One gigabyte of RAM cost as much as a house back in 1995 — $64,000 price tag resurfaced in 31-year-old press release, equivalent to $140,000 today
- ID
- 17591
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 25 Aug 2026, 7:00 PM
- Fetched
- 25 Aug 2026, 8:36 PM
- Provider
- Tom's Hardware
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/ram/one-gigabyte-of-ram-cost-as-much-as-a-house-back-in-1995-pcs-were-brutally-expensive-back-then-and-were-heading-back-in-that-direction
- Source URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/all
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 25 Aug 2026, 8:38 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coders
What happened
A resurfaced 1995 press release shows 1GB of RAM cost $64,000 then, roughly $140,000 adjusted for inflation. The article argues PCs were 'brutally expensive' back then and suggests prices are heading back in that direction.
Why it matters
Historical curiosity with no actionable takeaway for builders. The claim that prices are 'heading back in that direction' is unsupported by data in the excerpt, so there is nothing concrete to decide or change.
Discussion angle
Whether AI-driven memory demand (large context windows, local LLMs) is actually pushing RAM prices up in a way that affects what developers can ship on consumer hardware today.