SK Hynix databook shows HBM2 will ship soon, GDDR6 in Q4 2017

SK Hynix published a new memory databook dated May 5. This document reveals the specifications and expected availability of its HBM2 and GDDR6 memory products. VideoCardz noticed a couple of interesting things, including the fact that the databook doesn't refer to SK Hynix' HBM2 as being available immediately.

HBM2 is listed as shipping in Q2 2017 but on May 5 it wasn't shipping yet. VideoCardz says this is one of the main reasons why AMD's Radeon RX Vega is still not on the market. HBM2 has suffered several delays, SK Hynix initially expected to ship the new memory in Q3 2016 but this got pushed to Q2 2017.

With two stacks of HBM2, the Radeon RX Vega cards could offer 8GB memory capacity with a clockspeed of 1.6GHz and a bandwidth of 410GB/s. Four stacks could easily double the capacity and bandwidth but that would get quite expensive.

GDDR6 memory also make an appearance in the databook. The currently expected shipping date for GDDR6 is Q4 2017 and SK Hynix is prepping two variants. Both models are 1GB chips with a voltage of 1.35V. One variant runs at 12GHz while the other can do 14GHz. With a 256-bit memory bus this results in memory bandwidth of up to 448GB/s, while a 384-bit memory bus can offer up to 672GB/s memory bandwidth.

NVIDIA is expected to introduce a video card with GDDR6 in early 2018.