Gamer reports the “worst purchase of his PC-owning life” – but the community is wondering whether the product or the user is the problem

Amid the RAM crisis, PC enthusiasts are getting creative. But some solutions are more complicated than they sound.

The global memory crisis continues to have the hardware market in a stranglehold, and anyone who needs RAM these days must either dig deep into their pockets or get creative. Even then, however, problems can arise, as a recent case shows.

RAM Adapters Don’t Work

Prices for RAM have risen sharply since the fall of 2025. There is still no end in sight to the crisis. So anyone who needs RAM for a new PC or an upgrade these days is paying significantly more than just a short time ago.

One idea that many DIY enthusiasts keep coming back to is reusing RAM from laptops they no longer need in their PCs. However, due to the different sizes and architectures, a compatible adapter is absolutely necessary.

But Reddit user “oosma8587” learned the hard way that even an adapter doesn’t necessarily lead to the desired result. In his post, he writes that he and his brother bought RAM adapters on AliExpress. However, these don’t work.

You can find the post here:

Probably the worst purchase of my pc history
byu/oosma8587 inpcmasterrace

It’s not entirely clear whether the user actually knows that these are just adapters, since no RAM modules are visible in the picture, but he also doesn’t mention adapters. So maybe he simply installed adapters and was then surprised that it didn’t work.

But even if he installed and used the adapters correctly, it’s not unusual for everything not to work smoothly right away. RAM, in particular, tends to cause problems, and adding another component in between naturally doesn’t help.

One problem is that RAM communicates at extremely high frequencies and with very tight timings. Additional connectors can interfere with the signal here. Interference is particularly likely with cheap adapters.

Communication and the connection between the adapter and the motherboard can also be a source of errors, for example due to voltage differences or incompatible electrical profiles. In such a case, the system may refuse to boot.