Rambus to block P4 DDR/SDRAM chipset!!!! Plus, an interview with Rambus VP!

[Modus]

This whole mess with Rambus was perfectly fine until they became a patent-pimp and started litigating perfectly good SDRAM manufacturers to force them by way of legal detterent ("sure we have no right to sue you, but we have so many lawyers and so much time -- we don't actually do anything but sue people -- that we can afford to drag this out until Brook Shields finally looses that terrible series&quot to pay hefty royalties on SDRAM, a technology that Rambus literally stole from an industry roundtable ten years ago.

They waited until they had a competing (but lesser and ultimately doomed) technology in RDRAM, and then sicked the lawyers on everybody claiming prior SDRAM patents. This means that no matter how much we support the right side of the issue, sooner or later all SDRAM manufacturers will have to settle with Rambus and pass that on to the consumer, since no one, not even Intel it seems, is able to compete in the courts with that corrupt bastion of patent pimping.

Modus

 

[Sir Fredrick]

If you think RAMBUS will ultimately win on the SDRAM/DDR SDRAM crap, stock up on memory now.

If Intel can't make/market a DDR SDRAM compatible chipset and they already have it in the works, why not give it to VIA? Sure they lose some money but at least they still guarantee DDR support, which is much needed.

Not that I care, since I'd love to have a Thunderbird

 

[NOX]

You know what I find to be so strange is the fact it is taking so long to discredit Rambuses SDR/DDR patents. I mean, if there is no legitimacy to those patents wouldn?t you think lawyers from the other manufactures would have proven that by now? What gets me worried is that some of the largest SDR/DDR manufacturers are willing to pay them Rambus royalties for SDR/DDR.

What I would like to know is are those patents prevailing over JEDEC?

 

[Dulanic]

Don't you guys get it? Rambus is saying they OWN the SDRAM patents.... so they can stop ANYONE from making SDRAM PERIOD if someone doesnt win a legal battle with them. Rambus right now could go and tell VIA no more SDRAM chipsets only RDRAM.... they are trying to FORCE everyone to use RDRAM and Intel is JUST the start. I would bet my life that if Rambus wins their legal battles EVERYTHING will be RDRAM even AMD next year. Cause if Rambus wins their legal battles they can tell ANYONE to stop making SDRAM PERIOD. Of corse if that happens you KNOW everyone will get together and make a whole new memory standard just to stop Rambus.

 

[Leo V]

ROFL!! I'm getting as much a kick out of this thread as from the news themselves.

You know what this reminds me of? DooM the original. You have the massive Cyberdemon (aka Chipzilla), and a small but invisible and ultra-annoying Spectre (aka Rambust). First both are attacking the human (AMD) player, then Chipzilla accidentally steps on Rambust, and the sparks fly! Funnier than the Palm Beach fiasco if your nerves can take it!!

 

[Muerto]

That has got to be the lamest thing I have ever seen. The P4 hasn't got a prair without SDRAM. It's as simple as that.

 

[arthurb1]

Freakin' Armenians!!!! (I am one too) This guy is giving us a bad name...(the VP of mrkting at RAMBUS)

 

[Rigoletto]

Muerto get real the P4 hasn't got a chance WITH SDRAM. At least not until Intel does something crazy like sell it at no profit.
The SSE2 extensions are highly contentious as a way of compensating for som very poor clock for clock x86 performance. Bandwidth is all the P4 setup has going for it.

 

[WetSprocket]

I thought the whole thing about RDRAM was that it was expensive and was slower than SDRAM. Now that it is relatively cheap and with dual channels is fast what's the problem?(I'm talking RDRAM the technology not the company) Personaly I dont like the company. RAMBUS is SUCK. As long as they lose their challenge against SDRAM makers I could care less. I'm not being forced to use an overpriced slower technology(yet). If things keep going the way they are, the whole mess will take care of itself.

 

[JellyBaby]

RDRAM can get dirt cheap and I will still avoid it due to Rambus the Company who's practices I detest. So long as there is a relatively cheap alternative with comparable performance, I will opt for that over Scambus. My perogative.

 

[BoberFett]

WetSprocket

64 MB @ $339 from Mushkin is not cheap. It still costs 5x what SDRAM does at current prices. And it still really isn't all that fast. SDRAM is proven as fast or faster when used with Athlon or P3 CPUs, and is only really viable when used with i850 and P4. For the time being, RDRAM is still suck.

 

[Dulanic]

Dual Channel DDR SDRAM would be faster.... PC2100 is 2.1GB/sec.... double that and you have 4.2.... compared to RDRAMs 3.2.. And NVidia Crush chipset will offer that Dual Channel DDR support.

 

[Rogue]

I think you all give Rambus waaayyy too much credit. You mean to tell me that Intel's lawyers aren't chomping at the bit to screw Rambus! C'mon, Rambus needs Intel, Intel doesn't need Rambus here! Intel could squash Rambus easily. Where there's a loophole, there's an Intel lawyer there to blow it wide open. They will eat Rambus for lunch.

