How long before home computers have 1 TB of RAM?

[gorcorps]

I can see it now.. people will still bitch about firefox using 400MB of RAM even when their system has 1TB.

No, what you're going to see happen is what has been happening already... ram gets cheap and most people have 4+gigs. The more ram people have, the more ram your software can take up which is leading to some god awful memory leaks and terrible optimization. It seems to me some developers aim to use X% of average ram instead of shooing for X MB of total ram use. So as time goes on and the average increases and devs don't have to polish as much, because they're under X% already.

Just wait... the day we have 1TB of ram is the day FF is taking 100GB of memory.

 

[spidey07]

Storage, memory, network consumption tends to at least double every two years.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I think we've reached the point where people truly don't "need" any more. We've reached the point where computing power is vastly more powerful than what we use it for. The only real bottlenecks these days is Hard Drive access times, and internet connections. Webpages load almost instantly, programs open in less than a second.

I don't doubt we'll get to 1TB of RAM. But I think that number will be reached using non-volatile magnetic RAM and used for Storage. At that point, we don't even need RAM because the storage medium itself is fast enough for random access.

 

[BoberFett]

It will probably be 20 to 30 years or more.

You do have to wonder though, what kind of data structures would the average desktop computer deal with that required that kind of memory? I'm sure someday games could no doubt use that kind of RAM, virtual worlds will only get more detailed. What else would drive the need?

 

[spidey07]

It will probably be 20 to 30 years or more.

You do have to wonder though, what kind of data structures would the average desktop computer deal with that required that kind of memory? I'm sure someday games could no doubt use that kind of RAM, virtual worlds will only get more detailed. What else would drive the need?

super-duper HD video, running everything from ram/no need for virtual memory, etc. Hell, they way Microsoft is going you'll need that to open a spreadsheet.:biggrin:

 

[Chaotic42]

I know it's a bit out there, but if true 3D displays ever take off, 1TB will be nothing. Imagine 2560x2560x2560@24bpp displays.

 

[Oyeve]

I would say at least 10 years. Liek someone else posted, memory leaks and defects would be super high. Not to mention frequency issues.

 

[vi edit]

I don't doubt we'll get to 1TB of RAM. But I think that number will be reached using non-volatile magnetic RAM and used for Storage. At that point, we don't even need RAM because the storage medium itself is fast enough for random access.

That's where I think we'll move first. With 128 gig SSD's being made available for $100 now (Crucial M4's at Newegg today) the line gets blurred between RAM and hard drive storage. Sure the SSD is still several controllers away, and it's still fractions as quick for access than RAM...but it's still night and day faster than a platter based mechanical drive.

As those devices continue to drop in cost, increase in capacity and speed, and the hardware & software developers continue to work with them we'll move to a consolidated memory medium like you mentioned. You'll still keep some ultra quick memory reserved for temporary use, but almost everything else will be stored on a dynamic solid state memory with very high capacities and very fast write/access speeds.

The one hurdle they'll have to cross is the finite number of writes that current SSD's can provide. Using them for application data making constant writes to them would kill them quickly.

 

[Oyeve]

Do SSDs get hot? Like scorching hot? I havent jumped on them yet (except for one notebook I have) and with prices coming down I think in a fews years SSD raid will be affordable and would love to go that route.

 

[vi edit]

Do SSDs get hot? Like scorching hot? I havent jumped on them yet (except for one notebook I have) and with prices coming down I think in a fews years SSD raid will be affordable and would love to go that route.

Nope. They use about 1/10th the power that conventional mechanical drives do. They run cool, silent, and motionless.

 

[gorcorps]

With 128 gig SSD's being made available for $100 now (Crucial M4's at Newegg today)

What? How? I only see 125

 

[vi edit]

What? How? I only see 125

http://slickdeals.net/f/4349734-Cru...-MLC-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-SSD-1pm-99-99

 

[gorcorps]

http://slickdeals.net/f/4349734-Cru...-MLC-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-SSD-1pm-99-99

Thanks, I also saw it in HD right after I posted

 

[jhu]

You can put 1 TB in your computer now (although they'll probably go unused since they won't be seated in a memory socket...)

 

[spidey07]

I'll need that much memory so I can create my own cloud. Then I can put a cloud in my could while I cloud compute.

 

[Barfo]

When we need to edit and encode 3497439p 4D videos.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Actually the point of this thread was to suggest a migration from SSDs to RAM for the OS and program storage, with mechanical / ssd in asynchronous RAID for backup.

And 4TB hd's to store the mp3s, videos, Iso's, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145563

The main benefit being the ultimate level of speed, lack of wear, secure wipes for security, etc.

 

[BladeVenom]

That's yet another reason why Microsoft sucks. They'd never be able to get away with screwing consumers with artificial limits like that if they didn't hold a virtual monopoly on the desktop.

Fuck you Microsoft.

 

[spidey07]

That's yet another reason why Microsoft sucks. They'd never be able to get away with screwing consumers with artificial limits like that if they didn't hold a virtual monopoly on the desktop.

Fuck you Microsoft.

The virtual desktop is a big buzz in the industry right now. thin clients are making a comeback where memory size of the host is key.

 

[3chordcharlie]

You obviously want someone to quote you 20-30 years from now.

Why would I want to wait that long? I got you to quote me today

 

[child of wonder]

for home users? i dont think that is true.

corporate yes i can agree with you, i just upgraded my VMware servers to 128gb of ram.

I'm just talking about the maximum RAM high end consumer motherboards can support. Lots of new motherboards support 32GB maximum today but it will be years before it's common to see someone with that much RAM installed.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I'm just talking about the maximum RAM high end consumer motherboards can support. Lots of new motherboards support 32GB maximum today but it will be years before it's common to see someone with that much RAM installed.

64GB is the max for consumer right now if you're on the X79 platform, though 8GB DIMMs are very expensive.

 

[FelixDeCat]

64GB is the max for consumer right now if you're on the X79 platform, though 8GB DIMMs are very expensive.

No they're not. You can get them for $50 each. When IB comes out I think most high end boards will be using 4x8 quad channel or 32GB total. If you are rich you can buy 16GB modules right now and sport 64GB when IB is released.

16gb module, $198 each (server ram):

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Value...ata/B005NHRLQQ

...and its only going to get cheaper.

 

[BabaBooey]

It will never happen, as 640GB will be enough for anyone.

Will not happen anytime soon.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think it will be at least 10 years. Personally I say never because we'll never need it, but Bill Gates also said 640k aught to be enough for anybody. So we all know what happens when we think we'll never need more of something.

1TB of ram is already possible with servers, so I could very well see it at some point for PCs. Especially if games come to a point where they are insanely life like. It would take that much memory to store stuff like all the AI thoughts and all that. By then Windows will probably take up like 1TB of space and 100GB of ram so 1TB of ram is not THAT unrealistic.

But I do think there is a certain curve and we are probably at a point where the curve is not going up at a rate like it was 10 years ago. Even when you look at things like Ghz and disk space. though disk space is still going up at a decent rate.

Now it seems the advancements are more lateral. Instead of making something have higher numbers (ex: cpu Ghz), we're making it better (ex: more cores, more cache, etc).