An unusual memory configuration has been spotted on an HONOR MagicBook Pro 16 AI laptop—Golden Pig Upgrade (via Weibo) has shared a brief snippet of footage from a Task Manager session. It confirms that non-binary symmetrical LPDDR5(X) memory is now operating within portable Windows 11 devices, at least in China. Crucial 12 GB capacity DDR5 SODIMM products were uncovered a couple of days ago—at the time, tech enthusiasts wondered whether other options were due in the near future. Recent Geekbench Browser entries have unveiled several "HONOR DRA-XX" Intel Core Ultra-powered devices that sport 24 GB memory configurations.

Manufacturers have been deliberating over new 12 GB, 24 GB, and 48 GB standards for roughly two years—we witnessed the release of commercial desktop products last year. It has taken longer for OEM options to arrive, but HONOR seems to be pioneering a rollout within the slimline laptop segment. VideoCardz has analyzed Golden Pig Upgrade's short clip—they believe that the demoed MagicBook Pro 16 (dual-channel) has a soldered-on: "total capacity of 24 GB based on LPDDR5X technology. Instead of relying on SODIMM modules, this laptop has eight individual memory chips, each with a capacity of 3 GB, totaling 24 GB of LPDDR5X-6400 memory." Upcoming enthusiast-class portable systems—with quadruple SODIMM slot setups—could be fitted with maximum 48 GB capacities. The latest developments signal a pleasing breakaway from traditional laptop system memory limits of 16 and 32 GB.

ZOTAC debuted a massive flagship GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB custom design graphics card last summer—the Prime Gamer Force (PGF) OC edition model was released as a China exclusive product. ZOTAC's PGF shroud design remains the largest on the market—381 mm (L) x 154 mm (W) x 74 mm (D)—even with downgraded silicon beneath the surface. NVIDIA's China-specific GeForce RTX 4090D GPU was introduced last December, as a sanction conformant substitute for the full-fat version—naturally, ZOTAC has prepared a revised PGF model. This week, Expreview has published an in-depth review of the GeForce RTX 4090 D PGF OC edition graphics card. They found that ZOTAC's cooling system—three 11 cm fans and a vapor chamber—offered: "high-frequency stability...comparable to that of water-cooled (solutions)."

The Chinese publication reviewed the GALAX RTX 4090 D Metal Master model in January—at the time, software restrictions prevented the implementation of significant overclocks. It was theorized that future updates or community workarounds could bypass limitations, but the latest review—of ZOTAC's "super luxurious" PGF edition—indicates that this GeForce RTX 4090 D GPU's OC potential is still constricted. VideoCardz has pulled out essential details from the Expreview article: "(The PGF) has high maximum TGP (530 W) and a powerful 28-phase power PCB design. Despite the technological headroom, the card struggles to offer much of the overclocking potential. The team from Expreview only managed to squeeze 3.7% more performance from this card. That's despite 24.7% more power theoretically available." An underwhelming overclocking aspect is counterbalanced by the premium-tier card's impressive performance stability—the review also praised ZOTAC's quiet cooling solution and usage of high-end "heat dissipation materials."

When Crucial cancelled its Ballistix gaming brand, it was unclear if the company would launch higher-end products in the future, although the company never said it wouldn't. Back in May of this year, Crucial launched its Pro series of memory, which was not exactly pro, at least not for the readership here which is used to an entirely different level of RAM. This was largely due to Crucial sticking to JEDEC spec, even though the company did launch some DDR5 5600 MHz modules.

Now—some six months later—it appears that Crucial is getting ready to deliver some higher performance modules with its new DDR5 6000 MHz modules, although at launch, they will only be available in a kit of two 24 GB modules. Although Crucial claims JEDEC spec, the 48-48-48 timings appear to either be slightly tighter than the original JEDEC spec, or JEDEC has updated the specs since they were announced. Although nothing about these modules screams high-end or pro, there's one thing that makes these stand out against the competition, they operate at 6000 MHz using only 1.1 Volt, whereas most 6000 MHz DIMMs on the market today, operate at 1.35 Volt higher. In addition to that, as these are JEDEC spec DIMMs, there's no need to enable XMP/EXPO settings to make them work at 6000 MHz, which could be a benefit to some. There might be some potential for tweaking these modules as well, something we'll have to wait for reviews to find out about. Crucial is asking for US$166.99 for the 48 GB kit, which puts them at a price disadvantage compared to its competitors, as you can get a similar kit for as little as $115 or possibly even less.

