Hopefully you have a few sticks of DDR5 lying around.
The supposed never-ending AI party has drained the world of all affordable RAM. If you were planning on buying a PC any time in the near future, expect it to be more like a potluck than a wine and dine affair. More companies are going to be asking you to show up to a PC building brunch with a bottle of wine and a bundle of memory sticks clutched in your fists.
Starting in 2026, we’ll see pre-configured PCs ship without any RAM (random access memory) at all. Instead, customers are being asked to trawl through the swamps of digital stores and resellers to find a fair deal for compatible memory. Today, custom PC builder Maingear shared details on its new BYO (bring your own) RAM program. Now, instead of ordering the full pre-configured kit, you can either rip your memory out of an older build or source the sticks yourself.
Essentially, if you plan to buy Maingear, you can either ship the company your own old RAM or buy it separately and have it mailed to the company’s New Jersey-based headquarters, where staff will test it with its “standard validation” process. Over email, the company told us that systems with BYO RAM will cost less than models purchased with RAM, though components fluctuate based on the market. In addition, if a customer sends in RAM that’s not used in the build, “then it will be returned with the PC or separately.
