Russian Enthusiasts Planning DIY DDR5 Memory Amidst Worldwide Shortage (tomshardware.com) 47
Amid a global DDR5 shortage and soaring prices, Russian hardware enthusiasts are experimenting with do-it-yourself DDR5 RAM by sourcing empty PCBs and soldering memory chips by hand. Tom's Hardware reports: The idea comes from Russian YouTuber PRO Hi-Tech's Telegram channel, where a local enthusiast known as "Vik-on" already performs VRAM upgrades for GPUs, so this is a relatively safe operation for him. According to Vik-on, empty RAM PCBs can be sourced from China for as little as $6.40 per DIMM. The memory chips themselves, though, that's a different challenge.
The so-called spot market for memory doesn't really exist at the moment, since no manufacturer has the production capacity to make more RAM, and even if they did, they'd sell to better-paying AI clients instead. Still, you can find SK Hynix and Samsung chips across Chinese marketplaces if you search for the correct part number, as shown in the attached screenshots.
Moreover, the Telegram thread says it would cost roughly 12,000 Russian Rubles ($152) to build a 16 GB stick with "average" specs, which is about the same as a retail 16 GB kit. There's also a ZenTimings snapshot showing CL28 timings, claiming that even relatively high-end DDR5 RAM can be built using this method, but it won't be cost-effective. Therefore, it doesn't make too much sense just yet to get the BGA rework station out and assemble your own DDR5. Things are expected to get worse, though, so maybe these Russians are on to something.
The so-called spot market for memory doesn't really exist at the moment, since no manufacturer has the production capacity to make more RAM, and even if they did, they'd sell to better-paying AI clients instead. Still, you can find SK Hynix and Samsung chips across Chinese marketplaces if you search for the correct part number, as shown in the attached screenshots.
Moreover, the Telegram thread says it would cost roughly 12,000 Russian Rubles ($152) to build a 16 GB stick with "average" specs, which is about the same as a retail 16 GB kit. There's also a ZenTimings snapshot showing CL28 timings, claiming that even relatively high-end DDR5 RAM can be built using this method, but it won't be cost-effective. Therefore, it doesn't make too much sense just yet to get the BGA rework station out and assemble your own DDR5. Things are expected to get worse, though, so maybe these Russians are on to something.
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Purchase is still cheaper, yes.
Lets wait 3 months more and see if that statement still holds true. Business analysts expect RAM prices to increase throughout 2026, stabilize at 2026 price level throughout 2027 and increase in price yet again in 2028.
"You will own nothing and be happy about it", that is future planned for you and the rest of us slobs in the trenches.
Seriously, where is a good Robespierre's when society needs one...
Re: Soooo...... (Score:2)
The crazy thing is that the price increases have already made Appleâ(TM)s infamously ludicrous upgrade pricing seem reasonable. Apple want £400 for 32GB. A couple of months ago, that was 4 times over the going rate. Now itâ(TM)s pretty much normal. The cheepest DDR5 6000 on newegg is £330, and higher bandwidth stuff costs of the order of £5-600. (And thatâ(TM)s ignoring that Appleâ(TM)s on chip RAM is anywhere between 50% faster and 300% faster th
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And, do you really mean pounds, or is that also an artifact of writing this on an Apple(TM) device?
Re: Soooo...... (Score:2)
Because youâ(TM)re a nerd probably. That said, the article seems to motivate things rather poorly.
I donâ(TM)t get how anyone would ever expect this to be cheep though. The reason RAM is expensive is because the production capacity for chips is being used to produce GPU RAM for AI data centres, not because thereâ(TM)s some disconnect between chip prices and DIMM prices. Buying the chips is going to be just as expensive, because the chips, and production capacity are needed elsewhere. What
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I'm more upset because the "dept." field was apparently populated by someone who doesn't know that it's actually supposed to be "desperate-times-call-for-drastic-measures."
there's not a ton of loose dram around either (Score:5, Insightful)
the problem isn't that people aren't assembling ddr5 -- the problem is the dram isn't available.
Re: there's not a ton of loose dram around either (Score:1)
Should work, briefly. (Score:4, Informative)
I have no reason to believe that the claims of having done it are lies, there are probably some loose chips that didn't get prices updated as fast as retail-ready product; but there's nothing fundamentally favorable about being a guy hand-soldering who is bidding against people who do actual DIMM fabrication for the same parts. Neither of you is making the DRAM; and their assembly costs and reliability are going to be better than yours.
