ASRock Rack is promising up to 4 TB of DDR5 on a single socket with its DMRD16-2L+, one of the first motherboards built for Intel's upcoming Xeon 7 "Diamond Rapids" processors. The board was shown at the OCP Global Summit 2026 and has since been detailed by ServeTheHome. It has 16 DIMM slots in a one-DIMM-per-channel layout, matching the 16-channel memory setup Intel detailed at HOT CHIPS. Regular RDIMMs top out at 128 GB per module and 8000 MT/s, while MRDIMMs run at up to 12,800 MT/s, with taller 2U MRDIMMs reaching 256 GB each. Populate all 16 slots with those, and you hit 4 TB, along with a theoretical bandwidth of roughly 1.6 TB/s.

Expansion is unusual, with no standard PCIe slots and no OCP NIC 3.0 connector. All I/O goes through up to 16 MCIO x8 connectors, each rated for PCIe 6.0 or CXL 3.0, for 128 lanes in total. The rest is fairly basic: one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot, two Intel I350 Gigabit Ethernet ports, an ASPEED AST2700 BMC with a dedicated management port, and VGA output. ASRock Rack fits it all on a 12 x 13-inch EEB PCB, about the size of a large E-ATX board, so it could squeeze into some bigger workstation cases. Pricing and availability have not been shared yet, but that is hardly surprising, since Intel has the Xeon 7 family slated for a 2027 debut on the new LGA9324 socket. The board is aimed at servers, though anyone planning a high-memory workstation for local AI will probably keep an eye on it.

PCs with 32 GB and 64 GB of RAM are becoming less common, at least in the latest CPU-Z Validator statistics. According to Doc TB, one of the developers behind CPU-Z, this is the first time RAM capacity on PCs has declined year over year. 32 GB is still the most popular configuration at 37.2% of validations, though its share is down 2.5% compared to a year ago. 64 GB took a much bigger hit, falling 18% to 7.3%. Lower capacities are moving the other way, with 16 GB up 12.9% to 33.0% and 8 GB up 5.5% to 11.0%, while 96 GB and 128 GB setups dropped by more than 26% each. Memory type tells a similar story, with DDR4 now making up 54.5% of validations, up 6.0%, while DDR5 slipped 2.9% to 32.9%.

Of course, these figures only cover systems that users actually submit to the validator over the last three months, so they aren't a full picture of the PC market. Steam's September survey, for example, showed 32 GB overtaking 16 GB as the most common configuration among gamers, but that promptly flipped with the October survey. Still, the timing makes sense. Memory prices have climbed sharply this year, and Team Group expects the worst of the shortage to land between Q4 2026 and Q2 2027. DDR4 platforms may also get a second wind, with DDR4 motherboards getting released for unannounced LGA1700 processors expected in early 2027. It looks like plenty of people are sticking with older DDR4 systems or settling for 16 GB instead of paying current prices.

In a big surprise to no one, graphics card prices went up again in October. TechSpot's latest survey across 10 countries shows GPU prices rising 11% month over month, following a 15% jump in August and 7% in September, or roughly 35% over three months. On average, cards now sell for 44% above MSRP, climbing to 58% in the US and Canada. Keep in mind these numbers track the lowest in-stock price in each region, so most models cost even more. Moreover, there is another GeForce RTX 50-series price hike on the horizon, so these numbers will rise again pretty soon.

The GeForce RTX 5090 is in a league of its own. It got 32% pricier in a month, and its normalized global price of $7,240 sits a staggering 262% above its $1,999 MSRP, almost double the 136% figure from early September. In the US, the cheapest in-stock model now costs $9,400, or 370% over MSRP, and most models now sit above $11,000 comfortably. The RTX 5080 is following a similar path, up 22% in a month to $2,200 in the US, while Newegg had none of its own in stock when the data was collected. TechSpot argues the GDDR7 memory crisis can't explain a jump that big, and some retail sources apparently told them wholesale RTX 5080 costs have gone up recently too.

