s950 ram cards. why so rare?

I'm trying to get hold of a new ram card for s950, not for myself, but a friend has a poorly s950 and all the troubles he's had with it all boil down to bad ram card... tests such as sample memory % have been carried out and all this other logical stuff.

Not heard much about the actual ram cards being faulty on the internet but it's not impossible. Anyway, why has it become so hard this year to get them? is everyone going for them as soon as they pop up on ebay?

also, what happened about this proposal of NEW boards being made so you didn't have to get your hands on the old official ones? I forget the name, dope stuff? some guys like that tried to make new boards I heard but since then I've not seen them to buy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-Akai-S-950-512K-Memory-RAM-board-TESTED-AND-WORKING-/161440878256?pt=US_Pro_Audio_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2596a04eb0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/512K-words-MEMORY-EXPANSION-CARD-for-AKAI-S950-New-Condition-/261609867752?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ce929c9e8

It's a hefty price, but they are a bit rare, always have been IMO.

There was a french dude selling expansions, but i think that's over.

You could also send this guy a PM, it's worth a try.
http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=164603

S950 ram upgrades are pretty easy to find thanks to those people who have reverse engineered them. Thank the Italians, French and japanese!!

thanks guys