Why is DDR2 RAM so much more expensive than DDR3?

[u-noob-tu]

I've noticed that DDR2 RAM is much more expensive than DDR3 RAM, even though DDR3 is newer and faster. Why is that? I've been wanting to upgrade the DDR2 RAM in my laptop to 8GB but it is so expensive (around 100 USD or more). Wouldn't this go against Moore's Law to some extent?

[ojdon]

It's the same reason for why DDR was so much more expensive when DDR2 had been out for a while. Simply because it's no longer manufactured so it's a lot harder to obtain. Especially when buying it new.

[Grenage]

Supply and demand; there will now be less manufacturing facilities and production overall. The same thing happened with the previous generations of memory.

[CharlesA]

Supply and demand; there will now be less manufacturing facilities and production overall. The same thing happened with the previous generations of memory.
Indeed. Old tech isn't produced (as much as before) anymore, so the prices rise.

I wanted to upgrade my old LGA775 box to a quad core, but decided I could have a whole new box for about twice the price of a new LGA 775 Quad core CPU.

[c2tarun]

I've noticed that DDR2 RAM is much more expensive than DDR3 RAM, even though DDR3 is newer and faster. Why is that? I've been wanting to upgrade the DDR2 RAM in my laptop to 8GB but it is so expensive (around 100 USD or more). Wouldn't this go against Moore's Law to some extent?


Newer technologies are often accompanied by cheaper manufacturing techniques. This also might be the case with DDR3

[Paqman]

Wouldn't this go against Moore's Law to some extent?

Not really. As mentioned above, the price is set by supply and demand, not Moore's Law. Old RAM always goes up in price, the same way other old parts do.

Strictly speaking, Moore's Law really only refers to transistor counts vs size (at a fixed manufacturing cost). It doesn't necessarily relate to retail prices.

[Bandit]

It's the same reason for why DDR was so much more expensive when DDR2 had been out for a while. Simply because it's no longer manufactured so it's a lot harder to obtain. Especially when buying it new.

This..


I was wanting to upgrade my system and RAM, but since my 4 RAM banks are full of 1GB sticks. I would need to buy more and in pairs for Dual Channel. But DDR2 is to costly, so figured its would be better just to pass this system down to my daughter and build me a new one from scratch.

[DingusFett]

Yeah, I recently looked at this too. I can get an 8Gb DDR3 stick for the price of 2Gb DDR2, so just going to wait and save and upgrade the whole system (wanting SATA3 too as SSD prices as a similar story, can get a SATA3 SSD for cheaper than a SATA2).