AMD's Zen 6 just got one of its first rough per-clock comparisons against Zen 5, and the early numbers look good. Leaker HXL spotted a Geekbench 7.1.0 listing for the 256-core EPYC 9996, the flagship "Venice" chip AMD launched in July, scoring 2,847 points in single-core on a Dell PowerEdge R9815 server running Linux. User three twenty six on X then locked a Ryzen 7 9700X to 4.1 GHz, matching the EPYC 9996's maximum boost, and got 2,444 points on the same Geekbench version. That works out to roughly 16.5% higher single-core performance for Zen 6 at the same frequency. Apparently, Zen 6 came out ahead in all 15 single-core subtests, with gains ranging from 8.2% in File Compression to 25.7% in HTML5 Browser.

Of course, these scores only give us a general idea about the gains. The EPYC 9996 uses the dense Zen 6c cores, not the full Zen 6 cores expected in desktop Ryzen chips, so it's hard to say how closely these numbers will carry over. The two systems are also wildly different, with a server platform on one side and a 9700X running DDR5-6000 CL34 under CachyOS Linux on the other, and the EPYC listing has since been pulled from the Geekbench database. Still, a double-digit per-clock gain from the dense core variant is quite encouraging. AMD has already confirmed that "Olympic Ridge" desktop CPUs will stay on AM5, though they reportedly won't arrive until 2027, so we can expect more comprehensive performance leaks well before then.

Micron has decided not to bring 4F² DRAM to market, even though it says it invented the cell design and has been researching it for around two decades. Scott DeBoer, Micron's President and Chief Technology and Products Officer, shared the decision during the company's technology webinar on October 21. On paper, 4F² uses vertical channel transistors to shrink each memory cell's footprint by about a third compared with the 6F² layout used in today's DRAM. However, DeBoer argued that real-world density is limited by how closely the capacitors can be packed, not by the cell's footprint, calling the density advantage over 6F² "a bit of a myth." He also said 4F² can be built, but at a higher cost and complexity, and that it runs into fundamental scaling problems at leading-edge nodes, which points toward 3D DRAM instead.

That puts Micron at odds with its rivals. Samsung and SK hynix are both developing 4F² designs, and China's CXMT says its first 4F² product will be a server DDR5 RDIMM due by the end of this year. Micron will keep scaling 6F² instead, with its 1-delta node set to ramp in Boise, Idaho, in the second half of 2027 and the 1-epsilon node after it moving to wafer bonding. 3D DRAM is being developed as a parallel path, but there's no timeline yet, and Micron says it will only switch once the economics make sense. It's a risky bet if rivals manage to make 4F² cheap at scale, especially with memory supply expected to get even tighter in 2027 and 2028, per Micron's own estimates.

The memory crunch looks like it is hitting the PlayStation 6 harder than expected. Hardware leaker KeplerL2 claims on NeoGAF that the RAM and NAND flash storage in Sony's next console alone cost over $680. He posted it as a reply to a forum member who floated $680 as a possible subsidized retail price, which pretty much puts that idea to rest. Keep in mind that figure covers only memory and storage, before the APU, cooling, power supply, and the rest of the hardware are counted. This is not the first time Kepler has updated his estimate. Back in March, he put the console's bill of materials at around $760, and by July, that had climbed to roughly $960.

Current leaks suggest the PS6 uses GDDR7 memory on a 160-bit bus with support for up to 40 GB, with 30 GB considered the more likely configuration. There have also been reports that Sony looked into cutting memory capacity to keep costs down, and the culprit is the same as everywhere else: AI data centers are soaking up DRAM and NAND supply, which pushes prices up for everyone. Sony has said nothing official about PS6 pricing, so it's reasonable to treat all of this with some caution. That said, if memory prices stay where they are, a PS6 that costs significantly more than the PS5 Pro seems likely, and a $1,000 price tag now looks quite possible.

The ever-growing list of mini PCs powered by AMD's Gorgon Halo APUs has just received its latest addition in the TOPC TXA2, a new workstation built around AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 495 APU and its powerful Radeon 8065S iGPU. The TOPC TXA2 is available in two configurations, with either 2 TB of storage for $6,399 or 4 TB of storage for $6,699 on TOPC's online store—even though the price is high, it's still a solid $900 cheaper than AMD's in-house Ryzen AI Halo Developer platform.