Even funnier is when someone said that Rambus could force SDRAM makers to produce solely RDRAM. What kind of crack have you been smoking!!! Patent or no patent, no judge in his right mind is going to put a stop to a multi-billion dollar segment of business just because one company says they should have control of it. HELLO! RING! RING! Answer the phone!!! That will never happen. This is not a David (Rambus) vs. Goliath (Intel) thing here, this is a David vs. Goliath and all his mean SOB friends who give a damn about market share and customer demand. You can't actually believe that Intel, AMD, Nvidia, 3dfx, Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM and every other major OEM is going to let one company control memory development and production, can you? If you do, put down the pipe and step away slowly. Those companies alone would gang rape Rambus in court!!!

 

[NOX]

BoberFett,

Mushkin is not the only company who sells RIMMS. I don?t think anyone in there right mind would be dumb enough to buy it at the price Mushkin is asking. You can get 128MB of Kingston RIMM PC600 w/ECC for $149

<< You can't actually believe that Intel, AMD, Nvidia, 3dfx, Dell, Compaq, HP, IBM and every other major OEM is going to let one company control memory development and production, can you? If you do, put down the pipe and step away slowly. Those companies alone would gang rape Rambus in court!!! >>

So what?s taking them so long to ?gang rape Rambus in court!!!??? Also, why is Dell still offering RIMMs in their high level platforms with the P4, well that?s easy, current the P4 only supports RIMMs? Dell has already shipped thousands of these systems, and so has HP, Compaq, Gateway etc. The biggest market is the OEM market, and not us.

Don?t get my wrong, I?m not defending Rambus, but some of you are way to paranoid. There is no way in HELL Rambus will force SDR/DDR makers to stop making SDR/DDR components. Only time will tell the outcome. My only big concern is whether or not Rambus holds clear to those SDR/DDR patents which they currently possess, which big memory manufactures are currently willing to paying royalties for, and that?s what scares me.

 

[Rogue]

NOX, I agree with you on everything but one point, Compaq, Dell and HP sell far more systems with SDRAM than they do the high-end RDRAM machines. They are not gonna let one tiny company cut into that market share where cheap is the key to success and SDRAM fits that bill nicely. Royalties, BAH!

 

[NOX]

<< Compaq, Dell and HP sell far more systems with SDRAM than they do the high-end RDRAM machines. They are not gonna let one tiny company cut into that market share where cheap is the key to success and SDRAM fits that bill nicely. Royalties, BAH! >>

I agree 100%, just my point was as long as these giant OMEs continue to offer RDRAM, Rambus will be hanging around. Their business practices, well we all know where they can shove that. That?s why I think most of use are eager to see what happens in the coming months or even weeks, with Rambus and Intel. If Intel has a way, well I think we can all assume what may happen.

 

[Zorba]

Surely some of these companies have better lawyers than RAMBUST.

Anyways, I personally think if RAMBUS does take over the RAM market by sueing everyone (I mean trying to control SDR/DDR), the DOJ will step in at some point. I would love to see that case .

BTW: As long as the memory manufacturers fight the battles, they should be able to keep everything tied up in appeals until SDR/DDR is dead.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Mabey there is a connection between M$ and Rambus, LOL. And mabey AMD is partners with Rambus in an evil plan to ruin Intel!! That would be funny.

 

[Auric]

Enough school-girl trash talk. Rambus out Intel'd Intel and Intel deserves what they get because they were only looking out for themselves and reckoned the deal was a good way to smoke the competition (in the biblical sense). Rambus is intellectual property and the engineers who created it, not lawyers. Most of the high-tech biz is the same, especially design companies without their own manufacturing capabilities.

 

[SJ]

They don't have to win, several of the memory companies have already agreed to give Rambus an undisclosed amount of royalties. Rambus has wide sweeping patent claims, and they do plan to sue any company that they stand to profit from.

 

[Dulanic]

<< Even funnier is when someone said that Rambus could force SDRAM makers to produce solely RDRAM. What kind of crack have you been smoking!!! Patent or no patent, no judge in his right mind is going to put a stop to a multi-billion dollar segment of business just because one company says they should have control of it. >>



Actually by law they could for sure try. But everyone would fight back and most likely someone would beat them. But if they win all their cases that they own the patents.... they could very easily tell the chipset makers that they cant use it anymore.... thats EXACTLY what they are telling Intel, and they could tell the rest the exact same thing. I never said stop making SDRAM all together, that would never happen. But they could make RDRAM the only choice of future chipsets if noone beats them.

 

[PCAddict]

The seemingly endless stream of litigation on the part of Rambus is getting rather tiresome, not unlike the seemingly endless stream of litigation regarding the election which is taking place in our court system. I'll be much happier when both of them come to an end.

 

[Scitex]

I think everyone should just write Rambus and let them know what we think (not that they give a sh*t, but just to annoy them and give their mail server a workout)

pr@rambus.com
Linkified

 

[Buddha Bart]

You can get 128MB of Kingston RIMM PC600 w/ECC for $149

PC600 are you barking mad? Read up on it! It would be about as dumb as using pc66 in a p3 EB system (pretending that the two can run that asyncrounusly)

bart

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Intel's agreement only requires that 20% of their total chipset shipments support RAMBUST.

Also, why do you think Intel let VIA off the hook?

Last but not least, don't forget the nVidia chipset ...

Intel is taking a hit for us by letting some of its chipset business go to others. No big deal really, as Intel needs the fab capacity for other more profitable silicon ... shoot, TSMC is already fabbing part (ICH2) of the i815.