Lowest prices on memory kits

The lowest-priced DDR5 kit we track is the Crucial Pro OC (32GB (2x16) 6000 CL36) at $299.99 on eBay. Prices update daily across all 66 kits in our index, so the cheapest option can change - check the table above for the current ranking.

It depends on your platform. If you're building on AMD AM5 or Intel LGA 1851, DDR5 is your only option. For older AM4 or LGA 1700 boards, DDR4 is significantly cheaper - 32GB DDR4 kits start at $44.95, and real-world gaming performance differences are small. DDR5 only pulls ahead in memory-bandwidth-heavy workloads like video editing and compilation. If your motherboard supports DDR4, there's no reason to switch platforms just for DDR5.

CL30 is the CAS latency - the number of clock cycles the memory takes to respond to a request. Lower is better. For AMD Ryzen 9000 (Zen 5) and Ryzen 7000 (Zen 4), DDR5-6000 at CL30 hits the sweet spot where the memory clock aligns with the Infinity Fabric's 1:1 ratio, giving the best performance per dollar. The cheapest DDR5-6000 CL30 kit in our index right now is the Crucial Pro OC at $299.99. Going faster (DDR5-6400+) gives diminishing returns and often requires manual tuning.

Not as a standalone upgrade - you'd need a new motherboard and likely a new CPU too, which makes the total cost much higher than just swapping RAM. DDR5 is worth it when you're building a new system from scratch on AM5 or LGA 1851. If you're already on DDR4 and your system does what you need, put that money toward a GPU or SSD instead. The performance gap in gaming is typically 5-10% at best, and only at high refresh rates where the CPU is the bottleneck.

32GB (2x16GB) is the standard for gaming in 2026. A few years ago 16GB was enough, but modern games like Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Outlaws, and Flight Simulator regularly use 18-22GB with background apps running. 64GB is overkill for pure gaming but makes sense if you also stream, run VMs, or do video editing. Always buy a two-stick kit rather than a single stick - dual-channel mode roughly doubles your memory bandwidth.