The TXA2 also packs 192 GB of LPDDR5X-8533 unified memory, with up to 160 GB shared with the iGPU for workstation use. Despite the 180 ×180 × 78 mm, or ~2.5 L chassis, TOPC claims that the TXA2 is capable of a 120 W TDP. It's also no slouch in the I/O department, with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless networking and connectivity, and it has a healthy port selection, to boot.

NVIDIA has raised the price of the Shield TV Pro from $199.99 to $299.99, effective October 2. The streaming box launched in October 2019 at $199.99 and held that price for almost seven years. Earlier this year, NVIDIA promised to keep updating the Shield TV, with hardware engineering SVP Andrew Bell saying the company had no plans to abandon it anytime soon. NVIDIA has also stopped making the standard, tube-shaped Shield TV, which had reportedly been out of stock for months. That leaves the Pro as the only Shield model in production. NVIDIA confirmed both changes in a statement. Here's what the company said:

Starting October 2, SHIELD Pro will be priced at $299. The cost of components, including memory, has increased substantially across the industry. We've also stopped producing the standard SHIELD TV model as we focus on production for SHIELD TV Pro.

Valve's September 2026 Steam Hardware & Software Survey shows that 32 GB of RAM is now the most common memory capacity among participating gamers. The 32 GB tier gained 4.77 points to reach 42.22%, while 16 GB fell 3.38 points to 37.82%. Last month, 16 GB still led with 41.20% against 37.45%, so that is a big swing for a single month. The idea had been around for a while, with 32 GB already being floated as the next standard back in August 2025. Steam only reports capacity, so the survey says nothing about speed or whether those kits are DDR4 or DDR5. It makes sense, though, with several recent games asking for 32 GB RAM in the recommended specs, with 16 GB now often listed in the minimum requirements.

Elsewhere, AMD gained 1.89 points on Windows to reach 47.41% CPU share, and the GeForce RTX 5070 is the most common GPU at 5.86%, up 2.30 points. 1440p primary displays climbed 5.18 points to 27.04%, and Windows 11 keeps growing at 71.34%. Of course, one month doesn't make a trend, so it's reasonable to wait for October's numbers to see whether 32 GB remains at the top. The survey is also voluntary, and the sample changed a lot this month. For example, Simplified Chinese jumped 7.42 points to 31.39% of surveyed systems. That change in sampled systems could explain part of the RAM swing, though it could also simply be 32 GB RAM gaining popularity.

NVIDIA's supply commitments climbed to $279 billion in the quarter ended July 26, up from $119 billion the quarter before. The company says the increase is primarily related to memory procurement. Morgan Stanley estimates that NVIDIA has claimed about 37.3% of global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supply for 2027, with Alphabet at 36% and AMD at 12.1%. That adds up to roughly 85%, leaving everyone else to split the rest. These are Morgan Stanley's estimates, as reported by The Inference.

About $267 billion of the commitments come due by the end of fiscal 2029, according to the filing. NVIDIA reported record revenue of $96.2 billion for the quarter, but memory costs are weighing on margins. Gross margin was 75% and is guided to 74% this quarter, with a trough of 71% to 72% expected in the January quarter. CFO Colette Kress tied that pressure to memory pricing. Operating cash flow also fell to $24.1 billion from $50.3 billion the quarter before. Jensen Huang said on September 17 that he expects NVIDIA to sell twice as many chips next year, and the company's formal guidance is about 70% revenue growth.

TrendForce's latest memory industry research reveals that DRAM suppliers continue to prioritize advanced-process capacity for high-performance server products in 4Q26, keeping the overall market undersupplied. However, the pace of contract price increases is expected to moderate, with conventional DRAM prices projected to rise 10-15% QoQ.

Meanwhile, the NAND Flash market is seeing a divergence between accelerating AI demand and weak consumer demand, although prices are still rising across segments. Overall NAND Flash contract prices are projected to increase 15-20% QoQ.

Montage Technology announced the mass-production of its DDR5 Clock Driver Plus (CK01P), designed to deliver stable and reliable clocking for next-generation client memory modules.

