Monday, August 8th 2022

Production of 21Gbps and 24Gbps GDDR6X Memory Chips Underway at Micron

Memory giant Micron Technology has commenced mass-production of 21 Gbps and 24 Gbps-rated GDDR6X memory chips that will be exclusively used by NVIDIA in its next-generation RTX 40-series "Ada" graphics cards. GDDR6X is a derivative of GDDR6 co-developed by NVIDIA and Micron, which leverages PAM4 signaling to increase data-rates. Depending on the graphics card model, NVIDIA will use 8 Gbit (1 GB) or 16 Gbit (2 GB) density memory chips. We're hearing that 21 Gbps will be the standard data-rate used by SKUs that succeed the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti; while 24 Gbps will be used by the faster RTX 3090/Ti successors. The part numbers of these memory chips are listed below.
Sources: harukaze5719 (Twitter), VideoCardz
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16 Comments on Production of 21Gbps and 24Gbps GDDR6X Memory Chips Underway at Micron

#1
wolf
Better Than Native
which leverages PAM4 signaling to increase data-rates
Does it actually though? I thought the promise was to double the effective data rate at the same clocks, yet the only benefit for Ampere was the higher clocks.

So if that's true, it could make for a hell of a lot of bandwidth at the same memory bus widths relatively, and justify the power usage of GDDR6X.

That's partly why these cards are so power hungry, the GDDR6X on my 3080 wants for ~80w+ when stressed. I mean you only need to look as far as the 3070 vs 3070Ti to see that 220w vs 290w for a 7% increase in performance... yeah the GDDR6X is massively dragging down overall efficiency.

If the bandwidth is actually going to be double at the same bus width and clock rate.... wowee :eek: But if not... meh, better of with fast GDDR6.
Posted on Reply
#2
Dristun
6X sounds cooler than 6, which I feel is the entire reason for the existence of this. Well, this and a good relationship between Nvidia and Micron. Didn't Samsung already announce their 24gbps GDDR6 sans-X?
Posted on Reply
#4
Wirko
wolfDoes it actually though? I thought the promise was to double the effective data rate at the same clocks, yet the only benefit for Ampere was the higher clocks.

So if that's true, it could make for a hell of a lot of bandwidth at the same memory bus widths relatively, and justify the power usage of GDDR6X.

That's partly why these cards are so power hungry, the GDDR6X on my 3080 wants for ~80w+ when stressed. I mean you only need to look as far as the 3070 vs 3070Ti to see that 220w vs 290w for a 7% increase in performance... yeah the GDDR6X is massively dragging down overall efficiency.

If the bandwidth is actually going to be double at the same bus width and clock rate.... wowee :eek: But if not... meh, better of with fast GDDR6.
The data rate is going to be 12 gigatransfers per second (for the faster variant), multiplied by 2 bits per transfer. That's the idea and it should lead to some power saving. 15%, they say. However, even if the transfers consume less, there will necessarily be other parts of the DRAM chips operating at 24 GHz, which means hotter.

As for "clocks", it's complicated and there are at least two clocks involved, CK will be 3 GHz and WCK will be 6 GHz.
media-www.micron.com/-/media/client/global/documents/products/technical-marketing-brief/gddr6x_pam4_2x_speed_tech_brief.pdf?la=en&rev=8a27413e2c894b7ebdfe1f9a5ff0231e
Posted on Reply
#6
defaultluser
DeathtoGnomesYou are correct.

July 13th
www.techpowerup.com/296812/samsung-launches-industrys-first-24gbps-gddr6-memory
The difference being, it took nearly 2 years for Samsung to mass-produce that memory (and nearly three to double density,) while the 6x parts typically ship within a few months of being announced!

www.extremetech.com/computing/258901-samsung-introduces-new-16gbps-gddr6-2gb-capacities

The 19-20 gbs gddr6 is a lot more likely for Ada
Posted on Reply
#7
BArms
Which Fabs are being used for them? Hopefully not in China or Taiwan... drums of war and all that.
Posted on Reply
#8
defaultluser
BArmsWhich Fabs are being used for them? Hopefully not in China or Taiwan... drums of war and all that.
We've been hearing about war between China and Taiwan for fifty years now, and its still just as infeasible today as it was 50 years ago!

As an island nation 100 miles off the coast, it would take massive forces to hold the island in the first place, and then its painless to simply blockade all trade, and make all those chip fabs worthless overnight. Imagine if we actually tried to do a full military blockade, instead of doing "due-diligence" , and leave it up to corporations to police their imports?

China isn't stupid, as they know they will lose all their freebies they currently enjoy ( endless piles of advanced tech that they can slowly absorb by being beholden to our businesses.) But imagine the amount of blockade they would permanently get if they pulled a Ukraine?

They just like to talk big on the world stage, as its good for internal oppression campaigns (never question our global superiority, by being the last one to speak in the in the global slap fight!)

