Monday, August 8th 2011
AMD Starts Selling Radeon-branded DDR3 Memory Modules
At first glance, one would have discarded the news as some company's attempt to use the AMD brand to sell memory modules, but it is indeed AMD selling memory. AMD is selling Radeon-branded DDR3 memory modules to the consumer market, not just OEMs, which were spotted in stores in Japan. AMD is selling certified DDR3 memory in three segments: Entertainment, UltraPro Gaming, and Enterprise. Entertainment deals with DDR3-1333 MHz modules that are best suited for home and business client PCs, UltraPro Gaming deals with DDR3-1600 MHz modules suited for gaming PCs of all shapes and sizes, while Enterprise deals with registered un-buffered DDR3 memory for use in AMD Opteron-driven servers and workstations.
While baffling, the move to sell its own-branded memory makes some sense. High performance DDR3 memory kits sold in the market today that operate at DDR3-1600 rely on Intel eXtreme Memory Profiles (XMP), a proprietary SPD extension by Intel to let users set the marketed speeds easily. AMD platform motherboards don't support XMP, leaving it at an obvious disadvantage. Radeon-branded memory use JEDEC profiles for 1600 MHz, along with certified timings and voltages to run stable and perform optimally. It might also be using AMD's own SPD extension called "Black Edition profiles", but CPU-Z doesn't seem to be able to spot that. Pictured below is the Entertainment 2 GB module, which uses AMD-branded memory chips. In Japan, the 2 GB module is priced at the equivalent of US $20. Other pricing information is unknown for the moment.
UPDATE (11/8): We contacted AMD to talk a little bit about these new memory products that surfaced literally out of nowhere. AMD told us that these are channel products, and as such they don't plan to sell it in a big way on the retail market:
Source:
PC Watch
While baffling, the move to sell its own-branded memory makes some sense. High performance DDR3 memory kits sold in the market today that operate at DDR3-1600 rely on Intel eXtreme Memory Profiles (XMP), a proprietary SPD extension by Intel to let users set the marketed speeds easily. AMD platform motherboards don't support XMP, leaving it at an obvious disadvantage. Radeon-branded memory use JEDEC profiles for 1600 MHz, along with certified timings and voltages to run stable and perform optimally. It might also be using AMD's own SPD extension called "Black Edition profiles", but CPU-Z doesn't seem to be able to spot that. Pictured below is the Entertainment 2 GB module, which uses AMD-branded memory chips. In Japan, the 2 GB module is priced at the equivalent of US $20. Other pricing information is unknown for the moment.
AMD does not manufacture memory and does not plan to sell system memory directly to our customers. AMD is currently determining if the sale of AMD Radeon-branded memory through channel partners is a viable opportunity and as such it has appeared in some regions for purchase through retail.
53 Comments on AMD Starts Selling Radeon-branded DDR3 Memory Modules
Seriously, this is an interesting move, because I can definitely see retailers peddling "AMD motherboard + CPU + RAM" combos to the average Joe, and certainly it won't hurt Hynix's marketshare.
On the other hand, the memory market is tough to establish a foothold in if you're a new player (and especially if you're just rebranding someone else's products) and I can't see the likes of OCZ, Corsair et al being particularly happy with AMD over this move, because it's going to hurt their sales.
It's not just the complete package; it's the complete package at a very price-specific mark. $40 for 4GB. $80 for 8GB. $10 a GB.
It's 1600 MHz max, because that's what the FM1 socket supports for fully populated sockets. AMD will leave, i think, the 1866 MHz stuff to companies like Corsair, G.Skill, and Mushkin, that can spend the time screening pairs individually for 1866 MHz. That's all these comapnies do, really is screen and customize memory for high performance, so they might as well leave them to it.
www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=62322
$9 for 2gb of DDR3 from AMD,
so $20 for 4gigs of DDR3 not that bad a deal really then again NCIX had that deal on mushkin 8gig kit for $33 the other day...
but theres so many branded ram outside so if AMD aint offer something new it would be kinda hard to challege the old players just using radeon brand
Seems like a good move for the oem market. I think they could at least slap some heat spreaders on the 1600mhz model. Hell if they could snag a deal with a case and psu and optical drive manufacturer amd could sell their own "radeon" branded oem computers.
UltraSlow gaming = YES
I've no idea why AMD would bring slower than everybody elses DDR3-1600 to market perhaps the thinking was well we're already doing it with the CPU's why not some slow ass ram too:slap:
Especially on AMD, where you need to OC the northbridge to gain any benefits of raising your ram past 1333MHz CL7
besides you might thing that theres no money to be made in Memory but what about laptop gpu's? they only account for 5% of AMD's revenue, thats rather tiny in and of itself.
Also where does it list the timings for all of the types?
www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/radeon-memory/Pages/system-memory.aspx
the url above simply defualts to here www.amd.com/us/products/technologies even after clicking the Radeon Memory link on that page