Compliant with the JEDEC DDR5CKD01 clock driver specification, the CK01P primarily targets next-generation client memory modules, including DDR5 CUDIMM, CSODIMM, CQDIMM, and CAMM and supports data rates of up to 9200 MT/s. The CK01P supports three clock operating modes—single PLL, dual PLL, and PLL bypass—to accommodate a wide range of system requirements. Featuring a zero-phase-delay clock architecture, the device supports programmable per-channel delay and allows output characteristics to be configured through control registers, enabling flexible adaptation to different DIMM network topologies. In addition, unused clock outputs can be disabled to further reduce power consumption.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it has been ranked the top third-party DRAM module supplier in the world, according to the latest rankings by revenue from analyst firm TrendForce. Kingston retains its number 1 position with an estimated 62% market share.

TrendForce reported that the global DRAM module market generated approximately $21.2 billion in revenue in 2025, representing a 59% YoY increase and a significant acceleration from the 7% growth recorded in 2024. The market's expansion was driven by rising DRAM prices and stronger shipment volumes during the second half of the year. According to the report, Kingston's revenue grew 48% YoY in 2025, reinforcing its leadership position in a market where the top five DRAM module suppliers accounted for 77% of total revenue. Kingston alone represented nearly two-thirds of the market.

Micron has reportedly discontinued its 2 GB GDDR7 memory chips, the same modules used on several GeForce RTX 50 series cards. Spotted by UNIKO's Hardware, Micron's 28 Gbps D8FHL chip (MT68A512M32DF-28:A) is now listed as end of life on the company's own website. Every 2 GB GDDR7 chip in Micron's catalog, both the 28 Gbps and 32 Gbps variants, now carries the same EOL status, leaving 3 GB modules as the only option going forward.

Micron only started supplying GDDR7 to NVIDIA in a meaningful way earlier this year, and its chips were never the primary source for RTX 50 cards. Samsung and SK Hynix still cover the bulk of the supply, so this shouldn't cause an immediate shortage. Still, losing even a partial supplier during an already tight memory market isn't reassuring, and it says something about where these companies would rather put their manufacturing capacity these days.

NVIDIA's Founders Edition graphics cards are generally restricted to its own retail channels, but it seems as though CyberPowerPC has a limited run of RTX 50-series GPUs available in its pre-built gaming PCs for a GeForce Week event, which is slated to run until September 27. The CyberPowerPCs are currently available at Walmart with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Founders Edition, RTX 5080 Founders Edition, or RTX 5090 Founders Edition, with CPU configs including both AMD and Intel variants.

There are two versions of the RTX 5070-powered gaming PCs at Walmart. Both feature 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM, 1 TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, 360 mm closed-loop liquid coolers, and the aforementioned NVIDIA RTX 5070 Founders Edition GPUs inside a CyberPowerPC MA-01 case. The only difference between them is that the $1,599 variant comes with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, while the version featuring an Intel Core i7-14700KF comes in at $1,549.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 currently ships with 2 GB GDDR7 modules, but even 3 GB modules have seen limited adoption due to their high cost. However, that could change soon. According to Weibo leaker Golden Pig Upgrade, memory manufacturers are reportedly planning 4 GB and 6 GB GDDR7 chips for a 2027 to 2028 window, a jump that could reshape how much VRAM budget and mid-range GPUs can carry without needing a wider memory bus. A 128-bit card using four memory packages currently tops out at 8 GB with today's 2 GB chips. Move to 4 GB chips and that same card could hit 16 GB, or 24 GB with 6 GB modules. Scale that up to a 256-bit interface with eight packages, and you're looking at 32 GB or 48 GB respectively, without touching the PCB layout or bus width. Of course, going the other way is possible too, a narrower memory bus combined with higher density, faster memory chips, can lead to similar bandwidth, with lower relative cost.

This would matter most at the low end, where narrow 128-bit buses have made generous VRAM capacities either awkward or expensive to pull off. Videocardz, citing supply chain sources, notes that today's 3 GB GDDR7 chips are already unusually expensive due to extreme demand, and that cost has reportedly contributed to delays around the rumored RTX 5050 9 GB and the RTX 50 Super refresh. If 4 GB chips end up cheaper to produce at scale, they could become the more practical choice for mainstream cards, while 6 GB modules might make more sense for workstation and other high-memory GPUs first. It's worth noting that the leaker's timeline only points to sometime in 2027 or 2028, so there's no confirmation this lines up with NVIDIA's RTX 60 series or AMD's next Radeon generation specifically.

