I had a plan. I was going to build my own version of a steam valve machine using traditional PC parts, and then put everything in my childhood PC case that is covered with motes for the first time integration and nostalgia. But I waited too long. The price of RAM has risen so much that even the PC components of the previous generation are now sitting at two, three, or four times what they were two months ago. Building a PC of any size isn’t even worse during the pandemic-era GPU shortage. Gamers everywhere are looking for another way to play their PC game library, and unfortunately – one of the last remaining types requires a very expensive subscription – but also nefice cloud.
My original plan was to pare down my hand full of PC, used, and last Gen parts to find the best deal I could. Currently, even the old selection of DDR4 RAM sticks is as small as 16GB costs close to $ 110, while the same element remained at $ 50 as recently as September. New DDR5 sticks now cost five times as much. And it will only grow. On Wednesday, micron, which owns a major DRAM (Dynamic Memory) building, announced that it made a “difficult decision” to completely kill its consumer product brand. Sumit Sadana, Chief Business Officer, made it clear that this was to focus on meeting the unmet need for memory in AI data analytics.
Micron held 25.7% of the DRAM market share when it arrived on the scene, according to Trendforce data. The next biggest player, Nanya, was held at 1.1%. There are a few cases where this does not affect the price of computer components more. So where does that leave gamers who are too late to upgrade their PC or who find they need new hardware to play their games? I hate to say it, but there are options for those with a strong home Internet connection and the willingness to stay tuned to the subscription service.
Cloud Gaming Is getting better, little by little
Last month, Xbox claimed the number of hours of PlayTime for its Play Pass Gaming Service was up 45% year over year. That 45% comes directly from cloud streaming with comfort, but the service sees 26% more PlayTime on “Other devices.” XBOX has not slowed down how big a part “other devices” are made of PC, or maybe before PC PC. Earlier this year, XBox raised the price of its Game Pass subscription from $20 to $30 per month. At the same time, it gave access to cloud games for people who spend $15 or $10 to get lower tiers on selected titles. The service can now stream games up to 1440p resolutions.
Uptick during gameplay may be related to recent games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Opting out of Game Pass, though that won’t be the whole story. Gamers want the best value for money, and the expensive subscription service will be much cheaper than the 64GB RAM that costs more than $800 from some brands. For PC gamers who want to play their own games, another option is to pay for GeForce now. Nvidia recently updated its subscription service to enable some games to run on the NVIDIA GECORE RTX 5080 GPU instead of the RTX 4080 4080. You have to pay $20 per month to access that feature and 4K streaming.
Not all games will run on the RTX 5080. Nvidia has added more over time; recently topics like It is thick and Fallout 76. NVIDIA also allows subscribers to play a few games that don’t appear on Geforce’s current supported list by using the install feature. You can rent additional server space for a few bucks a month for faster access to those games.
I’ve used both game pass and geforce now enough to know that streaming is not a 1 to 1 replacement for PC. Even with fast Internet speed and low latency, there is a distinct difference in visual quality between the games rendered on the device and those that are full of Internet, even 1440p or 44k or 440p or 44k. Anyone who used to be a PC gamer will notice the difference in quality after just a few minutes of playing. And PC gamers rarely accept such a trade-off.
Will the PC / Console interest save?
These PC price ranges will easily exclude other gamers. While we hope to see more affordable (more expensive gaming devices) PC Games to play as a Steam machine, we can not hold the hope that laptops ready for gambling will not require additional costs.
Earcicinal has been busy posting ads for its Gaming-Ready SSDs (Drives Storise) as recently as the day before the company’s announcement. Events are moving fast, and we won’t have time to stop before things get worse. Market Alailyst Firm Trenlexcerce reported micron was the number one dram supplier in the world, behind SK Hynix and Samsung. Those two companies are similarly repositioning their business to focus on making memory for AI data centers. Passing, another major consumer memory maker, wrote to customers in a notice shared online that Samsung and Sandisk have delayed their latest shipments of NAND, which is used for flash memory. Bypass has been out of NAND supply since October.
“The situation worsened in Q4 due to the high demand for large data centers and hyperfalers driven by the large strategies of service providers. All the major chip manufacturers have pushed forward customer supply, which has led to price increases and more… pic.twitter.com/q5wp6n38dm
– Jukan (@Jukan05) December 3, 2025
These major technology brands have documented that DRAM prices may remain stable through 2028. A Korean news site shows the focus on Samsung and SK Which means the consumer will need alternatives, and soon.