Somewhat different than VRAM(in terms of incentives, the BGA rework is similar) in that controlling the amount of installed RAM is a market segmentation thing(and, in some cases, GPU lifecycles and memory density increases overlap such that a still-valuable GPU can now accommodate more RAM than it could have when it shipped because that density wasn't on sale at the time); while people are enthusiastically slapping all the DRAM chips they can get onto PCBs, they just can't get as much DRAM as they would like at present.
dupe? (Score:2)
Pretty sure I've seen this story already. Someone commented about alternate memory packaging designs completely missing it is the actual chips that are in short supply.
Issue is chip shortage (Score:2)
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This came out of The Socials. It's just for clicks.
It's worth it to him to assemble a module at the same cost as retail, because the YouTube Partner program pays him to take a video of it.
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Yeah, this doesn't really help unless a bunch of DDR5 DRAM chips fall off of the truck somewhere. Probably one headed to an OpenAI data center being built somewhere that doesn't have power yet.
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This is Russia we're talking about. A slightly bigger problem in obtaining the modules thanks to their invasion causing sanctions.
The cost "savings" aren't there either - the actual cost of the DIY modules rivals that of actual DDR5 RAM kits.
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In the end all the Russians do with that precious RAM is bolt it onto a drone with C4 and send it into residential areas in neighboring countries. They don't care.
boo hoo hoo (Score:2)
Did I interfere with your sense of superiority over the Russians, who are being led by no bigger a piece of shit than we are? You fucking cowardly little bitches are always afraid to face facts that don't make you look like heroes.
Seems like one of those things greed can fix (Score:1)
Pay enough and someone somewhere will make the dram chips for the right price.
Re: Seems like one of those things greed can fix (Score:2)
Re: Seems like one of those things greed can fix (Score:1)
Okay. So after a while the satan worshipers will be sitting on a ton of ram they bought up...and when they can't monetize it they'll have to sell.
I guess you'll have to use your "old" computer for a little while longer. The horror.
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Okay. So after a while the satan worshipers will be sitting on a ton of ram they bought up...and when they can't monetize it they'll have to sell.
Its not the ram itself - its the production capacity. The RAM that the AI data centers want is not of the type that is usable by average consumer hardware.
When they can't monetize that RAM then it has little value on the secondary market and will likely just end up in a landfill.
Re: Seems like one of those things greed can fix (Score:1)
Since I know more than nothing about computers, I can tell that this statement is nonsense.
Datacenter ram isn't special. Maybe it sits on a pcb with a different edge connector than your ultrathin apple laptop with all proprietary interfaces and chips soldered to the motherboard, but it's still ram that's useful to someone, and thus will not end up in the trash if it has any resale value.
This has to be a joke (Score:2)
The reason memory is expensive is because there's only a certain amount of manufacturing capacity for the chips, not the fucking circuit boards. If it were the circuit boards, we could spin up factories in days to make new DIMMs.
Come on editors, do better. This article is either by a troll or by complete morons. Either way it doesn't deserve a place here.
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There is a constant stream of 'russian validation' posts all over the net. It's just part of their propaganda, to establish that they do in fact exist and they are not just another third world shit hole. A lot of it is also simping over their failed soviet past.
All those 'volunteers' from other countries that get conned by these charlatans see shit like this and go "hey, they look cool and I like money...I will work there.", then they are ground up in the meat grinder and never heard from again.
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Assuming by the downvotes you must be both 100% correct and directly countering the propaganda. The internet is absolutely flooded with pro-Russia and pro-China apologetic posts these last weeks: here, on X, HN, reddit - it's everywhere I look and it's really obvious. Anything countering it is immediately moderated and removed, but these bots seem to have complete freedom.
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Yes, my first thought exactly. This "story" is without any insight whatsoever.
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I'm going to guess this is referring to using salvaged DRAM chips from defective products or something like that. Which is usually not that viable economically and possibly still isn't.
Intel is going to face very low demand for their own CPUs if the DRAM shortage goes for long. I wonder how hard it would be to retrofit and start making DRAM chips with their Intel 7 process?
What is this stupid "story"? (Score:1)
The price-hike is NOT for the PCBs. It is for the memory chips. What they are doing makes absolutely no sense except very temporarily. It is in no way a solution for the problem.
I'd be impressed ... (Score:3)
Actually, no. I wouldn't.
You can't by RAM anymore (Score:3, Funny)
We've buried all the silicon in the tulip fields.
Color me unimpressed (Score:2)
Russia? Well, that says it all (Score:2)
Counterfeits (Score:2)
Still, you can find SK Hynix and Samsung chips across Chinese marketplaces if you search for the correct part number, as shown in the attached screenshots.
Some of that is probably genuine. But there's also a high likelihood that you are not getting the genuine article, and are instead getting 1) rejects from genuine production, 2) lower-tier memory that's being passed off as higher tier, or 3) outright counterfeits.
Now make yourself a DIY EUV machine (Score:2)