The Inquirer

Sandisk and Toshiba team up on 3D memory

Sylvie Barak — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:50:46 GMT

Sylvie Barak , Wednesday 18 June 2008. 15:28:00

The mirage of 3D memory glitters in the distance

SANDISK AND TOSHIBA are teaming up in a quest to finally bring some long awaited re-writeable 3D memory to market. The news broke as Sandisk filed a U.S. stock market regulator report late on Tuesday, which notes that the two firms will contribute to and cross license technology for 3D memory chip development and production. About time too. The 3D memory chip dream actually goes way back, with a company called Matrix already having discovered how to stack memory arrays vertically and not just horizontally, back in 2001. The discovery, which had incredible potential for lowering costs and boosting the amounts of memory able to be stored on a chip significantly, sadly never really took off, despite Matrix's partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC)....

Sandisk and Toshiba team up on 3D memory

Sylvie Barak — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:48:33 GMT

Sylvie Barak the Inquirer, Wednesday 18 June 2008. 15:28:00

The mirage of 3D memory glitters in the distance

Micron's spud king is dead

Nick Farrell — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:56:08 GMT

Nick Farrell , Monday 26 May 2008. 12:55:00

Simplot has had his chips

THE MAN behind Micron, potato billionaire Billionaire J.R. Simplot has died. He was 99. Simplot, who was big man in spuds, made it to number 80 on Forbes magazine's 2006 list of richest Americans, with an estimated wealth of $3.2 billion. In 1971, Simplot decided to put some of the money he had made flogging potatos in a little outfit called Micron, which wanted to make computer chips. He spent more than 20 million on a manufacturing plant and helped it to become a major producer of DRAM memory chips. He did not make as much money out of Micron as he did out of being the man who flogged chips to MacDonalds....

High capacity DDR3-2000 cometh

Nebojsa Novakovic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:56:07 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic , Friday 30 May 2008. 07:19:00

Farewell to 1 GB enthusiast DDR3 DIMMs?

WHILE ITS PRICING slowly comes down to earth, DDR3 memory is still way more expensive than its older, just a bit slower DDR2 cousins. Now, if it's high-end users buying those DDR3 DIMMs due to the price, it would mean the memories go into the high-end PC boxen. And, this year, such systems start at 4 GB RAM - before long, you'll see more of them with 8 GB, and then, with Nehalem's triple channel config, even 12 GB. So, what's the point then of overpaying for, say, a Nforce 790i Ultra mobo with two 9800GX2 or GTX280 cards and then, just plug in two equally expensive 1 GB DDR3-2000 sticks when Vista GUI alone will eat all of that? Your games will start swapping in no time....

Kingston Skulltrail OC FB-DIMMs

Nebojsa Novakovic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:56:07 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic , Friday 30 May 2008. 16:08:00

First INQpressions Kingston HyperX 4x1GB FBD-800 kit

SINCE SKULLTRAIL WAS INTRODUCED it was obvious that an overclocked dual-CPU platform with overclockable dual FSB will also need some overclockable memory to boot - pun intended. We're looking at dual 4+ GHz processors with eight cores total, and FSB supposed to go well above 1600 MHz throughput - two of them at that. However, due to their AMB buffer chips, FB-DIMMs in their current DDR2 variant are darn hot as they are - even the old 1.8 volt FBD-667 can be hot enough to burn your fingertips when you just touch them at the edge! And that is with a fully open, well fanned enclosure....

OCZ, Corsair and Gskill fight speed and density battle

Nebojsa Novakovic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:56:07 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic , Wednesday 4 June 2008. 14:48:00

Computex 08 Happy memories...

EVEN AS INTEL announced its new-generation DDR3-optimised mainstream P45 and G45 chipsets - finally - the memory itself hasn't yet become mainstream in its pricing. While some vendors like Kingston and Corsair will emphasise their 'value' DDR3 module price-to-performance ratio, the overall focus is still on that second feature - performance. And, oh yes, add capacity to it. As we mentioned before, high capacity DDR3 modules in 2 x 2GB kits would have reached DDR3-2000 speeds, as Corsair and OCZ already offer by now. Take a look at some of the interesting offerings here - a comparison between Corsair 4GB DDR3-2000 CL9 kit on an Asus Striker II Extreme mobo mentioned earlier by Charlie and zoomed in this time, vs, say, OCZ's water-cooled DDR3-2000 kit: And, not to forget, our favourite hard-core gamer John "Fatal1ty" was there at the OCZ booth promoting their new mainstream "Fatal1ty" branded memory - and no, obviously this is not Jonathan, but the lovely Jessica from OCZ holding it....

