Now Maingear has to sell PCs with BYO RAM deal as AI greed runs rampant

Maingear, the PC builder, has been forced to launch a new business initiative as the soaring RAM prices force its hand. “BYO RAM,” or “Bring Your Own RAM,” will let potential purchasers supply their own hardware for the build.

It’s not a new concept, but it is for something like Maingear, which will now let you buy RAM from elsewhere to slot in their machine. All you’ll need to do is send the RAM to them as they build your machine:

Have RAM already? Found a killer kit or sweet deal online? Place your order and send us your RAM, we’ll build it into your new MAINGEAR PC, test it, and tune it for performance and reliability.

Typically, I’ve only seen this option on niche, tinker-heavy devices. Things like Framework’s laptops can be configurable to ditch the RAM in case you don’t need it while upgrading.

The CEO of Maingear, Wallace Santos, had already warned to buy now (a couple of weeks ago) or risk facing high costs.

As pointed out by VideoCardz, this does feel a little too late on Maingear’s part. If they’re at the point where they’re having to run RAM-less deals, it could mean that they’ve hit a shortage and can’t find it for a reasonable price.

RAM prices have skyrocketed, so at the same time, it’s not entirely Maingear’s fault. This took everyone by surprise, especially as one of the three companies that produce DRAM chips has stepped away from the consumer business entirely.

Maingear is stuck because generative AI is ruining everything

As I’ve written about previously, all of this is due to the influx of data centers being planned for artificial intelligence. OpenAI has bought up 40% of RAM supply, as it tries to brute force scaling up its generative AI offerings.

However, it’s not known if OpenAI will make it through 2026, let alone see the hoarded RAM be put to use. The Sam Altman-led company is burning through capital at an astonishing rate. A good majority of the deals made, like the Disney $1 billion Sora deal, licensing its characters to the video generator, are done through stock warrants. OpenAI has no money.

This is the same with Broadcom, which has reported it won’t see “much” revenue from the deal in 2026. Again, because OpenAI is broke and riding the wind of potential gains.

They’re running out of options of where to scale through, turning to Amazon’s data centers. However, Amazon’s home-grown chips are said to be far worse than older Nvidia chips. This deal would be for $10 billion, alongside the $38 billion deal that it signed in November regarding Amazon Web Services.

Bearing in mind that while the generative AI industry pollutes the world to the point of poisoning towns, drives people insane, is a reason behind individuals losing brain activity, has not gained any of the cash or productivity promised, and ultimately, will never achieve what it was lied about to do, these data centers are mostly unbuilt.

It’s gotten to the point that investor Michael Burry is investigating whether hardware is just sitting in warehouses, awaiting something that might never come.

And then there’s Nvidia…

Nvidia also has the problem that its older chips are coming up on needing to be refreshed – for more money – leading to questions about whether or not these data centers will even be running what’s being hoarded at the moment.

If you want a good breakdown of what’s happening, Gamers Nexus has a very angry video about the AI situation. As prices are increasing, it’s looking likely that big tech is trying to coerce us to not own anything to do with a PC. Why buy a $2500 PC when you can rent a GPU for $20 a month?