Goodram is expanding its gaming-focused RIVAL series with RIVAL Charge DDR5 memory. The new DIMM modules are designed for computers based on DDR5 platforms, including both new systems and upgraded configurations. The series includes variants with speeds of up to 6800 MT/s and latencies starting from CL30, as well as kits with a total capacity of up to 64 GB.

Gaming today is about more than just the game
A game, Discord, a browser with multiple tabs, gameplay recording, streaming and system monitoring—in a modern gaming configuration, RAM rarely serves just one application.

CXMT, China's largest DRAM maker, is reportedly getting ready to enter the NAND flash market. According to a Reuters report citing people familiar with the matter, the company plans to set up a NAND R&D production line at its new plant in Beijing. CXMT has also set up a research institute in the capital, and NAND development is apparently among its projects there. That would put it up against Samsung and other global players, and against domestic rival YMTC, which already ranks third in NAND shipments. One of the sources says CXMT has already discussed its plans with customers, including a newly established startup that wants to buy the chips for AI and supercomputer storage products.

We also don't know when the R&D line will start running, or whether CXMT intends to go past R&D and trial production into large-scale manufacturing. CXMT and YMTC are often called the "twin stars" of China's memory industry, and they have mostly stayed in separate lanes. That seems to be changing, since Reuters reported in April that YMTC had sent low-power DRAM samples to customers. Both still trail the bigger foreign rivals, but the shortage has given them some pricing power, and CXMT was reportedly charging more than Samsung for 64 GB DDR5 server modules in July. TrendForce expects NAND supply tightness to ease only in the second half of next year, and I doubt one R&D line would change that.

TRUSTA, the enterprise storage and memory brand of memory leader ADATA, is showcasing its latest AI Scaler Extended Memory solution at AI Infra Summit 2026, one of North America's leading AI infrastructure events, bringing together approximately 8,000 professionals and 250 industry partners across the AI infrastructure ecosystem.

As increasingly complex AI models place greater demands on GPU memory and drive up infrastructure costs, TRUSTA is highlighting its award-winning AI Scaler Extended Memory Solution under the theme "Scale AI Beyond GPU Limits." The integrated hardware-software architecture enables enterprises to deploy on-premises AI with greater scalability and cost efficiency. TRUSTA is also presenting its TD7P51 ECO PCIe Gen 5 enterprise SSD and DDR5 R-DIMM, demonstrating a comprehensive portfolio built for next-generation AI infrastructure.

Valve has opened reservations for the Steam Frame, its standalone VR headset, with pricing starting at $1,059 for the 256 GB model and going up to $1,299 for the 1 TB version. We had already reported back in July that Qualcomm's own chip price hikes were pushing Steam Frame costs upward well before today's reveal. In an interview with Tom's Hardware, Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais walked through why the final price landed where it did. Here's what he said:

"I think as far as memory prices and those kinds of conditions, we're really in it like everyone else. It's an unfortunate situation all around. We wish that gaming hardware was cheaper, but we're definitely trying to be on the cheapest side that we can get despite all those conditions. Even just things like motherboards, copper, anything, even shipping anything worldwide right now is way more expensive than it was last year and two years ago. So every part of the sticker price is affected there."

Intel's next-generation Nova Lake mobile chips with 12 Xe-core graphics may support DDR5-8000 memory through CSODIMM modules, according to leaker Golden Pig Upgrade Pack on Weibo. If that pans out, it would be the first mobile Nova Lake variant to officially support DDR5, a notable departure from the soldered LPDDR memory that dominates thin-and-light laptops right now. Current Panther Lake systems with 12 Xe cores, like the Core Ultra X7 358H, don't officially list DDR5 support, though ASRock Industrial already ships mini PCs with two DDR5 SO-DIMM slots running at DDR5-7200 on that platform, and Intel itself includes this configuration among its Core Ultra Series 3 developer systems.

