Where should you buy RAM in the US?
We check the prices at Adorama, Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Best Buy, Corsair.com, Newegg and Walmart every week. The table on this page puts all 1,329 kits from those 7 shops side by side, so you see which store carries which kit before you click through. For what memory costs overall and how that has moved, start at our RAM prices overview.
No single shop is cheapest for everything. At the moment the lowest DDR5 desktop price is at B&H Photo, while the lowest DDR4 desktop price is at Newegg. Take the cheapest offer at each store and the gap between them is 256% this week.
Prices here are excluding sales tax. Your state's sales tax and any shipping fee only show up in the shop's cart, so compare the final total if two offers are close.
What should you check before you buy RAM?
Five things decide whether a kit works in your PC, and all of them come before price:
- DDR4 or DDR5. The board decides, not the CPU alone. Kingston lists AMD AM4 as DDR4 only and AM5 as DDR5 only. Intel 12th to 14th gen boards come in either a DDR4 or a DDR5 version, and Intel's 800-series boards for Core Ultra are DDR5 only. The two types have different notches and do not fit each other's slots. Live prices: DDR5 kits and DDR4 kits.
- Two sticks in one kit. Dual channel needs an identical pair, and Kingston notes that AMD and Intel DDR5 platforms limit memory speed when all four slots are full. A matched 2x16GB kit beats four smaller sticks or two bought separately.
- Capacity. Newegg puts 16GB at browsing, office work and most 1080p gaming, and 32GB at gaming with a browser and chat open or photo editing. See 32GB kits or our guide on how much RAM you need.
- XMP or EXPO. A fast kit only reaches its rated speed once you switch on its profile in the BIOS: XMP on Intel, EXPO on AMD. Both companies mark this as overclocking.
- Desktop or laptop. Laptops use shorter SO-DIMM modules that do not fit a desktop slot. Those have their own laptop RAM page.
Kingston also suggests looking up your exact board or system in its Memory Configurator, or in the maker's own compatibility list, before you order.
Should you buy now, wait, or order from abroad?
If your PC needs memory, buying now is the safer call. TrendForce expects conventional DRAM contract prices to rise another 10 to 15% in the fourth quarter of 2026, and shop prices follow contract prices with a delay. The outlook for 2027 is split: Micron and SK hynix point to tighter supply, while Acer's CEO expects PC prices to peak in the first half of 2027 and then ease. Change in the median DDR5 desktop price per GB over the last 4 weeks: not measured yet.
Ordering a kit from a seller overseas is less of a shortcut than it used to be. The duty free limit for small parcels into the US dropped from $800 to $50 on August 29, 2025, according to trade compliance firm AEB, so an imported kit can now owe duty on arrival.
Micron announced in December 2025 that it would leave the Crucial consumer business, with shipments to shops ending in February 2026. Crucial kits you still find in the table are remaining retail stock. Micron says warranty service and support for Crucial products continue.