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The story
A thread on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board (a general live-commentary forum) laments the surge in PC part prices. Following the graphics card price hikes, BTO (build-to-order) PC prices have also risen by ¥10,000–30,000 in just the past few days, dragging motherboard and memory prices up along with them. The thread splits between the view that “memory prices will ease somewhat by the end of 2028 once Chinese manufacturers ramp up production” and skeptics countering “we’ve been hearing that same story for three years now.” Reports of individual price hikes poured in — graphics cards, laptops, even the Mac mini — and opinions were divided on whether to buy now while prices are high or wait it out.
What people said
BTO PC prices are up ¥10,000-30,000 just in the past few days.
Motherboards are getting dragged up along with them too.
They're definitely going up from here.
If they ever come back down, it'll be 2028.
Heard that same line three years ago too, liar.
Good thing I didn't listen to the 'now's a bad time to buy' guy.
Checked the same BTO config with a 5070 that I bought, and it's up ¥70,000 now.
And they quietly switched the 32GB memory to single-channel without telling anyone.
The 'buy it when you want it' guy: "☺"
AI's going to flood online games with cheaters, it's already a mess.
Even if the smaller players die off, the big companies will keep hoarding supply, so no chance.
Though apparently Chinese memory makers will flood the market by 2028, so memory might ease up a bit at least.
Anyone who's actually run a business should get that.
Apparently "Big Daddy China" (sarcastic nickname for Chinese manufacturers) is getting some breakthrough tech to mass-produce, and they'll start flooding the market around 2028.
Memory's probably the only thing that'll actually come down a bit.
What, are we talking about SoftBank phone contracts now?
Next year won't just fail to drop before year-end, it'll be the peak. If you're gonna wait, it's either buy now or hold out until the end of next year.
Just grab one of Yodobashi's laptop lucky bags (grab-bag deals).
If you can afford it, better to buy now.
There's a decent chance Black Friday or the New Year sales end up pricier than right now.
Yeah, if gaming's the goal those two are the way to go.
Seriously, it's ridiculous.
DDR3's getting bought up hard right now for automotive use.
Was gonna get a Mac mini as a second machine, but I about fell over seeing the base model at ¥150,000 now.
It was ¥100,000 last year.
The bigger the company, the harder it is for them to back out at this point, huh.
The moment they announce they're pulling out of AI development, their stock price takes a hit too.
What are you actually doing with it?
Running AI full tilt.
It cranks out videos on its own and uploads them to YouTube for you.
A PC that was ¥250,000 at last year's prices would run you ¥320,000–350,000 now, even on the cheap end.
Just use Strata.
Runs decently fine on a regular gaming PC.
It's a lock that memory eases up a bit by end of 2028.
It's also a lock that everything else keeps climbing without stopping, so instead of balancing out, the total just goes up even more.
I want the rumored M6 too, but it's probably gotten a hefty price hike.
Though they've jacked up prices so much these past few months, I doubt they'll hike it again right away.
Refurbished units might get a quiet price bump though, no?
Kinda shocked the Switch 2 is actually pricier than it right now.
Sounds like sales tanked the second the Switch 2 got a price hike — makes me think ¥50,000 is just the ceiling for a game console.
Used to only buy them when I actually needed them.
Prices have gotten stupid high — SSDs I get, but HDDs too?
Tried to buy one the other day and everything was so expensive I thought I'd wandered onto a scam site.
Background and key points of this discussion
The surge in memory and GPU prices stems from semiconductor makers prioritizing production capacity for AI data centers amid the generative-AI boom, squeezing the supply available for consumer parts. The thread’s predictions — that “memory prices will ease by 2028” or “Chinese manufacturers ramping up production will bring prices down” — are strictly individual guesses from an anonymous forum and aren’t backed by any official semiconductor industry outlook. The core debate was whether to “buy now or wait” amid the ongoing price hikes, with skepticism running high given that past optimism about prices eventually dropping has repeatedly failed to pan out. It’s also worth noting that the hope that “part prices will fall if AI companies can no longer secure financing” is, at this point, more wishful thinking than an observed trend.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Bad News] PC prices going up yet again.”
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