OCZ does 3GB memory kits

Charlie Demerjian — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:56:07 GMT

Charlie Demerjian , Friday 6 June 2008. 05:33:00

Computex 2008 Work around Windows problems

OCZ HAD ONE product at Computex that made me sit up and scratch my head, a 3GB memory kit. On top of that was the usual unusual assortment of memory and toys. Nova already showed you the Fatality RAM, but there are several other new lines as well. The first is called Fortress, and it is a knockoff of the Corsair Survivor line. It was only shown in prototype form, but the similarity was pretty clear. Look for it in 4-32G capacities in the near future. Prototype Fortress stick They also had two other new lines, the Spyder, a variant on the small stick idea that is currently in vogue, and Diesel, a low cost part....

A-Data's got a thick pipe

Nebojsa Novakovic — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:56:07 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic , Friday 6 June 2008. 17:15:00

Computex 2008 Very fat memory watercooling tubes

ENTHUSIAST memory vendors here have been trying to find ways of attracting top dollar in an otherwise overcrowded market. On one side, you got super-duper modules with, as our previous story showed, DDR3-2000 and above becoming commonplace - even in the high-capacity realm. On the other hand, you have to introduce novel cooling parts for those increasingly hot metal bars inserted into your mobo's slots. A-Data, which showcased some interesting memory and USB flash storage stuff here, pushed its own speed envelope by showing Vitesta X series DDR3-2133 CL9 memory on the X48 chipset. The timing is not bad - yeah there are attempts to have stable CL8 memory at this speed - but what's more intriguing is the cooling system....

A-Data's got a thick pipe

Nebojsa Novakovic — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:33:47 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic the Inquirer, Friday 6 June 2008. 17:15:00

Computex 2008 Very fat memory watercooling tubes

OCZ does 3GB memory kits

Charlie Demerjian — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:09:14 GMT

Charlie Demerjian the Inquirer, Friday 6 June 2008. 05:33:00

Computex 2008 Work around Windows problems

OCZ, Corsair and Gskill fight speed and density battle

Nebojsa Novakovic — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:27:06 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic the Inquirer, Wednesday 4 June 2008. 14:48:00

Computex 08 Happy memories...

Kingston Skulltrail OC FB-DIMMs

Nebojsa Novakovic — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:02:49 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic the Inquirer, Friday 30 May 2008. 16:08:00

First INQpressions Kingston HyperX 4x1GB FBD-800 kit

High capacity DDR3-2000 cometh

Nebojsa Novakovic — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:31:05 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic the Inquirer, Friday 30 May 2008. 07:19:00

Farewell to 1 GB enthusiast DDR3 DIMMs?

Micron's spud king is dead

Nick Farrell — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:11:25 GMT

Nick Farrell the Inquirer, Monday 26 May 2008. 12:55:00

Simplot has had his chips

OCZ plays the (heat) pipes on DDR3

Nebojsa Novakovic — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:16 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic , Saturday 26 April 2008. 07:10:00

First INQpressions A 4 GB kit for low latency lovers

AS IT becomes ever more affordable, DDR3 PC memory is diverging into two module mark(et)ing streams, just like DDR2 did two years ago. On one side, you've got the usual "gigahurtz freak" push up to the maximum frequency without much care for the latency - or, for that matter, voltage. On the other hand, there's the focus on minimising the latency for a given frequency. For instance, in the DDR2 world, a FSB1600 CPU on an Nvidia 680i chipset would have better Sandra bandwidth and latency results with dual-channel DDR2-800 CL3 memory kept in sync with the FSB, than with hotter dual-channel DDR2-1200 CL5 modules....

Montevina with Vista could put memory makers back in the black

Nebojsa Novakovic — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:16 GMT

Nebojsa Novakovic , Thursday 1 May 2008. 10:47:00

Vast amounts of mobile DDR3 needed

IN ABOUT A MONTH, when Intel's "Montevina" chipset platform for FSB-1066 Core 2 mobile Penryns appears, it will bring along quite a few new things like usable 3-D graphics, full HD video, Wimax option and so on. One important change, to go along with faster FSB, is bringing DDR3 memory to notebooks. Micron, Samsung and the rest are already churning out DDR3-1066 SO-DIMMs at 1 and 2GB capacities, and the 4GB ones are about to sample. In fact, you might see some custom memory vendors doing faster SO-DIMM modules with heat spreaders for the discerning crowd: DDR3-1066 CL5 doesn't sound bad....

SMIC dumps DRAM after profit plummets

Sylvie Barak — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:16 GMT

Sylvie Barak , Friday 2 May 2008. 15:01:00

DRAM is nothing but a memory for Chinese chipmaker

ON WEDNESDAY, CHINA'S largest chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) said that it would no longer be producing DRAM (dynamic random access memory), and would instead focus its attention on other, more lucrative logic chips. The DRAM market has been taking quite a beating lately, with the worst slump since 2001, and prices for the memory chips dropping a staggering 60 per cent in the last year alone. After suffering a net loss of $119.1 million, down from a net profit of $8.8 million a year earlier, SMIC decided that enough was enough, and that it was time to cut its losses with the DRAM albatross around it's neck....