Nova Lake-S, the desktop version, has already been tied to DDR5-8000 through leaked B960 chipset details and platform documents, so Intel appears to be pushing that same memory ceiling down into at least part of the mobile lineup too. Unlike soldered LPDDR5X, CSODIMM support would let OEMs offer upgradable RAM again in these systems, an option that's grown rare in slimmer laptop designs built around battery life and board space. Despite the leaker's solid track record, this is still a single leak rather than anything Intel has confirmed, so I'd hold off treating the exact speeds as final. If it checks out, it suggests Intel is willing to give at least some mobile Nova Lake configurations more memory flexibility, even as most of the market keeps drifting toward soldered memory for efficiency.

Chinese memory giant CXMT is reportedly facing difficulties with HBM3 production, according to South Korean media. Late last month, it was revealed that CXMT had begun risk production of HBM3E memory, lagging two generations behind Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron, who are already progressing with HBM4E sampling. At that time, it was known that the company was conducting HBM3E risk production in limited runs, but details were scarce. However, today we learn that three out of four HBM3E stacks are defective, indicating that CXMT currently operates at a 25% yield. Stacking DRAM is a complex task, as the technology required is much more intricate than planar DRAM manufacturing, an area where CXMT reportedly excels.

The low yields are reportedly due to the immaturity of the through-silicon via (TSV) technology that CXMT employs. In front-end manufacturing, CXMT achieves around 30% yields, while back-end processing yields about 70% on top of the original 30%. For instance, Samsung uses about 5,000 TSVs per layer on HBM2, and SK hynix uses more than 8,000 TSVs per layer on its HBM3. However, data suggests that CXMT is attempting to achieve HBM3E with only 3,000 TSVs per layer and is trying to pack 8 layers in the regular 8-Hi HBM3E configuration. Given these challenges, the company is unlikely to transition to a higher-capacity 12-Hi HBM in the near term as it addresses engineering challenges.

The latest mini PC maker to get in on the high-powered mini PC trend is FEVM, who, to its credit, previously launched a mini PC powered by AMD's impressive Strix Halo platform, with the new FA80G packing up to both an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile into a mere 2.6 L chassis, while the FN80G swaps out the AMD Ryzen CPU for up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 270KP. What's more, the mini PC maker says that the cooling solutions in the FN80G and FA80G are capable of keeping both versions at below 85 °C on the CPU and 80 °C on the GPU while generating less than 42 dB of noise.

The new FEVM mini PCs, which measure 180 × 168 × 88 mm, both start with NVIDIA's RTX 5060 GPUs, with other configs including the desktop RTX 5060 Ti and 5080 Laptop GPUs. In the 5090 Mobile variants, the GPU is limited to 150 W, with combined CPU and GPU power topping out at 250 W. Both models ship as barebones unit, meaning buyers will need to bring their own RAM and SSDs, but the rest of the mini PC is also nothing to scoff at.

TrendForce's latest findings on the memory industry reveal that sharp rises in traditional DRAM contract prices have led to a 59.5% QoQ increase in total DRAM industry revenue, reaching nearly US$154.73 billion in 2Q26.

Growing demand for AI servers, fueled by expanding LLM training and AI inference, has driven higher shipments of HBM3e, LPDDR5X, and high-capacity RDIMMS. The surge in agentic AI applications is further boosting RDIMM demand across various capacities.

At IFA 2026 in Berlin, we visited the ADATA booth to see what the company has in store. To many, the surprising factor is the introduction of the relatively new "TRUSTA" brand by ADATA, which focuses on enterprise and industrial product offerings, a departure from what traditional PC enthusiasts know about ADATA. First, we explored the TRUSTA brand to see what the company offers. This includes the T7P5 SSDs, which boast read speeds of 13.5 GB/s and write speeds of 10.3 GB/s, and come in capacities ranging from 1.6 TB to 7.68 TB. All of this is powered by 3D NAND Flash using eTLC architecture, with the SSD form factors including U.2, E1.S, and E3.S versions, all carrying the same PCIe Gen 5 x4 interface, just with different twists depending on server or workstation needs.