Rambus memory to exceed 1GHz.
  06/15/2001 5:50:05 AM MDT Albuquerque, Nm
  By Dustin D. Brand; Owner AMO

Rambus is planning on introducing memory chips exceeding 1GHz in speed.   This Wednesday, RAMBUS unveiled its updated product road map for RDRAM (Rambus dynamic RAM), saying they plan to take the computer memory chips beyond existing frequencies of 800MHz to 1GHz and faster.

  In their new product plan, Rambus plans the introduction of PC1066 RDRAM chips, which run at a frequency slightly higher than 1GHz, and PC1200 RDRAM chips, which run at 1.2GHz. Both chips are substantially faster than existing PC800 RDRAM chips that run at 800MHz, said Steve Chan, vice president of partner and OEM marketing at Rambus. Frequency is the speed at which the memory interfaces, or communicates, with the rest of the computer system.

  Pentium 4 computers run only in conjunction with RDRAM, or Rambus memory.

  The new memory chips will be available in 2002 and 2005, respectively, according to Chan.

  Rambus also has faster 32-bit and 64-bit RIMMs (Rambus in-line memory modules) on its road map to provide memory throughput of up to 9.6GBps by 2005. RIMMs, which are the cards mounted with the memory chips, currently offer a maximum throughput of 1.6GBps.

  While RDRAM currently has the memory market for Pentium 4 processor-based computers locked in, SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) and DDR (double data rate) memory chips have recently begun to make progress elsewhere. Last week, Intel launched the first version of its 845 chip set for the Pentium 4 processor, which supports SDRAM, and is expected to introduce a second version of the 845 that supports DDR during the first quarter of next year. Currently, AMD uses DDR, and the new Microsoft XBOX also uses 256Bit DDR which boast a faster throughput on the memory bus than even these new Rambus Memory Chips.

  This recent move by Intel will allow Pentium 4-based PCs to use memory types other than RDRAM. While RDRAM is much faster than SDRAM, its performance edge over DDR memory is less marked, and DDR chips are generally cheaper than RDRAM chips. As I stated above, it is possible to "fine tune" the use of DDR in cases such as the XBOX to offer significant advantages over RDAM.

  On the subject of DDR, production is expected to account for 5 percent of Samsung's memory chip output by the end of 2001, representing 30 percent of total worldwide DDR production, while DDR currently accounts for less than 3 percent of current production.

  In comparison, RDRAM accounted for 25 percent of Samsung's memory chip production during May and this is expected to rise to 30 percent by year-end.

  While RDRAM does currently have an advantage with the P4, the recent move by Intel to introduce SDRAM and DDR capabilities will surely leave Rambus without the advantage. It has also been proven, as in the case with the XBOX, that DDR can be used to match or exceed Rambus' memory advantage today and probably also in 2005.

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