Also, Samsung has no fabs in either country
Posted on Reply
#9
adramtech
defaultluserWe've been hearing about war between China and Taiwan for fifty years now, and its still just as infeasible today as it was 50 years ago!

As an island nation 100 miles off the coast, it would take massive forces to hold the island in the first place, and then its painless to simply blockade all trade, and make all those chip fabs worthless overnight. Imagine if we actually tried to do a full military blockade, instead of doing "due-diligence" , and leave it up to corporations to police their imports?

China isn't stupid, as they know they will lose all their freebies they currently enjoy ( endless piles of advanced tech that they can slowly absorb by being beholden to our businesses.) But imagine the amount of blockade they would permanently get if they pulled a Ukraine?

They just like to talk big on the world stage, as its good for internal oppression campaigns (never question our global superiority, by being the last one to speak in the in the global slap fight!)

Also, Samsung has no fabs in either country
Samsung has a fab in China
Posted on Reply
#10
defaultluser
adramtechSamsung has a fab in China
I only makes nand there, so, again, not a concern for the person who was freaking-out over Imaginary War Hype (TM)

Also, I love how you completely ignore then rest of my accurate post, and simply concentrated on my single error?
Posted on Reply
#11
BArms
defaultluserWe've been hearing about war between China and Taiwan for fifty years now, and its still just as infeasible today as it was 50 years ago!

As an island nation 100 miles off the coast, it would take massive forces to hold the island in the first place, and then its painless to simply blockade all trade, and make all those chip fabs worthless overnight. Imagine if we actually tried to do a full military blockade, instead of doing "due-diligence" , and leave it up to corporations to police their imports?

China isn't stupid, as they know they will lose all their freebies they currently enjoy ( endless piles of advanced tech that they can slowly absorb by being beholden to our businesses.) But imagine the amount of blockade they would permanently get if they pulled a Ukraine?

They just like to talk big on the world stage, as its good for internal oppression campaigns (never question our global superiority, by being the last one to speak in the in the global slap fight!)

Also, Samsung has no fabs in either country
China being sanctioned and/or blockaded if they invaded Taiwan isn't so certain. If China gains control of the only leading edge facilities in the world, who is going to come Taiwan's aid, just to see their chip supply cut off, along with a lot of other trade? I think I saw some plans to stop sending ASML machines/tools to China if they invade, but if China thinks they can circumvent that plan, Taiwan without serious international support is doomed imo.

Edit: I mean I hope you're right and all but let's face reality, china has been rapidly expanding both their navy, air force and belligerent North Korean-style rhetoric in the last 5 years.
Posted on Reply
#12
R-T-B
Sheesh, it's armchair general hour again already? Wow kids.
BArmsnavy
Which still lacks even more than one or two real things we call a "modern aircraft carriers." Friggin lol.
BArmsChina being sanctioned and/or blockaded if they invaded Taiwan isn't so certain.
You have to be joking. Please be joking.
Posted on Reply
#13
BArms
R-T-BSheesh, it's armchair general hour again already? Wow kids.


Which still lacks even more than one or two real things we call a "modern aircraft carriers." Friggin lol.


You have to be joking. Please be joking.
My armchair general uniform has sixteen stars and a hundred medals, what does yours have, anonymous internet user? :):laugh:
Posted on Reply
#14
R-T-B
BArmsMy armchair general uniform has sixteen stars and a hundred medals, what does yours have, anonymous internet user? :):laugh:
Just knowledge that we don't know anything.

So, a pickle.
Posted on Reply
#15
nguyen
wolfDoes it actually though? I thought the promise was to double the effective data rate at the same clocks, yet the only benefit for Ampere was the higher clocks.

So if that's true, it could make for a hell of a lot of bandwidth at the same memory bus widths relatively, and justify the power usage of GDDR6X.

That's partly why these cards are so power hungry, the GDDR6X on my 3080 wants for ~80w+ when stressed. I mean you only need to look as far as the 3070 vs 3070Ti to see that 220w vs 290w for a 7% increase in performance... yeah the GDDR6X is massively dragging down overall efficiency.

If the bandwidth is actually going to be double at the same bus width and clock rate.... wowee :eek: But if not... meh, better of with fast GDDR6.
maybe cost advantage? something like 21Gbps GDDR6x cost the same as 16Gbps GDDR6?

The only Nvidia GPU that has 16Gbps GDDR6 is the 2080S, even 3070 has 14Gbps GDDR6
Posted on Reply
#16
wolf
Better Than Native
nguyenmaybe cost advantage? something like 21Gbps GDDR6x cost the same as 16Gbps GDDR6?

The only Nvidia GPU that has 16Gbps GDDR6 is the 2080S, even 3070 has 14Gbps GDDR6
Definitely a ;possibility that I didn't consider, I just hope it's worth it overall for cost/performance/power consumption.
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