 series?
Probably not, unless your current setup gets you through the next 2 to 3 years comfortably. The newest leaks point to 2028, with late 2027 the earliest date still being reported. Whenever it arrives, it launches into an even more expensive memory market, so pricing won't be friendly.
Should I buy DDR4 instead of DDR5 to save money?
DDR4 prices have also climbed, and manufacturers are phasing it out. New DDR4 kits are not the savings they were even a year ago. If you're building fresh, DDR5 is the correct choice.
Does faster RAM increase FPS?
Faster RAM can add a few frames, mostly in CPU-limited games at 1080p, and the difference shrinks at 1440p and 4K, where the graphics card does most of the work. On AM5, DDR5-6000 is the sweet spot, since it balances speed and stability on Ryzen 7000 and 9000 chips. Capacity matters more than speed once a game runs out of memory, so get to 32GB before paying extra for a faster kit.
Should I wait for DDR6 before building?
Waiting for DDR6 isn't a realistic plan right now. TrendForce reported in May that DDR6 is unlikely to be commercialized before 2028 to 2029, with servers expected to adopt new memory first and consumer PCs after that. AM5, which AMD supports through 2029, runs on DDR5, so a DDR5 build today keeps its full upgrade path.
Is 32GB overkill for gaming?
32GB isn't overkill for a new gaming PC in 2026. Windows 11 uses 4 to 5GB at idle, and some Unreal Engine 5 games can use 16GB or more on their own at higher settings, before you add Discord, a browser or streaming software. 16GB still covers lighter 1080p and esports games, and our RAM sizing guide breaks down where each amount fits.
Can I just upgrade the RAM later?
You can, though it's likely to cost more than buying it now, since memory prices are still forecast to rise into 2027. Adding sticks later also has catches. Mixing kits can cause stability problems, and on many DDR5 boards, running four sticks means lower memory speeds than running two. Buying a matched 2x16GB or 2x32GB kit up front avoids both.
Ready to build
Short answer: if you need a gaming PC in the next year, buy it now. Prices aren't going back down, and every month you wait costs you real money on the same parts list.
If you'd rather skip sourcing components in this market, our ready-to-ship builds arrive tested and configured. Everything is dialed in before it leaves the shop, so no memory-shortage math ends up on your plate.
