Amid scarce supplies and scalping, Newegg is starting to sell DDR5 RAM kits through the retailer’s controversial lottery system.
On Friday, the products were being offered through the retailer’s Newegg Shuffle, which is best known for raffling off in-demand products, such as PC graphics cards, to paying consumers.
The DDR5 RAM up for sale on Friday included a 32GB package from TeamGroup that normally retails for $279 and a 32GB kit from Gigabyte that should go for $329.
However, the DDR5 RAM products were only available as combo deals that bundle the memory components with a compatible Z690 motherboard. So interested buyers will need to pay $510, $780 or as much as $1,210 for the bundles if they’re selected as winners during Friday’s Shuffle event, which starts at 8 a.m. PST.
Currently, DDR5 RAM remains incredibly difficult to find at normal prices during the ongoing chip shortage. For weeks now, all the major retailers, including Newegg, have been listing the memory components as out of stock. In the meantime, scalpers have been re-selling DDR5 RAM kits on eBay often for over $1,000.
The ensuing trends show DDR5 RAM is ending up in the same situation as the latest PC graphics cards, which remain in short supply and continue to be sold at obscene prices. As a result, buyers of Intel’s 12th generation Core “Alder Lake” processors may have no choice but to use DDR4 RAM, instead of DDR5 RAM, when building their desktop systems.
We’ve reached out to Newegg for comment and we’ll update the story if we hear back. But in the past, the retailer has justified offering the products through bundle deals saying: "by selling other complementary items alongside these high value items, Newegg maintains its ability keep its purchasing power to keep more highly valued items in stock and offered in the fairest manner to real customers via the Newegg Shuffle."