SK hynix Inc. (or "the company", www.skhynix.com) announced today that it has begun supplying the industry's first 24-gigabyte (GB) Low Power Double Data Rate 5X (LPDDR5X) mobile DRAM package to its customers, following the mass production of LPDDR5X in November 2022. SK hynix, in January, developed LPDDR5T, which is an upgraded product of LPDDR5X prior to the development of the 8th generation LPDDR6, and is currently processing customer validation.

"The company integrated the High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process in the 24 GB LPDDR5X package, enabling the product to deliver outstanding power efficiency and performance," said SK hynix. "The addition of the 24 GB package to our mobile DRAM product portfolio has given us a more flexibility in accommodating customers' needs."

TrendForce reports that the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) market's dominant product for 2023 is HBM2e, employed by the NVIDIA A100/A800, AMD MI200, and most CSPs' (Cloud Service Providers) self-developed accelerator chips. As the demand for AI accelerator chips evolves, manufacturers plan to introduce new HBM3e products in 2024, with HBM3 and HBM3e expected to become mainstream in the market next year.

The distinctions between HBM generations primarily lie in their speed. The industry experienced a proliferation of confusing names when transitioning to the HBM3 generation. TrendForce clarifies that the so-called HBM3 in the current market should be subdivided into two categories based on speed. One category includes HBM3 running at speeds between 5.6 to 6.4 Gbps, while the other features the 8 Gbps HBM3e, which also goes by several names including HBM3P, HBM3A, HBM3+, and HBM3 Gen2.

Micron Technology, Inc. today announced it has begun sampling the industry's first 8-high 24 GB HBM3 Gen2 memory with bandwidth greater than 1.2 TB/s and pin speed over 9.2 Gb/s, which is up to a 50% improvement over currently shipping HBM3 solutions. With a 2.5 times performance per watt improvement over previous generations, Micron's HBM3 Gen2 offering sets new records for the critical artificial intelligence (AI) data center metrics of performance, capacity and power efficiency. These Micron improvements reduce training times of large language models like GPT-4 and beyond, deliver efficient infrastructure use for AI inference and provide superior total cost of ownership (TCO).

The foundation of Micron's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) solution is Micron's industry-leading 1β (1-beta) DRAM process node, which allows a 24Gb DRAM die to be assembled into an 8-high cube within an industry-standard package dimension. Moreover, Micron's 12-high stack with 36 GB capacity will begin sampling in the first quarter of calendar 2024. Micron provides 50% more capacity for a given stack height compared to existing competitive solutions. Micron's HBM3 Gen2 performance-to-power ratio and pin speed improvements are critical for managing the extreme power demands of today's AI data centers. The improved power efficiency is possible because of Micron advancements such as doubling of the through-silicon vias (TSVs) over competitive HBM3 offerings, thermal impedance reduction through a five-time increase in metal density, and an energy-efficient data path design.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading brand of performance overclock memory and PC components, is excited to announce a new white colored edition of its flagship Trident Z5 RGB series DDR5 memory, featuring extreme overclocked speeds of up to DDR5-8200 at 24 GB x 2 kit capacity.

The White Choice of Overclocked Performance DDR5 Memory
The new white version of the Trident Z5 RGB series boasts a sleek white aluminium heat spreader and features a black brushed-aluminium strip inset across the center, providing PC enthusiasts an ideal high-performance overclocked memory kit in a white themed PC build.

MSI has been in close contact with the AMD and has referred to their official technical guidance to provide users with a safer and more optimized hardware environment. To achieve this goal, MSI will release a new list of BIOS updates specifically for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU.

According to AMD's design specifications, the Ryzen 7000X3D series CPU does not fully support overclocking or overvoltage adjustments, including CPU ratio and CPU Vcore voltage. However, AMD EXPO technology can be used to optimize memory performance by appropriately increasing the CPU SoC voltage to ensure system stability when operating at higher memory frequencies.

