Micron Delivers Crucial LPCAMM2 with LPDDR5X Memory for the New AI-Ready Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 Workstation

[TheLostSwede]

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced the availability of Crucial LPCAMM2, the disruptive next-generation laptop memory form factor that features LPDDR5X mobile memory to level up laptop performance for professionals and creators. Consuming up to 58% less active power and with a 64% space savings compared to DDR5 SODIMMs, LPCAMM2 delivers higher bandwidth and dual-channel support with a single module. LPCAMM2 is an ideal high-performance memory solution for handling AI PC and complex workloads and is compatible with the powerful and versatile Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 mobile workstations.

"LPCAMM2 is a game-changer for mobile workstation users who want to enjoy the benefits of the latest mobile high performance memory technology without sacrificing superior performance, upgradeability, power efficiency or space," said Jonathan Weech, senior director of product marketing for Micron's Commercial Products Group. "With LPCAMM2, we are delivering a future-proof memory solution, enabling faster speeds and longer battery life to support demanding creative and AI workloads."




"Lenovo's ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 is the first laptop available in the market that can leverage the newest LPCAMM2 form factor to enable higher performance, faster AI workflows, scalable memory capacity and improved battery life for mobile workstations and thin and light laptops," said Yasumichi Tsukamoto, vice president and distinguished engineer, Commercial Product Solutions Development at Lenovo. "This powerful combination not only provides an enhanced user experience, but the low power memory used in LPCAMM2 modules helps reduce overall energy consumption in our laptops."

By utilizing LPDDR5X memory, LPCAMM2 enables blazing speeds of up to 7,500MT/s, which is 1.3 times faster than DDR5 SODIMMs. This memory form factor also reduces power consumption and extends battery life. With up to 80% less standby power compared to DDR5 SODIMMs, users can work longer on the go without compromising performance.

One LPCAMM2 module fills all 128 bits of CPU bus width, maximizing bandwidth for AI workloads and applications and unleashing greater potential of AI-enabled PCs. Users can boost their performance by up to 7% for digital content creation workloads and improve productivity workloads by up to 15%, based on PCMark 10 tests. Unlike soldered-down memory, LPCAMM2 is upgradeable, allowing users to easily swap out their modules and increase their memory capacity whenever they need to. It also features a thinner, fan-less design, making it more portable and sleeker.

LPCAMM2 is available in 32 GB and 64 GB densities exclusively through www.crucial.com and comes with a limited lifetime warranty.
[Editor's note: The 64 GB Crucial LPCAMM2 with LPDDR5X-7500 memory has an MSRP of US$329.99]

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[R0H1T]

This could be a game changer if they price it nicely i.e. cheap. This would potentially give the bandwidth, speed & capacity advantage that AMD/Intel need in the laptop space!

 

[Chaitanya]

Would love to see this get adopted in thin and light laptops in future, current soldered RAM are quite restrictive for cheapest SKUs.

[Editor's note: The 64 GB Crucial LPCAMM2 with LPDDR5X-7500 memory has an MSRP of US$329.99]

So overall not a terrible price premium over SO-DIMMs.

 

[TheLostSwede]

So overall not a terrible price premium over SO-DIMMs.

Especially considering there's only one retail supplier so far.

 

[Chaitanya]

Especially considering there's only one retail supplier so far.

Hopefully this will supplant SO-DIMM in future bringing prices down with scale.
iFixit have posted a video in colab with Micron and Lenovo:

 

[TheLostSwede]

Hopefully this will supplant SO-DIMM in future bringing prices down with scale.
iFixit have posted a video in colab with Micron and Lenovo:

Hmmm, the tricky part there is that there's a torque requirement, no-one is going to care about that when it comes to after market upgrades...

 

[evernessince]

Hmmm, the tricky part there is that there's a torque requirement, no-one is going to care about that when it comes to after market upgrades...

How finicky are the modules with the torque? Would customers essentially be required to get a screw-driver where you can set torque or is hand tightening still a good option?

 

[Wirko]

Contact pad area directly under the chips. Interesting. The distribution of force must be very well thought out, so that all contacts are reliable and the chips don't get damaged even after a few years of rough handling. If this thing is designed to last a few years, that is.

@TheLostSwede if you can add images of your choice to the press release, could you include a pic of the underside?

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede if you can add images of your choice to the press release, could you include a pic of the underside?

I have yet to see any pics of the underside of the LPCAMM2 modules, but there are some of regular CAMM modules in an older news post.
It seems like the LPCAMM2 has the screw holes in different positions though, due to its smaller size.

Dell's DDR5 CAMM Appears in More Detail, Comes in Several Shapes, Won't be Proprietary

Last week the first details of Dell's CAMM (Compression Attached Memory Module) made an early appearance courtesy of a product leak, but now official details have appeared and the good news is that Dell is saying it won't be a proprietary solution. The Compression Connector looks unlike anything...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Denver]

Would love to see this get adopted in thin and light laptops in future, current soldered RAM are quite restrictive for cheapest SKUs.


So overall not a terrible price premium over SO-DIMMs.

