"Creativity is the key": how PC hardware’s smaller manufacturers are navigating the RAM shortage disaster

Far from ushering successful a technological aureate age, artificial quality is giving PC hardware its astir trying clip successful years. As huge, hyper-rich tech companies spell astir gathering resource-intensive AI information centres successful pursuit of aboriginal wealth, the resulting representation spot shortages person detonated consumer-level pricing for RAM modules, graphics cards, SSDs, and adjacent past hard drives.

Doubling oregon tripling street-level outlays without harming income would, you’d think, marque a batch of gaming cogwheel makers – particularly their accounting departments – precise blessed indeed. But arsenic those chips person go a scarce commodity astatine the supplier level, adjacent the bigger hardware businesses are being squeezed arsenic well, and it shows. Razer can’t determine however overmuch their adjacent laptops should cost. Valve are moving retired of Steam Deck banal and delaying the caller Steam Machine. Zotac Korea called the RAM shortage an existential threat. But what of the industry’s smaller players – those producers of the niche, the quirky, the retro?

At look value, you mightiness expect these to person succumbed to RAM malnutrition earlier anyone. As they archer it, however, strategy and condition are allowing gaming’s specializer manufacturers to endure the worst – if they’re adjacent affected astatine all.

Image credit: Commodore International

One 'tactic' has proven successful, effectively, by accident: conscionable usage little RAM. Released to gushing reviews precocious past year, conscionable arsenic representation shortages began to bite, the Commodore 64 Ultimate is simply a modernised but functionally faithful tribute to the computer-defining 1982 original, designed and built by a resurrected Commodore themselves. Chief exertion serviceman Marc Bilodeau credits the Ultimate’s comparatively meagre RAM specs, conscionable 128MB of ye olde DDR2, for it ne'er having been trampled successful the industry’s unreserved to drawback up DDR4 and DDR5 modules.

"Our prime of DDR2 alternatively of DDR5 truly means we haven't been impacted that much, from the hardware manufacturing perspective," helium explains to me. "Although this RAM shortage perfectly weighs into our determination connected aboriginal designs and projects... we don't privation to compromise connected plan astatine all. But astatine the aforesaid time, we person to beryllium precise strategical and stay outgo effectual for our products, from consumers’ perspectives. So we're watching this precise closely, but astatine the moment, we're not seeing the pinch arsenic different manufacturers are.

"This is thing we're watching connected a regular basis, due to the fact that it is precise unfortunate, successful my opinion, what's happening retired there. I mean, I privation to upgrade my PC, and I'm watching those prices and clasp them backmost due to the fact that of it."

Another low-RAM instrumentality to person escaped proviso symptom is Panic’s wind-up handheld, the Playdate. While not arsenic intentionally retro-styled arsenic the C64 Ultimate, the Playdate’s spot hunger is adjacent easier to sate: its 4GB of Flash retention is joined by a microscopic 16MB of integrated RAM. Its lone caller terms bump came successful March 2025, good earlier the existent crisis, and was blamed connected the determination to a caller mill alternatively than idiosyncratic portion costs.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

"Getting lone 16MB of RAM per portion is not that hard due to the fact that it's specified a tiny number," says Panic’s outer PR rep Jurge Cruz-Alvarez. "Manufacturing Playdate is ever a amusive escapade - getting different parts successful the past, similar the CPU, was an contented backmost erstwhile determination was a spot shortage - and moving with the close mill consenting to enactment with Panic person been past problems they've had to solve, but RAM has thankfully not been 1 of them."

For manufacturers who bash request to woody successful modern, much capacious RAM and retention specs, being a small food successful a big, panicking pond tin inactive person its advantages. Framework specialise successful modular, highly customisable (and repairable) laptops, and precocious launched their archetypal exemplary susceptible of high-end gaming: the Framework Laptop 16, which tin beryllium kitted retired with Nvidia’s upper-mid-range RTX 5070 GPU. That’s not a inexpensive component, and nor are the DDR5 representation options it offers, but institution laminitis Nirav Patel reckons that Framework payment from a benignant of reverse system of scale: due to the fact that they lone request in-demand parts successful tiny numbers, their ain costs are lower, and the modular attack lets them connection cut-price laptops with nary included RAM astatine all.

Image credit: Framework

"We're successful benignant of a unsocial position. We’re not astatine a standard wherever we person these giant, semipermanent representation declaration buys with the large players," helium says. "But we're besides large enough, and credible enough, that we person nonstop interaction with each the cardinal players we request to. So arsenic a company, we're successful a uniquely, astir advantaged spot successful immoderate ways, wherever astatine our measurement we tin spell retired into things similar spot markets and for $1, bargain chunks of representation that HP, oregon Lenovo, oregon Apple would look astatine and accidental 'Well, that's a rounding error. We're not adjacent gonna fuss with that.' So we get to enactment successful production.

"The different portion of it is that, due to the fact that of our exemplary of modularity and upgradeability for our laptops, the representation is each socketed. It's each it's each removable and upgradable, and we really merchantability a configuration of our laptops, our DIY editions, without representation oregon retention pre-installed. So that means for consumers, they person a batch of flexibility, adjacent successful a satellite where, for immoderate reason, we can't get entree to a definite representation capableness oregon retention capacity, for example. Or we're getting entree to it astatine a terms that is higher than we would similar it to be, oregon consumers would similar it to be. Consumers tin really spell retired into the unfastened market, adjacent jumping onto eBay and seeing, 'Okay, what's retired there, what's available.' Then prime up the representation that they tin astatine the terms that they can, and bring it connected their ain and driblet it into the system."

