According to Rambus the XDR DRAM technology will be mainstream in the PC memory market in 2006. With a clockrate of 3.2GHz XDR DRAM offers eight times the bandwidth of today's DDR400 memory , while being able to scale up to 6.4GHz and beyond. It is also interesting to see the sizes in which memory modules will be available : starting from 256MB up to 8GB!
Rambus has defined all of the ingredients necessary to bring XDR to PC main memory. These ingredients include a broad range of XDIMM memory modules, programmable-width XDR DRAMs, buffers, connectors, clock generators, and comprehensive system design guidelines and documentation.
The XDIMM memory module will provide 12.8GB/s to 25.6GB/s of bandwidth, which is four times more memory module bandwidth in the same pin count and form factor as DDR2 DIMMs, giving the XDIMM the highest performance at the lowest system cost.
XDR memory's novel system topology allows point-to-point differential data interconnects to scale to multi-gigahertz speeds, while the bussed address and command signals allow a scalable range of memory system capacity supporting from one to 36 DRAM devices. XDR offers a roadmap to 6.4GHz and can scale to interface widths of up to 128-bits, enabling memory system bandwidths up to 100GB/s, 16 times more than today?s 6.4GB/s memory systems. XDR DRAMs will be available in multiple speed bins, device densities, and device widths. With densities ranging from 256Mb to 8Gb, and device widths ranging from x1 to x32, XDR DRAM satisfies the needs of both high-bandwidth and high-capacity systems.
Samsung, Elpida, and Toshiba are all DRAM licensees of Rambus's latest memory interface technology.