SK hynix announced today it has become the industry's first to develop 12-layer HBM3 product with a 24 gigabyte (GB) memory capacity, currently the largest in the industry, and said customers' performance evaluation of samples is underway. HBM (High Bandwidth Memory): A high-value, high-performance memory that vertically interconnects multiple DRAM chips and dramatically increases data processing speed in comparison to traditional DRAM products. HBM3 is the 4th generation product, succeeding the previous generations HBM, HBM2 and HBM2E

"The company succeeded in developing the 24 GB package product that increased the memory capacity by 50% from the previous product, following the mass production of the world's first HBM3 in June last year," SK hynix said. "We will be able to supply the new products to the market from the second half of the year, in line with growing demand for premium memory products driven by the AI-powered chatbot industry." SK hynix engineers improved process efficiency and performance stability by applying Advanced Mass Reflow Molded Underfill (MR-MUF)# technology to the latest product, while Through Silicon Via (TSV)## technology reduced the thickness of a single DRAM chip by 40%, achieving the same stack height level as the 16 GB product.

G.SKILL International Enterprise Co., Ltd., the world's leading brand of performance overclock memory and PC components, is announcing the release of additional high-performance overclocked DDR5 memory kits, based on the 24 GB and 48 GB capacity modules, including an incredibly high-speed DDR5-8200 CL40-52-52 48 GB (24 GB x2) specification, as well as a 96 GB (48 GB x2) capacity kit at DDR5-6800 CL34-46-46.

A New High-Speed Frontier with 24 GB x2
Continuing to explore the limits of DDR5 memory speed, G.SKILL has reached an amazing DDR5-8200 CL40-52-52 with the new 24 GB capacity modules. See the screenshot below to see this memory kit tested on the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex motherboard and Intel Core i9-13900K processor.
The Need for Speed with 96 GB (48 GB x2)
At the higher module capacity of 48 GB, G.SKILL also reached DDR5-6800 CL34-46-46 at 96 GB (48 GB x2) kit capacity. Refer to the screenshot below to check out this high-speed, high-capacity kit tested on the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero motherboard and Intel Core i9-13900K processor.

Gigabyte is also apparently testing the new BIOS update that should bring non-binary memory support to AMD's 600-series chipset motherboards. With the official AGESA update for AMD X670 and B650 apparently just around the corner, it does not come as a surprise that all motherboard makers are implementing it and testing it on their motherboards.

The latest comes from Gigabyte over at Coolaler forums, showing the AORUS X670E Master motherboard running 192 GB of DDR5 memory. This time around, the memory was running at 6000 MT/s, so the official support is certainly around the corner, even for overclocked kits. Both Corsair and G.SKILL have already announced their own 24 GB and 48 GB modules running at up to DDR5-8000. The official AGESA update is rumored to come in April, but there is no official word from either AMD or various motherboard makers.

Over the past month, memory manufacturers started releasing DDR5 memory modules of 24 GB and 48 GB densities, which make up 48 GB (2x 24 GB), 96 GB (2x 48 GB or 4x 24 GB) and even 192 GB (4x 48 GB) capacities. There's only one catch—these modules only work with 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" and 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors, as their memory controllers support a maximum of 192 GB of memory, and 24/48/96 GB DIMM densities. MEGAsizeGPU decided to find out what happens when one of these kits is installed on an AMD Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" platform.

A Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5600 48 GB (2x 24 GB) memory kit was installed on a machine consisting of an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X processor, and an ASUS ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming motherboard (BIOS version 1222). It turns out that the machine POSTs, and is able to start the UEFI setup program. Here, the program is able to display the correct 48 GB memory amount, and the memory density of each of the two modules. The trouble is, Windows would not boot, and does not go past the Boot Manager. It halts with an error message that indicates a hardware problem.

ASRock is announcing the support of 48 GB and 24 GB DDR5 memory module across Intel 700 and 600 Series motherboards, boosting the maximum memory capacity from 128 GB to 192 GB on 4 DIMMs, providing performance and compatibility to enthusiasts.

For maximum performance, BIOS update is recommended to achieve a boost of system performance as well as memory capacity, increasing productivity for memory demanding multitasking applications.