X
Tech

Want 1.5TB of RAM in your PC? It will cost you!

It might seem insane, but there are certain situations where having 1.5TB of RAM might be useful (and no, it isn't so you can have a few Google Chrome tabs open!).
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor

Apple's new Mac Pro can be kitted out with a whopping 1.5TB of RAM. But you don't need to have a Mac Pro to have that amount of RAM because there are many server and workstation boards available that can accommodate that amount of RAM.

But how much does that amount of RAM cost? 

Short answer -- a lot!

Must read: Apple has let down every iPhone user

Motherboards now available that can be loaded out with 1.5TB of RAM have 12 slots for RAM stick, so to get to the 1.5TB mark you will need a dozen 128GB DDR4 ECC RAM sticks. 

And as you can imagine, this isn't the normal run-of-the-mill RAM that you can pick up from anywhere. 

And they're not cheap.

I've done some shopping around, and the best pricing I can find puts these 128GB RAM sticks at about $1,500. 

Each. Yes, each.

Some back of the envelope math -- or math in your head if you are good at that sort of thing -- put the price of 1.5TB of RAM at a cool $18,000.

For that, you could get a dozen 512BG iPhone XS Max handsets.

If you want a more modest amount of RAM, say 768GB, then the price comes down significantly, as a 64GB DDR4 ECC RAM stick is only -- only! -- $370. That means a dozen sticks come in at a more reasonable $4,440. 

Yes, RAM is expensive.

Read more: How much RAM does your Windows PC really need?

Build your own $20,000 Windows 10 workstation

What do you think? Let me know below!

Editorial standards