Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1vr7s56/psa_if_your_ram_dies_after_prices_have_exploded/

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/pcmasterrace by /u/Shimano-No-Kyoken on 2026-08-17 23:00:45+00:00.

I had a Corsair 96 GB (2×48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 kit die on me recently. One DIMM simply stopped POSTing; swapping both sticks into the same known-good slot made the diagnosis pretty conclusive.

I bought the kit from Finnish retailer last year for roughly €350. The problem is that comparable 96 GB kits now cost something like €1700+, and that's if you're damn lucky. So the last thing I wanted was for a warranty claim to end with “here’s your €350 back, have fun replacing it.” I use this rig for work, and it's kind of a double whammy having to wait with no functioning rig (lost productivity), _and_ paying out the ass for a replacement.

Before sending the RAM in, I explicitly asked the retailer whether they would replace the kit rather than refund it.

This turned out to be a very good idea. Their response was essentially: "We recommend contacting Corsair directly. If handled through us, warranty claims for memory kits are currently resolved with a refund, because availability is limited and memory prices have increased significantly".

So if I had just followed the automated RMA instructions and mailed the kit to the retailer, I would apparently have ended up with my original ~€350 back and no RAM.

So naturally I reached out to Corsair.

Corsair immediately accepted it as a warranty case and offered both standard RMA and Advanced RMA. With Advanced RMA, I temporarily paid the current MSRP, they shipped the replacement first, and I returned my defective kit afterward. Once Corsair received the old kit, they refunded the whole temporary charge.

My exact original model was no longer available, so Corsair replaced it with a 96 GB DDR5-6600 CL32 kit, so I effectively went: €350 DDR5-6000 CL30 kit dies -> €1700-ish DDR5-6600 CL32 replacement arrives -> send old kit back -> temporary charge fully refunded, and I never had to go without usable RAM while waiting. Corsair support was genuinely excellent throughout the process.

There’s also a slightly amusing economic incentive here. A retailer refunding an old purchase made before a massive price increase is obviously vastly cheaper for the retailer than sourcing an equivalent replacement at today's price. And, hypothetically, if a retailer can subsequently warranty the defective kit with the manufacturer and receive replacement hardware, you can see how spectacularly attractive the arrangement becomes:

1. Customer gets refunded €350
2. Manufacturer supplies replacement worth ~€1700
3. Replacement becomes inventory.
4. ????
5. PROFIT

So yeah, thanks to Corsair.