SATADIMM: an SSD for DDR3 memory slot

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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http://www.vikingmodular.com/products/flash/satadimm.asp

Viking Modular’s SATADIMM is designed to take advantage of available DDR3 DIMM sockets, deriving power from the 1.5V supply to the DIMM socket; eliminating the need for a power cable. Simply insert SATADIMM into any available DIMM socket, connect a SATA data cable and begin enjoying all the benefits of high performance SATA SSD. For new designs, system architects will appreciate that the SATA data signals can be routed directly to the socket thus eliminating the need for any cables. Furthermore, a socket can be easily and cost-effectively designed to be used for either DDR3 DRAM modules or SATADIMM operation.
Adding SATADIMM to any available 240-pin DIMM socket delivers the performance and power savings you want from a SSD at a fraction of the space required to house a typical 2.5” SSD.
Break free from traditional hard drive form factors with SATADIMM and explore a whole new world of design possibilities.
 

f4phantom2500

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2006
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So outside of new designs of mini-ITX or smaller mobos... who cares ?

i would think that this kind of product would reduce latencies and provide for a higher bandwidth cap than SATA...not sure if it would be notable though.
 

FishAk

Senior member
Jun 13, 2010
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Oh! Those are so cool! I'm gona hafta pull out some of my memory sticks, so I can have room for some of those.

It won't matter that my system will have to start paging right? Couse, like SSDs connected through the SATA port are just as fast as DDR3 going straight to the memory controller, right?

I'm glad there's a solution, couse I got no room in my case for any 1.8" drives. I won't even hafta worry bout connectin power.
 

alaricljs

Golden Member
May 11, 2005
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i would think that this kind of product would reduce latencies and provide for a higher bandwidth cap than SATA...not sure if it would be notable though.

Um no, cuz if you read the information presented, the data connection is still via SATA even if it's integrated to the motherboard and you're not using a cable.

This is just an extremely niche product that solves problems no one has. Except Fish... he needs several of these.
 

fluffmonster

Senior member
Sep 29, 2006
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if you read the information presented, they anticipate availability of data connection through the DIMM slot. that would indeed be very cool...fewer cables is win.
 

alaricljs

Golden Member
May 11, 2005
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if you read the information presented, they anticipate availability of data connection through the DIMM slot. that would indeed be very cool...fewer cables is win.

Yeah, data connected via the dimm slot pins TO SATA. I did read it, did you?
 

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Oh! Those are so cool! I'm gona hafta pull out some of my memory sticks, so I can have room for some of those.

It won't matter that my system will have to start paging right? Couse, like SSDs connected through the SATA port are just as fast as DDR3 going straight to the memory controller, right?

These would not be seen as "system memory".
There'd be no functional difference from "regular SSD's".
Plus: re-designed motherboards could allow for the elimination of the need for a SATA connector cable for these SSD modules.
More convenient than installing "regular SSD's", but with identical functionality. No affect on existing DDR3 configuration.
The only downside: loss of ability for adding real DDR3 memory for one portion of the motherboard. For many, or most, X58 boards having six DDR3 slots: not much of a drawback.
 
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pitz

Senior member
Feb 11, 2010
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This product is interesting from the perspective of using it to validate firmware for large DIMM support.

Personally, I would think that trying to use this product in any serious way in a DDR3 slot would be a) too slow, b) too short of lifespan. But it would be a test fixture that I'd hope motherboard manufacturers would buy to validate their firmware for large DDR3 module support.
 

alaricljs

Golden Member
May 11, 2005
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Is no one reading the quoted blurb OR the page?

This in NO way does anything at all with the DRAM data interface. It uses the POWER portion of the DIMM slot and in a properly engineered motherboard would use data pins routed to a SATA interface.

The boards this is interesting for don't have many (enough?) DIMM slots to begin with. Those would be the small and really small form factor stuff. Mini-ITX and smaller.