Wednesday, February 14th 2007
eDRAM Memory Advance for Chips
SAN JOSE, Calif. - IBM has devised a way to triple the amount of memory stored on computer chips and double the performance of data-hungry processors by replacing a problematic type of memory with a variety that uses much less space on the slice of silicon.
International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday that its new memory technology will help unclog crippling bottlenecks that build up as increasingly powerful microprocessors attempt to retrieve data from a separate memory chip faster than it can be delivered.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said its solution entails swapping out most of the static random access memory, or SRAM, used to store information directly on computer chips and integrating onto the chip another kind of memory, known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM.
IBM said it has been able to speed up the DRAM to the point where it's nearly as fast as SRAM, and that the result is a type of memory known as embedded DRAM, or eDRAM, that helps boost the performance of chips with multiple core calculating engines and is particularly suited for enabling the movement of graphics in gaming and other multimedia applications.FoxNews
International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday that its new memory technology will help unclog crippling bottlenecks that build up as increasingly powerful microprocessors attempt to retrieve data from a separate memory chip faster than it can be delivered.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said its solution entails swapping out most of the static random access memory, or SRAM, used to store information directly on computer chips and integrating onto the chip another kind of memory, known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM.
IBM said it has been able to speed up the DRAM to the point where it's nearly as fast as SRAM, and that the result is a type of memory known as embedded DRAM, or eDRAM, that helps boost the performance of chips with multiple core calculating engines and is particularly suited for enabling the movement of graphics in gaming and other multimedia applications.FoxNews
3 Comments on eDRAM Memory Advance for Chips
:)
* Hey - By the time I go to buy my next completely NEW system, which I am guessing will be 2009?
This stuff might be out, & by then?? Who KNOWS what kind of CPU, disks, & vidcards will be around to pair w/ it... this seems like they are talking about packing MORE onto the CPU, than external to it imo.
(Eagerly waiting for 2009 I guess, because that's my next 'NEW PC assemble parts, & buy + put together period', God willing!)
To me, it seems, that the industry is moving towards an "All inclusive" type of CPU... GPU onboard it, ALL memory, & probably sound processing too @ some point.
So much for me assembling a new system - it may ALL be on 1 chip!
I am wondering though - this isn't going to be ALL on the CPU is it? If not, then L3 caches may be returning, sort of! Like AMD had on the older "Super-7" style mobos in the past, like the AMD K6-III @450mhz used to be setup like!
APK
P.S.=> I remember when this type or rather, speed, of RAM in Tag-SRAM's was the L2 cache on the mobo (it cost a lot, even for what would today, be considered PUNY amounts (e.g.-> 256k/512k - 10-15ns speeds)), but, it FLEW by comparison to what was then RAM like the DDR we use today (FastPage 30-pin RAM, 60-80ns speeds) instead of being internal to the CPU, back in the 486 days & earlier... I used to buy it to replace the 64k mobos had on them @ that time (if any @ all, better ones did)!
About time they started taking a page from the SRAM world, to get more sheer speed out of memory & packing it onto the CPU instead of external to it... apk