Shopping astir for amended RAM prices is besides thing Framework bash themselves. Patel adds that "Creativity and flexibility, I think, is the key. It truly does spell backmost to standard - we're successful this precise absorbing mediate crushed wherever we tin bash things that the bigger players can't, but we person entree that the smaller players don't have, and truthful we get to beryllium originative successful however we source. Our proviso concatenation squad is incredibly capable, and has ears connected the crushed everyplace to marque definite that we're capable to proceed getting the proviso we request to support our products available."

Image credit: Framework

For some, however, these manoeuvres are astir mitigation alternatively than avoidance. Shortage woes person inactive struck autarkic hardware firms, and struck acutely: the Pi Foundation, creators of the palm-sized Raspberry Pi computers that person powered everything from retail signage to wire-strewn DIY projects, person bumped prices up doubly successful the past 3 months. While the Pi Foundation did not respond to a petition for remark successful this piece, connected some occasions, the springiness origin was representation costs. Framework, too, person raised prices crossed their range. A repeatedly updated blog station by Patel is simply a grim diary of these hikes, which encompass representation modules, retention drives and motherboards. For Patel, though, these posts – which person besides covered the spot shortage much mostly – are intended arsenic informative PSAs.

"One happening we've done that is, I think, a spot antithetic for astir different companies, is that we've been beauteous transparent astir it," helium says of these blogs. "And each clip we bash that, we besides station connected our societal channels, we station successful our community, and I deliberation particularly for our customers, the types of radical who are funny successful Framework products, they admit that transparency. That's a ample grade of wherefore they privation our products to statesman with."

As unpleasant arsenic it is to some stock and person atrocious news, it’s hard not to look astatine the candour with which Framework and the Pi Foundation announced their adjustments – often including circumstantial prices oregon percent changes – and spot it arsenic thing the large manufacturers could beryllium doing better. Plans to jack up prices oregon change availability are often buried successful non-public-facing sources similar capitalist calls, if they’re adjacent revealed astatine all, leaving mass-produced PCs, laptops, and components with nary disposable informing of an imminent bad time until they’re already been made much expensive. Or, stripped from shelves. And erstwhile a public-facing announcement is made, it mightiness inactive lone woody successful vagueness, arsenic did Valve’s station declaring that the Steam Machine would outgo much (but we don’t cognize however much) and would beryllium delayed (but we don’t cognize until when).

Image credit: Valve

In immoderate case, 1 communal presumption among these specializer manufacturers is that RAM shortages and each their sick effects volition proceed unaddressed. "I don't spot the concern getting immoderate better," says Bilodeau. "AI is making some, I think, fantastic advances, and helping marque beingness easier for a batch of people. But personally, I americium holding disconnected connected upgrading.

"The mode I look astatine it is determination mightiness beryllium different opportunities to upgrade the system, possibly done the CPU, possibly adjacent replacing your video card. And with memory, instrumentality to the erstwhile generation, if possible, until, you cognize this blows over, which I don't judge it's going to successful a year. In fact, I deliberation that this contented volition proceed done 2026 possibly adjacent 2027. It's conscionable those AI companies are truthful bare and expanding truthful rapidly and making truthful galore innovations that you cognize that they're going to instrumentality those resources, and those representation companies are going to happily merchantability it to them first."

Patel shares the appraisal of an unstable market, though thinks it is inactive imaginable to marque astute buys successful the existent conditions – adjacent if helium is, arsenic helium puts it, "speaking to my ain book" and recommending modular hardware that tin beryllium much easy tweaked later.

"The representation marketplace is going to proceed to fluctuate. I don't know, a twelvemonth from now, what representation pricing is going to look like," helium admits. "But [I’d suggest] picking up a merchandise wherever you tin bargain the representation you request now, for immoderate usage lawsuit you person today, with the quality to bash that upgrade successful the aboriginal erstwhile capitalism volition drawback up.

"Eventually the proviso volition conscionable the demand, adjacent though – due to the fact that of the pb times for lasting up caller capableness – that could beryllium an extended play of time. Eventually the marketplace volition stabilize and normalize. And truthful my proposal for consumers is to deliberation astir upgradability and deliberation astir modularity."

Image credit: Commodore International

PC owners are, of course, nary strangers to either. But contempt the opportunities for smug gurning whenever the Xbox Series X gets adjacent much expensive, oregon Sony allegedly delays the PlayStation 6 for different year, we – arsenic idiosyncratic component-buyers – can’t precisely marque the astir of the PC’s piecemeal capabilities erstwhile a decent DDR5 kit costs £400, oregon fractional the champion graphics paper models are MIA.

Perhaps, that mightiness conscionable bring america backmost to low-end gaming machines similar the Playdate oregon the Commodore 64 Ultimate. Does this breed of little graphically almighty yet acold much affordable hardware person the accidental to measurement successful wherever modern tech is rather virtually coming up short?

"That's a pugnacious question," Bilodeau says, "just due to the fact that we've gotten truthful utilized to a batch of the modern machine innovations these days that determination aren’t things that we volition beryllium capable to replace. But I bash person to accidental that we let radical to instrumentality that measurement backmost and get escaped of each of that extracurricular sound and really bask utilizing computers again."