With the absurd rise in RAM and storage prices, it has become a rather lucrative option for some to steal their way into building a system (or rather, selling it for a markup online), which should tell you how dire the whole situation really is in the war against AI slop.
Now, as per a recent report, Costco is starting to remove RAM sticks and GPUs from display in an attempt to curb thievery.
Costco Is Hiding RAM and GPUs From Its Display Units
The ongoing DRAM crisis has now made people attempt to steal RAM and GPU stocks from pre built systems, and many of these perpetrators seem to have no interest in the other components on display, choosing to entirely ignore them.
In this dire turn of events, Costco has been forced to remove all RAM modules from its display units, leaving them essentially non functional. The GPUs have also been removed from display, since disassembling them is a rather trivial affair.
It’s a wild time to live in, but quite understandable, given how much a single stick of DDR5 RAM costs nowadays. Not even the aging DDR4 RAM has been spared, with sticks costing nearly 4-5 times as much as they normally should.
This is terrible news for gamers across the globe, and jumping back to an AM4 system won’t do you any good either. Furthermore, when you take into account that this surge has affected both storage and GPU GDDR7 modules, it does paint a rather bleak picture.
The origin can be directed to the rise of AI slop, which has been taken to be a priority (given its very lucrative nature) over the older consumer user base. We’ve seen brands such as Crucial being killed off entirely by parent companies as they go on to chase greener pastures. Which will continue, until the AI bubble inevitably pops.
