GDDR6 significantly more expensive than GDDR5

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 01/02/2019 10:09 AM | source: pcgameshardware | 29 comment(s)

Electronic Components Dealers lists various Micron GDDR5 and GDDR6 chips, pricing for 2,000 units. From these it can be seen that GDDR6 is currently much more expensive than GDDR5 at the moment. Going from 8 to 16 Gigabyte would bring with GDDR6 memory probably around 100 to 150 US dollar more.

The mentioned prices correspond to a purchase quantity of 2,000 pieces. Manufacturers of video cards are likely to buy larger quantities, which means they could get the parts cheaper. 3dcenter.org estimates the possible discount at 20 to 40 percent, the prices in the table below would only be estimates.

Listed are only ICs from Micron, the competitors Samsung and SK Hynix are not represented. It should also be borne in mind that the quoted reference prices are for a purchase quantity of 2,000 units, graphics card manufacturers are likely to buy significantly larger quantities and thus receive the components cheaper. 3dcenter.org estimates the possible discount on 20 to 40 percent and we would also like to point out once again that the following data are estimates.

memory type	technology	Price per chip	Name of the component
Micron 1GB GDDR5 @ 6Gbps	1 Gbyte GDDR5, 3,000 MHz, 6 Gbps	$ 6.752	MT51J256M32HF-60: A TR
Micron 1 GB GDDR5 @ 7 Gbps	1 Gbyte GDDR5, 3500 MHz, 7 Gbps	$ 6,519	MT51J256M32HF-70: A TR
Micron 1GB GDDR5 @ 8Gbps	1 Gbyte GDDR5, 4,000 MHz, 8 Gbps	$ 6,864	MT51J256M32HF-80: A TR
Micron 1 GB GDDR6 @ 12 Gbps	1 Gbyte GDDR6, 3,000 MHz, 12 Gbps	$ 10.79	MT61K256M32JE-12: A TR
Micron 1 GB GDDR6 @ 13 Gbps	1 GB of GDDR6, 3,250 MHz, 13 Gbps	$ 9,253	MT61K256M32JE-13: A TR
Micron 1GB GDDR6 @ 14Gbps	1 Gbyte GDDR6, 3,500 MHz, 15 Gbps	$ 11.69	MT61K256M32JE-14: A TR

From the prices quoted, it can be calculated that total storage costs only about $ 35-45 (GDDR5) or $ 55-75 (GDDR6) for say 8GB GiB. Doubling the amount of storage to 16 GiB would also double the purchase cost, so the storage would cost around $ 70- $ 90 or $ 110-150. Cost factors such as assembly and even the more complex boards are not taken into account.