In the same boat actually. Helping a friend with a build and RAM is ridiculous right now. crappy slower 2x16 kits costing $350 and far beyond. Their desired upper end CPU is less than most RAM kits. I was trying to find a middle ground for them with 2x24 but I can’t even find those kits anymore. Doesn’t help that these days 32 is recommended for some games, let alone aminimum for productivity software. I got lucky when I built. Prices were bad (~150 for 2x24!!) but shot up not even days after I built last month and my kit hasn’t even been in stock since I got it.

This bubble can’t burst soon enough…

I feel that. When I got my 512 deck I was worried about SD cards and game performance for my more demanding games. I haven’t tried it yet but I’ve seen those NVME enclosures with PD pass-through. Have you ever considered those before? I know it’s capped at what USB-C ports can deliver but I’m pretty sure it’s better than an SD card…