It may be pricey, but it's not as daunting as a 64GB DDR5 kit with similar speed.

 

[Wirko]

I have yet to see any pics of the underside of the LPCAMM2 modules, but there are some of regular CAMM modules in an older news post.
It seems like the LPCAMM2 has the screw holes in different positions though, due to its smaller size.

Dell's DDR5 CAMM Appears in More Detail, Comes in Several Shapes, Won't be Proprietary

Last week the first details of Dell's CAMM (Compression Attached Memory Module) made an early appearance courtesy of a product leak, but now official details have appeared and the good news is that Dell is saying it won't be a proprietary solution. The Compression Connector looks unlike anything...

www.techpowerup.com

I found something at Tom's, and something closer to home. Extremely small pads. The iFixit video briefly shows that the mating surface (on the motherboard) looks the same. It would be interesting to see how that plate with spring contacts is made. It must be really thin, and indeed all the stacked parts must be really thin, or else you can't make a thin notebook out of that.

Edit: The plate (or "connector"):

 

[persondb]

I would hope that with those, it would finally make it viable to have 256-bit busses for the memory. That and the AI hype train(you need a lot of memory bandwidth for AI).

 

[thestryker6]

I would hope that with those, it would finally make it viable to have 256-bit busses for the memory. That and the AI hype train(you need a lot of memory bandwidth for AI).

Current spec is limited to dual channel 128-bit per connector, but I'd imagine it's possible to have multiple connectors go to 256-bit though I haven't seen it yet.

 

[Wirko]

Current spec is limited to dual channel 128-bit per connector, but I'd imagine it's possible to have multiple connectors go to 256-bit though I haven't seen it yet.

128 bits yes, but LPDDR has 32-bit or 16-bit wide channels.

As for multiple connectors, those modules can't be stacked on top of each other like SODIMMS sometimes are, so they would take up a lot of area, and they have to be very close to the CPU because of speed. Seems very unlikely.

 

[persondb]

Current spec is limited to dual channel 128-bit per connector, but I'd imagine it's possible to have multiple connectors go to 256-bit though I haven't seen it yet.

Well yeah, that would be the point. Have multiple connectors.

128 bits yes, but LPDDR has 32-bit or 16-bit wide channels.

As for multiple connectors, those modules can't be stacked on top of each other like SODIMMS sometimes are, so they would take up a lot of area, and they have to be very close to the CPU because of speed. Seems very unlikely.

There is actually a stacked mode.

 

[Wirko]

There is actually a stacked mode.

Great find!

However, things remain unclear and will probably remain so until we see more laptops and maybe servers with these new modules. This diagram seems to correspond with the connector that I posted the picture of, and is made of two nearly identical halves. So the connector is called CAMM2. The module is also called CAMM2 - but maybe also LPCAMM2 if populated with LPDDR chips?

Also, the photos show a module that has chips located above the contact pads. The one in the diagram doesn't.

The connector that was known previously (this) is a lot different and doesn't appear to be made up of identical halves. Is that CAMM? And is it obsolete?

 

[persondb]

Great find!

However, things remain unclear and will probably remain so until we see more laptops and maybe servers with these new modules. This diagram seems to correspond with the connector that I posted the picture of, and is made of two nearly identical halves. So the connector is called CAMM2. The module is also called CAMM2 - but maybe also LPCAMM2 if populated with LPDDR chips?

Also, the photos show a module that has chips located above the contact pads. The one in the diagram doesn't.

The connector that was known previously (this) is a lot different and doesn't appear to be made up of identical halves. Is that CAMM? And is it obsolete?

It's the same connector but in a different configuration, I believe.

See the Channel 1 and Channel 0 from the diagrams? What would happen is the Channel 1 would be raised(i.e. have a different height), so you can connect two smaller CAMM modules.

As for the difference of LPCAMM and CAMM from the JEDEC comments I have seen, is that they are the same except in terms of pinout, so they can't be interchanged and thus require a different name. I assume that this is due to a difference of LPDDR vs DDR standards which can require different signals.

 

[thestryker6]

The connector that was known previously (this) is a lot different and doesn't appear to be made up of identical halves. Is that CAMM? And is it obsolete?

That is Dell's proprietary implementation which they submitted to JEDEC, but was never used by anyone but Dell.

Well yeah, that would be the point. Have multiple connectors.

That's when it becomes tricky because you have to figure out where to put them. You cannot stack multiple 128-bit connectors like SODIMMs could be so they'd have to be placed side by side or on opposite/adjacent sides of the CPU.

There is actually a stacked mode.

The stacked mode is only for single channel so the implication is that it should allow for higher capacity, but still limited to a 128-bit bus.

 

[Wirko]

That's when it becomes tricky because you have to figure out where to put them. You cannot stack multiple 128-bit connectors like SODIMMs could be so they'd have to be placed side by side or on opposite/adjacent sides of the CPU.

Tricky indeed, the space close to the SoC is precious, it's used for the fastest peripherals and VRMs. And in notebooks, there are many other constraints regarding component layout.