Windows 7 - Pricing of RAM to Plunge, Analyst Says

The price of DDR3 memory used in laptops, desktops and servers will drop over the next two months as memory companies try to clear out excess inventory in a slowing PC market, IHS iSuppli said on Monday.

The average selling price of DDR3 RAM with a 2-gigabit density will reach $1.60 later in the third quarter, down from $2.10 today, said IHS iSuppli in a research note. The price of DDR3 DRAM was around $4.70 in the third quarter a year ago, when the market had not saturated and adoption was growing to replace DDR2 memory, its predecessor.

The price could plummet further to $1.25 in the fourth quarter, said Mike Howard, senior analyst for DRAM at iSuppli.

A shortfall in PC demand has softened DDR3 memory pricing this year, and PC makers are unwilling to add more memory to computers as they try to increase profitability in the low-margin PC market, Howard said. Some memory makers will move excess inventory into the market rapidly, which could lead to a price drop.

"It's a double whammy," Howard said. "PC growth has slowed down and users aren't demanding more memory."

The world's top DRAM makers include Samsung, Hynix Semiconductor, Elpida Memory, Micron and Nanya, some of which are having yield and supply issues that are contributing to the price plunge, iSuppli said.

Ivy Bridge will be a 1155 socket, it appears to be able to be put on a P67 and Z68 platform, also the new Z75 and Z77 platforms.

The DZ77RE will support for the Thunderbolt interconnect, if that interests anyone.

They will use DDR3 1600 RAM, of coarse they will be able to run higher MHz RAM also.

Isn't it supposed to be LGA 2011?