No, DDR4 was not significantly more expensive than DDR3 at its launch.
No, DDR4 was not significantly more expensive than DDR3 at its launch.
I bought the 32GB DDR4 unit for roughly $700 in 2014. Back then, 32GB of DDR3 would have cost around $350.
But it wasn't as severe as DDR3's initial release. My first two 1GB DDR3 modules cost £150 in February 2008—just two months later they fell to £100. The same price for DDR2 seems less than half of that. However, these required 1.8V, which only worked on LGA775 Intel boards; LGA115x wouldn't support it, so the modules quickly became obsolete. The main advantage was being able to upgrade to cheaper 4x2GB 1.6GHz DDR3 later, extending the build's lifespan for less than what I paid for the original pair. I don't recall DDR4 having this issue and prices were higher, possibly around 1.5 to 2 times more. Honestly, I wouldn't worry until we have real pricing. It looks like it might be worse now, given the uncertainty of current costs and the ongoing chip shortage. We'll likely find out sooner than expected.