Intel to drop support of RAMBUS in new products...

[Athlon4all]

<< Easy for you to say if you don't have to deal with increasingly difficult signaling issues. DDR is a dead end. My friends and profs in EE all say that crosstalk, interference, and other physical issues are hindering parallel busses. While CPU speeds increased from 500 - 1000 - 1500 MHz, SDRAMs went from 100 to 133 and 266 MHz. It's very hard to make current SDRAMs run as fast as they do. >>

Well said! We may keep on hearing the possibility of DDR above 333MHz but, the truth is that DDR is really on it's last legs. I predict that the last SDRAM technology speed increase is going to be that to 166MHz, beyond that, I doubt there will ever be SDRAM devices that are having good enough yields to ever appear on the Retail market.

<< Last time I checked PC800 RDRAM prices are on par with DDR prices.
>>

They are. People need to get up to date and realize that DDR and PC800 are on equal grounds!!

<< Everything is a dead end, what's important is what will hold until something new comes out. RDdram's supposed technical superiority should have been suspect the moment P4 launched with the need for 2 sticks of RDdram. >>

What's that supposed to mean? The 850's need for 2 RIMM's at a time, has nothing to do with RDRAM technology. It has to do with the fact that 850 (along with i840, nVidia's nForce (that's right, a DDR platform needs 2 DIMM's:Q and the new Intel E7500 (another DDR platform that needs 2 DIMM's!). You know why? Because all of these platforms use dual channel memory controllers. I will also add that if you read Anand's 2nd IDF report, there is upcoming 32-bit RIMM's that with proper motherboard implementation, will allow you to use only 1 RIMM at a time.

<< And, we've all seen the benches at aces right? with the pc1066... >>

Not to mention the more recent THG benchys as well.

<< DDR-II is vaporware at this point. >>

It's in development lets put it that way, but it's still a few years off. There are really only 2 ways that DDR bandwidth will increase over the next few years, and they are QBM (which basically turns DDR into QDR (Quad Date Rate), and there was some suypport from it (partitcularly VIA who was going to implement it in P4X333 but has removed it from p4X333) but it's life seems to be up in the air at the moment.) and Dual Channel DDR, which I feel will be more expensive that a similar 850+PC1066 platform. I won't get into why, but IMHO RDRAM will all of a sudden become the "value" market. We'll see soon by juding the performance and prices of intel E7500 boards because it's that chipset's memory controller that will end up in Garniet Bay (Intel's Desktop DC DDR chipset).

 

[Novgrod]

The remaining questions: why don't ati and nvidia use rdram if it's so exquisite? Wouldn't they need the absolute highest quality ram available?

Furthermore, does Rambus even have an R&D department, or is it just lawyers at desks? If they do, why has pc800 been their staple since they started pushing the product? Where are these new and better RIMM sticks? certainly not on the market.

Don't forget I'm biased by my distaste for the company, but I honestly haven't heard any answers to the above questions. Mebbe haven't been looking in the right places . . .

 

[dullard]

<< The remaining questions: why don't ati and nvidia use rdram if it's so exquisite? Wouldn't they need the absolute highest quality ram available?

Furthermore, does Rambus even have an R&D department, or is it just lawyers at desks? If they do, why has pc800 been their staple since they started pushing the product? Where are these new and better RIMM sticks? certainly not on the market. >>



RDRAM was tested in video cards for a while. However the price was sky high and the video card makers switched to DDR.

PC800 hasn't been around that long. Going back in time there was PC700, PC600...

PC1066 and PC1200 have been shown to be up and running already. Rambus doesn't make memory remember, they have to wait for some memory manufactuer to start producing it - the timing is not within Rambus's control. RDRAM memory doesn't sell well when it isn't required by any products (no current motherboards require PC1066) - so no company has mass manufactuered it yet. Samsung and others have reported that they will start mass manufacturing PC1066 in the 1st quarter of 2002. That means we will see PC1066 within 1 month.

 

[ahsia]

Intel is to drop support for Rambus RDRAM memory in new Xeon workstations

I think this is only for Xeon processors.

 

[sandorski]

Athlon4all: True that the chipsets have dual memory controllers, but why? It would appear that neither RDdram or DDR are capable of providing sufficient performance for the P4s needs. Seems to be a band aid until someone can come out with a better memory tech. Let's not confuse the issue with the fact that DDR SDram also requires dual mem configurations either(which it only is required for the P4, kinda), SDram is the old tech here, RDdram is supposed to be the tech of the future.

 

[Pabster]

Novgrod wrote:

"Furthermore, does Rambus even have an R&D department, or is it just lawyers at desks?"

ROFLMAO It would certainly appear to be a group of lawyers masquerading as IP specialists

"If they do, why has pc800 been their staple since they started pushing the product? Where are these new and better RIMM sticks? certainly not on the market."

As someone has already mentioned, RAMBUSt is but an IP company. They don't manufacture RAM. Only design the technology and rely on third parties to manufacture it. Currently, not surprisingly, there isn't a wide selection in the RDRAM arena. Samsung was the first RDRAM "partner" and, IMHO, still the best. That said, Samsung PC800 today isn't capable of PC1066. If you're contemplating going with RDRAM when the "official" 533FSB Northwoods are released, don't purchase PC800 today to "prepare". Samsung will begin churning out official PC1066 modules very shortly.