According to Duann, PC makers have to buy from SSD module makers because NAND vendors reduced allocation to the client/consumer PC market and redirected most NAND supply to data center products.
As a result, PC OEMs like Acer, Asus, Dell, and HP cannot get enough NAND or SSD supply directly from NAND manufacturers and have to turn to module makers for solid-state drives. The latter traditionally served end-users and had plenty of aftermarket products with enhanced performance and cooling, but now they increasingly serve PC makers instead.
Alibaba. You can potentially buy DDR5 RDIMM at a couple hundred bucks a stick. You typically have to buy them with a minimum order of 10 pieces, and many of the sellers seem shady. I recommend going with a seller that has been around for at least a couple years, a return guarantee, and comparing the screenshot of a listing against the specs. If the RAM depicted isn’t a dupe of another seller, not blurred, and has the right things on it, then it is probably a legit source.
Also, watch out for shipping fees, and some sellers might cancel orders if they don’t reel in a big enough order to justify their bottom line.
Ebay is also an option, with similar caveats.
Here is a POTENTIAL source for RDIMMs, with a minimum order of 5 pieces for $141, +$20 shipping. The pics match up with the listing, though no unique photography is in use. If my Ebay order fails, I might give this a shot.
64GB DDR5-5600 PC5-5600B ECC Registered RDIMM 2Rx4 Smart Memory Module for ProLiant Servers
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I bought 32gb of DDR5 RDIMM for about $600 from Ebay. Mind, it hasn’t shipped, so we will see in a week whether the seller is good. Also bought a used Threadripper Pro 7000 for $1500. Again, whether it is valid is a question that will be answered within a month for me.
Assuming things go smoothly for me, my goal for the next year or so is to build up a warchest for the AI bubble popping. My TRX50 AI TOP can accept up to 8 RAM sticks, provided it has a Threadripper Pro. With any luck, I would be able to fill it out for $2,000 or thereabouts when the pop happens.
I don’t think those sellers are going to have much lower prices when the bubble pops. DDR RAM prices are high because not much of it is being produced. What is being produced is HBM, which isn’t compatible with DDR and doesn’t even come on DIMMs. Even if DDR production picks up quickly after the bubble pops, it’s still going to take a while until consumer products appear again.
I could certainly see a use for HBM in consumer products again (my GPU has 8 GB HBM).
It would be nice but someone would have to rip them out of existing products and put them into new ones. Theoretically possible as a (probably fairly janky) one-off product but unlikely. Still, similar products have been made.