Why PC Tiers Recommends Waiting Before Building a New PC

PC Tiers currently advises against building a new PC because memory (RAM) and SSD prices have spiked dramatically. The site cites supply shortages caused by AI companies buying up as much memory as possible, and states that RAM and SSD prices are now 5–7x more expensive than they were toward the end of 2025. Its recommendation is to wait until the situation settles, and it notes it will not be updating its builds much during this period because the volatile pricing throws off the numbers.

What triggered the warning

The notice on PC Tiers is titled "Memory and SSD Pricing Crisis" and opens with a blunt assessment: "This is a VERY bad time to be building a new PC."

The stated cause is demand-side, not a manufacturing failure:

• AI companies are buying as much memory as they can, creating supply shortages.
• Those shortages have pushed RAM and SSD prices up sharply.
• The site puts the increase at 5–7x compared with late 2025 pricing.

This matters for builders because RAM and storage are two components every build needs, and they are usually among the cheaper line items. When both multiply in price at once, the total cost of a build rises even if the CPU, GPU, motherboard, and power supply stay at normal prices.

Why the site paused its build updates

PC Tiers publishes tiered gaming PC builds with itemized prices — for example, a Tier 1 budget entry build listed at roughly $650 and a Tier 2 performance entry build at roughly $930, each broken down by CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, SSD, PSU, cooler, and case.

That format depends on prices being reasonably stable. The site explains that the memory pricing situation "throws off a lot" and that "the pricing is very volatile," which is why it says it will not be updating the builds much for now. In other words, the builds themselves aren't necessarily wrong — the price tags attached to them would go stale quickly, and a build guide whose totals swing week to week stops being a reliable reference.

The page carries an update date of March 2nd, 2026, so the warning reflects conditions as of that point rather than a permanent policy.

What this means if you're planning a build

The advice is conditional, not absolute. A few practical implications:

• If you can wait, the site's position is to hold off until memory and SSD pricing comes back down.
• If you need a PC now, expect RAM and SSD to take up a much larger share of your budget than the tiered builds assume, and treat any listed total as a floor rather than a firm estimate.
• If you're comparing builds, check component prices yourself rather than relying on the site's itemized figures during this window, since those are the numbers the site says it isn't maintaining.

The site also flags a separate, build-specific caution unrelated to the memory situation: for the Arc B580 GPU in its Tier 1 build, it says not to buy above MSRP, that the card should be around $250, and not to pay more than $260. That's a reminder that even outside the RAM/SSD spike, individual components can be priced above what a build guide considers reasonable.

The short version

PC Tiers recommends waiting because AI-driven memory demand has driven RAM and SSD prices to 5–7x their late-2025 levels, and that volatility makes its price-based build guides unreliable to maintain. The builds still exist as reference configurations; what's on hold is the pricing confidence behind them.