Former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer, prompted by the high cost of memory for his vintage PDP-11, designed a standalone RAM card using ChatGPT and the EasyEDA circuit simulator despite lacking prior experience with such projects. The board uses a Lattice MachXO2 FPGA as a memory controller linked to four ISSI 1MB memory chips, and was tested on a backplane with an M8190 CPU board. He hit setbacks including inexperience flashing FPGA chips and the PDP-11's quirky word-based memory bus, which required careful handling of byte-lane selection during reads and writes.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-31
In a Cheeky Pint interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it's "quite terrible" that DRAM sits mostly unused inside consumer devices, since he estimates it's active only about 5% of the time. He argued memory would be better utilized in data centers, which run hardware near-continuously, citing PCs with local AI features and open-source LLMs as examples of inefficient use.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-31
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that keeping DRAM concentrated in data centers is more efficient than letting individuals run local inference on personal computers. He argued that memory sitting idle in personal machines most of the time represents poor use of a globally constrained resource, while cloud-based memory can be utilized at much higher rates.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-30
On Intel's latest earnings call, CEO Lip-Bu Tan and CFO David Zinsner said demand for the company's low-cost Wildcat Lake processors is exceeding supply, with the chips now sold out. Zinsner attributed the surge partly to PC makers' focus on cost-optimized designs amid rising memory and component prices, and said he does not expect the broader RAM shortage to ease in 2027.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-29
Newegg is selling the Alienware Aurora DACT1250 gaming desktop for $2,599.99, down from $3,849.99. The machine pairs an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, a 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 285 CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-29
Newegg is selling a three-item AM5 combo featuring a Gigabyte X870E Aorus Elite Wi-Fi 7 motherboard, AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, and 32GB of G.Skill Trident Z5 NeoX DDR5-6000 CL36 memory for $1,069, a $234 discount. The bundle also throws in a free MSI MAG Coreliquid A13 240mm AIO cooler, valued at $72, to cool the 120W chip.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-29
Apple has published pricing for the 512GB RAM configuration of the Mac Studio, which is only available with the top-tier M5 Ultra chip featuring a 36-core CPU and 80-core GPU. The upgrade costs $15,500 over the base 96GB configuration, bringing the starting price to $22,299 with 1TB of storage, and up to $29,799 with 16TB of storage. Units ordered now are expected to ship in late November to early December.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-10-28
Newegg is offering a combo deal pairing AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU with an MSI MAG X870E Tomahawk Wifi motherboard and 32GB of G.Skill Trident X5 NeoX DDR5 RAM for $1,094.99, a $248.99 discount off buying the parts separately. The bundle also includes a free MSI MAG Coreliquid A13 240mm AIO liquid cooler.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-28
SK Hynix has told customers that RAM and flash memory shortages, driven largely by AI demand, are likely to continue through at least 2030. Apple is reportedly among 14 major tech companies with long-term priority supply agreements, but these contracts include clauses allowing SK Hynix to raise prices in line with market conditions.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-10-28
Apple has raised the MacBook Neo's Education Store starting price to $649, a $50 increase, after an earlier $100 bump in June. The entry configuration still includes 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM but lacks Touch ID, and the student discount off the regular $699 price is now only $50 instead of the previous $100.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-28
Newegg is offering a four-part PC component bundle including AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a Gigabyte X870E motherboard and a 2TB SSD for $1,180.99, a $358.99 discount off combined individual pricing. The deal also includes a free MSI MAG Coreliquid A13 240mm AIO cooler and a year of McAfee software.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-27
Newegg is selling an Alienware Aurora ACT1250 desktop for $2,199.99, down from $3,269.99, a $1,070 price cut. The configuration includes an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, an Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-26
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