Memory Inflation Lifts DGX Spark 128GB to $6,950 as Intel Widens Xeon 6+ Server Line
NVIDIA's DGX Spark 128GB jumps from a $3,999 launch price to about $6,950 while a new 64GB model arrives at $4,999 on 23 October, and ServeTheHome reports paying around $2,000 for 64GB ECC RDIMMs as Intel's 144-288 core Xeon 6+ stack reaches broader supply.
Memory cost inflation is now visibly repricing AI hardware at the low end of the market. NVIDIA has raised the DGX Spark 128GB/4TB to roughly $6,950, about 74% above the $3,999 at which the machine launched a little over a year ago, and is shipping a new 64GB configuration at $4,999 from Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP and MSI starting Friday 23 October. The 64GB model retains the ConnectX-7 200GbE networking of the 128GB version and two units can be clustered to 128GB for around $8,000, though ServeTheHome advises buyers to scale up to a single 128GB node rather than scale out where possible. For context, a GB300-based DGX Station still sells for around $100,000.
ServeTheHome attributes the jump squarely to memory. Its editors note they are now paying about $2,000 for 64GB ECC RDIMMs, so system pricing has to rise even as the value of the silicon climbs with better open-weight models and agentic workloads. The result is that a two-node GB10 cluster now costs more than a used eight-node cluster bought earlier in the year for roughly $3,000 per node, and the DGX Spark 128GB is now priced in the same range as AMD Gorgon Halo systems offering 192GB of memory.
Intel's server roadmap is broadening supply at the same time. Clearwater Forest, the first server chips built on Intel's 18A process, has been shipping for just over a quarter and production is finally reaching vendors beyond the hyperscalers, which typically get a quarter or more of lead time. The stack is deliberately narrow at four physical SKUs spanning 144 to 288 cores, all with two-socket support, 12 channels of DDR5 and MRDIMM memory, 96 PCIe lanes and Intel's Application Energy Telemetry, with no features gated behind specific parts.
Pricing runs from just over $4,600 for the 144-core Xeon 6960E+ to just under $15,000 for the flagship 288-core Xeon 6990E+, with the 6970E+ around $7,700 and the 6980E+ around $9,900; cores per $1,000 fall sharply up the stack, leaving the flagship at roughly a 63% per-core premium. Power is the other axis: the 6990E+ runs 288 cores at a 2.8GHz all-core turbo for a 450W TDP, dropping to 2.4GHz and 330W in low-TDP Speed Select mode, while the 144-core 6960E+ guarantees 2.4GHz base and 3.0GHz all-core turbo at 330W and offers the best cache and memory bandwidth per core at 3MB of L3 and about 5.34GB/s per core. Intel treats the generation partly as a pipe-cleaning exercise for 18A and Foveros Direct 3D packaging ahead of 2027's Diamond Rapids, and ServeTheHome notes that memory costs, not chip prices, often dominate total server pricing today.