While there are still cheaper DDR5 options at lower speeds, the 32GB of DDR5 @ 8000MT I bought at $579 in February is now $700 on Amazon and even more elsewhere.
At the time I was convinced that the industry was moving towards a full-leasing only model, and so I decided to invest in some future proofing. It took less than 6 months for the price to start jumping again. Whether this is deliberate, or simply an emergent quality of supply/demand of the new AI economy probably doesn’t matter. The bar for private compute power is being shoved higher and higher by data centers and the PC industry’s response is to move towards a leasing model.
I foresee that eventually that when PC hardware becomes too expensive or completely unavailable in consumer markets, your PC will become like your phone - a locked-down, remotely managed, integrated hardware system that you lease as a unit, along with a cloud services subscription. Or, a thin client with the bare minimum specs to accommodate cloud computing. Extrapolating from this - a privatized Internet hostile to client computers unauthenticated by a major company or government entity running a recognized digital fiefdom where uncontrolled local compute will be viewed as highly suspicious.
If you still have the means and the interest, I suggest investing in consumer PC hardware to:
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Demonstrate this market is still viable.
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Buy hardware before it jumps in price again.
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Claw back some of the local compute power being engineered away from consumers.
Of course, the AI economic bubble is due for collapse and cheap hardware may suddenly flood the market in a few years. However, I’m betting there is enough runway and monetization left to fund the pathway to the end of common PC ownership.