A number of new servers powered by Intel’s recently launched 18-core Xeon E5-2600 v3 (Grantley) chip were announced at IDF 2014. AsIDG’s Agam Shah notes, the servers, debuted by Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo and IBM, are the very first to pack DDR4 memory.
“[DDR4] delivers a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in bandwidth and 35 percent reduction in power consumption compared to DDR3 memory, currently in servers,” Shah explained.
“Internal data transfers will be faster with DDR4, and in-memory applications like databases – where a lot of processing takes place in DRAM – are expected to benefit as a result.”
According to Loren Shalinsky, a Strategic Development Director at Rambus, the pairing of DDR4 with Intel’s Grantley chips is just the start of DDR4’s wider deployment in the market.
“Our expectation is that DDR4 will ramp on the server side – both in terms of x86 and ARM – before finding its way into desktop PCs, laptops, and consumer applications like digital TVs and set-top boxes,” he said.
“Concurrently, the cost of DDR4 will steadily decrease, ultimately reaching price parity with DDR3 when it will become the de-facto choice for consumer products.”
As Shalinsky notes, Rambus is already looking beyond the conventional DDR4 paradigm with its R+ technology to extend main memory, with techniques such as near ground signaling, module threading and dynamic point-to-point.
Indeed, recent R+ ‘Beyond DDR’ test silicon successfully demonstrated 6.4Gbps data rates with single ended signaling, multi-rank/multi-DIMM support.
“We’ve also found that R+ offers 5% better DRAM power efficiency and zero DRAM idle power dissipation,” he added.
Interested in learning more about Rambus technology is helping to shatter the conventional DDR4 barrier? You can read about R+DDR4 multi-modal memory PHY here, near ground signaling here, module threading here and dynamic point-to-point tech here.
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