DDR5 RAM is expensive across Europe in 2026, and our checks found large price differences between retailers.
In the clearest example, the same Kingston 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 kit was £430.99 at one UK retailer and £649.99 at another. Both listings were in stock when we checked them.
We compared three mainstream kits from Kingston, Corsair and G.Skill across 10 European markets. In the biggest gaps, the retailer mattered more to the final price than the brand.
What we found on August 17
- UK: the largest verified price gap for the same kit was 50.8%.
- Germany: the three brands were only 2.2% apart at Mindfactory, while the same G.Skill kit was about 32.4% more expensive at another retailer.
- Spain: the same Corsair kit was about 21.5% cheaper at one retailer than another after shipping.
- No brand stayed cheapest: Kingston, Corsair and G.Skill traded places depending on the market and retailer.
- The lowest advertised price was not always available: stock status and seller type mattered.
How we checked the prices
To keep the comparison close, we tracked three 32GB (2×16GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 kits: Kingston FURY Beast KF560C30BBEK2-32, Corsair Vengeance CMK32GX5M2B6000Z30, and G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3038F16GX2-FX5. Their secondary timings and profiles differ, but capacity, speed and primary latency are closely matched.
We checked Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden and Belgium. Wherever possible, we opened the retailer’s live product page and checked availability. When a comparison site showed a lower price, we checked the seller and stock status before using it.
| Market | Kingston | Corsair | G.Skill | What stood out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | €543.94 | €532.98 | €544.71 | All three at Mindfactory |
| UK | £430.99 | — | — | Same Kingston kit; both listings in stock |
| France | ~€489.90 | ~€519.99 | ~€574.40 | Lowest verified offers |
| Italy | ~€529 | ~€537 | ~€550 | Prices were closely grouped |
| Spain | €576.61 | €532.99 | €589 | All three at PcComponentes |
| Netherlands | ~€509 | ~€532.99 | ~€499 | G.Skill was lowest in this check |
| Poland | ~2,139 zł | ~2,100 zł | ~2,367 zł | Lowest verified offers; sponsored listings excluded |
| Switzerland | ~CHF 451 | ~CHF 484 | ~CHF 471 | Prices were closely grouped |
| Sweden | ~5,599 SEK | ~5,790 SEK | ~4,900 SEK | Lowest current offers checked |
| Belgium | €519 | €599 | — | Kingston and Corsair at Alternate; no comparable G.Skill offer |
About the table: “—” means we could not verify a directly comparable current offer. “~” marks a current comparison-site price rather than a three-kit price from one retailer.
The UK showed the biggest same-kit gap
CCL listed the exact Kingston KF560C30BBEK2-32 for £430.99 including VAT and in stock. AWD-IT listed the same part number for £649.99 and in stock.
£430.99
£649.99
+50.8% relative to the lower in-stock listing.
We do not have the retailers’ purchasing data, so we cannot say exactly why the £219 gap exists. For a buyer, the practical point is simpler: checking another store can save hundreds even after the exact RAM kit has already been chosen.
The same G.Skill kit was about €176 more at another German retailer
All three kits were available at Mindfactory, making Germany easy to compare directly. Corsair was €532.98, Kingston €543.94 and G.Skill €544.71. Only 2.2% separated the cheapest and most expensive kit.
Alternate Germany was very different. Kingston and Corsair were around €590 and €594, while the same G.Skill part number was about €721. Compared with €544.71 at Mindfactory, that is roughly €176 more, or 32.4%.
2.2%
~21.5%
~32.4%
50.8%
At Mindfactory, switching between the three brands changed the price by little more than 2%. For the same G.Skill kit, changing retailer moved the price by more than 32%.
The same Corsair kit was 21.5% cheaper at another Spanish retailer
PcComponentes listed the Corsair kit at €532.99, while Spanish specialist Neobyte had the exact same part number at €432.90 plus €5.90 shipping. Even after delivery, Neobyte was about 21.5% cheaper. For comparison, PcComponentes listed the Kingston kit at €576.61 and G.Skill at €589.
No one brand stayed cheapest in our 10-market check
The lowest-priced brand changed from market to market. G.Skill was lowest in our Dutch and Swedish checks, while Corsair was lowest at Mindfactory in Germany and among the Polish offers we reviewed. Across all 10 markets, there was no single Kingston, Corsair or G.Skill winner.
The cheapest price we found wasn’t always available
Comparison sites sometimes showed a low price that no longer matched a live, in-stock store listing. We used them to find additional offers, but relied more heavily on retailer pages where we could confirm both the current price and availability.
RAM was already far more expensive than a year ago
These retailer gaps are appearing in a much more expensive memory market. Tom’s Hardware reported on August 17 that a 32GB DDR5-6000 kit could be found for about $392 at the low end in the US, compared with a lowest-ever tracked price of $72. Its annual comparison put the average at roughly $108 in August 2025 and $572 in August 2026, or about +429%.
TrendForce forecast another 13% to 18% quarter-over-quarter increase in conventional DRAM contract prices for Q3 2026. We kept US prices out of the European table because US store prices usually exclude sales tax, while European consumer prices include VAT.
What PC builders should check before buying RAM
- Search by part number, not just specs. “32GB DDR5-6000 CL30” alone does not guarantee an identical kit.
- Verify stock. A low cached price does not help if the product cannot actually be ordered.
- Check the seller. Marketplace inventory and retailer-owned stock are not the same thing.
- Compare retailers after choosing the model. Our biggest gaps came from the same kit at different stores, not from switching brands.
Check the retailer after choosing the RAM
There was no universal winner among Kingston, Corsair and G.Skill. At Mindfactory, the three kits were only 2.2% apart; in the biggest same-kit gap we found, changing stores moved the price by 50.8%. Once you’ve picked the exact RAM kit you want, checking two or three retailers can matter more than switching between these three brands.
Sources and methodology: GTR original retailer price check conducted August 17, 2026 across 10 European markets, including CCL, AWD-IT, Mindfactory, Alternate, PcComponentes and Neobyte. Retailer prices and stock are point-in-time observations and may have changed since the check. Market context: TrendForce — Q3 2026 DRAM pricing forecast; U.S. historical comparison: Tom’s Hardware — August 17 DDR5 price tracking.