As the AI boom gobbles up graphics cards, SSDs, memory sticks and more, building a gaming PC is currently eye-wateringly expensive (and it’s never exactly been cheap). If, like me, you’ve been holding out in the hope that those prices will drop to more sensible levels soon, I’m sorry to say that’s looking unlikely.
Earlier this month, research showed that memory prices are predicted to rise sharply between now and 2027, with no reductions expected until 2028. Now, Valve has shared its own view of the hardware market, and it’s equally glum. Speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier about the company’s long road to the Steam Machine, Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said the company only sees prices going up in the short to medium term:
“Honestly, it’s still getting worse,” Aldehayyat explained. “Just in case people are not aware. What people are seeing on retail shelves right now, from our observations, is lagging what we’re seeing from a bulk supply by at least three to six months.”
Oof. Valve also provided some insight into how the memory crises affected the Steam Machine’s launch. Unsurprisingly, initial supply of the Steam Machine was impacted by memory availability. “We’re basically building everything we can,” fellow engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais explained. “We’re limited by memory capacity, for sure.”