Good things come in two-by-twos

Paul Taylor — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:16 GMT

Paul Taylor , Wednesday 7 May 2008. 22:21:00

First INQpressions Mushkin XP2-6400

Product: Mushkin XP2-6400 2x2GB Website: Mushkin Web store Price: $123.92 MUSHKIN'S XP2-6400 memory caught our eye a while back when it came out as 2x1GB. Now that they're nicely packed in 2GB sticks, we're prodding it with our stun baton and getting it to some pretty high speeds (for DDR2). It *is* DDR2, however, and the DDR3-money-flashing crowd will probably scoff at this - but they should read it just to feel extremely ripped-off and humbled. Memory makers (and consumers) are going through a transition phase right now, shifting to 2x2GB kits rather than forcing users to max-out their slots with a bunch of 1GB DIMMS....

Elpida offers one-chip 512Mb DDR2

Stewart Meagher — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:16 GMT

Stewart Meagher , Monday 19 May 2008. 11:38:00

32-bit memory for gadgets in pipeline

MEMORY MAKER Elpida will be sampling what they say is the industry's first single-chip 512Mb DDR2 SDRAM with x32-bit I/O configuration by the end of May. The Japanese company reckons the new configuration, which has only been available as a pair of 16-bit units bolted together up until now, will save up to 25 percent of space on boards, reduce power consumption by 20 percent and deliver far better signal quality due to reduced electro magnetic interference. The chips, which were specifically designed for digital consumer appliances like Satnavs, TVs cameras and projectors are built on a 70nm process technology and run at between 1GB and 4.2GB per second per chip....

Corsair claims world record for DDR3 frequency

Sylvie Barak — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:15 GMT

Sylvie Barak , Tuesday 20 May 2008. 18:12:00

Speedy gonzales

MAKER OF memory products, Corsair, reckons it has crushed previous world records set for the highest achievable DDR3 frequency. The company claims that its new world record, verified by CPU-Z is the highest achieved DDR3 frequency to date. Using Corsair's DOMINATOR DDR3 memory module with an Asus P5E3 Premium motherboard based on the Intel X48 chipset, Corsair Labs boasted that it had achieved speeds of 2462MHz at CL=9 with a single-rank 1GB module. Martin Mueller, Corsair's Senior Director of Engineering, excitedly spluttered that the new "world record demonstrates the overclocking and high speed memory expertise within Corsair Labs and definitely pushes the memory enthusiast community to achieve even faster, more outrageous speeds." The company's DOMINATOR memory module is designed with high performing IC over-clocking capabilities, paired with Corsair's DHX cooling system....

AMD puts GDDR5 on R700 graphics cards

Inquirer Newsdesk — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:55:15 GMT

Inquirer Newsdesk , Wednesday 21 May 2008. 13:03:00

Souped up

AMD IS TO STICK GDDR5 memory on its upcoming ATI Radeon R700 graphics cards. AMD said it is working with a number of leading memory providers, including Samsung, Hynix and Qimonda, to bring GDDR5 to market. Qimonda confirms it is delivering the memory now. The firm said data rates supported by GDDR5 are up to five times that of GDDR3 and four times that of GDDR4 , enabling more bandwidth over a narrower memory interface. The memory standard is also applicable tor stream processing, where GPUs may be used in parallel to address complex, AMD noted. According to AMD senior graphics veep, Rick Bergman: "The days of monolithic mega-chips are gone." In a statement he said, "AMD believes that GDDR5 is the optimal way to drive performance gains while being mindful of power consumption." µ

AMD puts GDDR5 on R700 graphics cards

Inquirer Newsdesk — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:11:49 GMT

Inquirer Newsdesk the Inquirer, Wednesday 21 May 2008. 13:03:00

Souped up

AMD puts DDR5 on R700 graphics cards

Inquirer Newsdesk — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:26:57 GMT

Inquirer Newsdesk the Inquirer, Wednesday 21 May 2008. 13:03:00

Souped up

AMD IS TO STICK DDR5 memory on its upcoming ATI Radeon R700 graphics cards. AMD said it is working with a number of leading memory providers, including Samsung, Hynix and Qimonda, to bring GDDR5 to market. Qimonda confirms it is delivering the memory now. The firm said data rates supported by GDDR5 are up to five times that of GDDR3 and four times that of GDDR4 , enabling more bandwidth over a narrower memory interface. The memory standard is also applicable tor stream processing, where GPUs may be used in parallel to address complex, AMD noted. According to AMD senior graphics veep, Rick Bergman: "The days of monolithic mega-chips are gone." In a statement he said, "AMD believes that GDDR5 is the optimal way to drive performance gains while being mindful of power consumption." µ

Corsair claims world record for DDR3 frequency

Sylvie Barak — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:25:14 GMT

Sylvie Barak the Inquirer, Tuesday 20 May 2008. 18:12:00

Speedy gonzales

Elpida offers one-chip 512Mb DDR2

Stewart Meagher — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:38:18 GMT

Stewart Meagher the Inquirer, Monday 19 May 2008. 11:38:00

32-bit memory for gadgets in pipeline