The assembly of a home PC — that ritual of comparing components, hunting for deals, and balancing the budget — is ceasing to be a purely technical decision and is once again becoming a matter of wallet size. In early 2026, the rising costs of memory and storage are hitting right where it hurts the average user: in the “basic” components that for years were considered cheap, plentiful, and predictable.
The most recent data collected by the German media outlet ComputerBase, based on a dozen popular and comparable products in online stores, shows a jump that can’t be explained by a simple seasonal fluctuation. On average, the cumulative increase from mid-September 2025 to mid-January 2026 reaches 344.05% in DDR5 kits; 46.41% for hard drives; and 74.12% for SSDs. These are not “exotic” components but common references for general-use PCs, gaming setups, and home or small office systems.
DDR5: from Everyday Component to the Piece Bought in Fear
The most striking picture is that of DDR5 memory. If late 2025 already saw price tensions, the start of the new year has solidified an even worse scenario: memory for current platforms is now being priced as if it were a premium component, even in ranges that previously were associated with “sensible” purchases.
The ComputerBase sample highlights these impacts vividly. A Crucial Pro Overclocking 32 GB kit goes from an average of €83.69 to €473.89, a +466.24% increase. Similarly, a TeamGroup T-Create Expert 32 GB jumps from €99.89 to €546.00 (+446.60%). In other words: kits that just a few months ago fit within a normal budget now force you to rethink the entire build—from the motherboard to the processor range that makes sense to buy.
The German analysis adds an important nuance: the market is being distorted by the proliferation of small sellers on eBay, engaging in practices associated with opportunistic reselling (“scalping”). To prevent these offers from artificially skewing the “real” retail prices, ComputerBase has decided to exclude eBay from its methodology going forward. That detail, far from softening the problem, underscores a harsh reality: when the market floods with opportunistic middlemen, it’s already a sign that scarcity (or the perception of scarcity) has taken hold.
Hard Drives: Smaller Increases but Sufficient to Discourage “Sensible” Purchases
In HDDs, the increase isn’t as explosive as in RAM, but enough to disrupt consumer logic. Typical models for NAS or home storage — those “necessary” purchases — now cost significantly more.
A recurring example in the market is the Seagate IronWolf NAS 4TB, which go from €93.94 to €131.90 (+40.41%). At the high end, the Toshiba Cloud-Scale MG10F AFA 22TB rises to €558.99, representing a +66.13% increase over the observed period. The overall average remains at about 46.41%, which for a home user or freelancer means delaying upgrades, reducing capacity, or seeking second-hand alternatives.
SSD and NAND: The Escalation Normalizes… and Threatens to Accelerate
The situation with SSDs is especially delicate because it combines two effects: the rise in NAND flash memory (the non-volatile memory they rely on) and the direct impact on modern configurations where NVMe has become standard.
The comparison table from ComputerBase shows increases ranging from “high but manageable” (for example, +29.09% on a Samsung 980 PRO 2TB) to outright jumps that are unsettling for mid-range options. The Kingston NV3 NVMe PCIe 4.0 1TB jumps by +140.28% (from €49.90 to €119.90). The Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB increases by +101.23%, crossing the psychological threshold where 1TB becomes a default ‘must-have’ size.
Adding to this pressure is a concerning forecast: the sector anticipates further price hikes in NAND chips. Recent analyses collected by ComputerBase point to aggressive demand-driven increases, especially in the enterprise market, which will likely influence the consumer channel. Meanwhile, firms like TrendForce project sharp increases in contract prices for both DRAM and NAND during the first quarter of 2026, in a context where large buyers secure capacity while the rest of the market competes over the remaining supply.
AI as a “Capacity Vacuum” and the Domino Effect on Consumers
The overarching trend from various sector sources is that the problem isn’t just a temporary spike but a rebalancing of industrial supply chains. The infrastructure built around artificial intelligence — servers, data centers, accelerators, and high-margin memory — is shifting supply priorities. In this environment, the home user’s negotiating power diminishes: they buy late, buy from retail, and have less visibility into what will happen in the coming weeks.
Some manufacturers have publicly responded to criticism. For example, Micron argues that the escalation stems from a lack of supply to meet the surge in AI and data center demand, and that expanding production capacity is not immediate. While this doesn’t reduce consumer frustration, it helps explain why RAM and SSD prices are climbing almost simultaneously.
The practical outcome is clear: building a PC in 2026 will cost more due to components that were previously considered “paid for”. The CPU may be more flexible — negotiable or possibly inherited or bought later — but without memory and storage, a viable build isn’t feasible. When these two pillars rise together, the budget skyrockets.
In some markets, a defensive reaction is already apparent: assembly communities are salvaging older platforms, combining DDR3/DDR4 components to keep costs down at the expense of performance and longevity. It’s a telling sign: if the market pushes consumers to retreat technologically just to afford a system, the entry barrier has shifted too quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did DDR5 prices increase so dramatically between 2025 and January 2026?
Because the rise isn’t just a short-term adjustment; it coincides with a market under demand pressure and capacity allocation issues, while retail channels reflect this with rapid, steep price increases.
Which components are rising the most: RAM, SSDs, or hard drives?
In the analysis by ComputerBase, the most extreme average increase is in DDR5 RAM (+344.05%), followed by SSD (+74.12%) and HDD (+46.41%) during the observed period.
How does this affect a “best value” gaming or study PC in 2026?
It forces a rebalancing of the budget: whereas previously the focus might have been on GPU or CPU, now the choice of RAM and SSD can determine the entire build, from motherboard to final capacity.
Is it worth waiting for prices to drop before building a PC?
It depends on your needs and urgency, but the market shows uncertainty: some industry forecasts point to further pressure in the short term, making “waiting” not an automatic way to pay less.
via: computerbase.de