2026 DRAM supply crisis inflates big-memory CPU builds

A 384GB DDR5 RDIMM kit now costs $4,000-5,200+ alone - more than four used RTX 3090s - pushing a single-socket Genoa build to ~$7,000-8,000.

DRAM supply crisis: 64GB DDR5 RDIMMs rose from ~$873 (Q1) toward a projected ~$1,586 (Q4); Q2 contract prices up 55-60% QoQ.

Buy used Milan DDR4 complete systems (~$1,500-2,500) if the workload tolerates ~205 GB/s, or buy a used Mac Studio / Strix Halo box instead of building EPYC for pure decode.