Ram/SDRam/DDRam/RDRam/Rambus???

[Shagnasty]

Can anyone explain what the hell is going
on with Ram? I know what happened between
72pin Ram and 168pin SDRam...then it just
plain went Berzerk...Looking at getting
up to speed with a new P4 1.8ghz...but I
just can't figure out the differences in
these new Ram types...Help?!?

[conjh13]

Well, I don't claim to be a RAM expert, but I can enlighten you on a few of the terms. SDRAM - Sync DRAM - is the standard for many mid-grade systems, such as PII's, PIII's, AMD K6-2,'s etc. and comes in several bus speeds, the fastest being 133. DDRAM is basically Double Data-rate RAM, meaning it has twice the bus speed of typical SDRAM, and is used mostly in high-end Athlon systems I believe. RDRAM and Rambus are one and the same. It's the RAM used in P4 systems, and I believe has bus speeds from 400-800.

Very likely someone who knows more about this will find some misinformation in this post, but like I said, I don't claim to be an expert. So, if anyone finds misiformation, please, correct it! I would be much obliged.

[Fingers]

All the memory types you mentioned are RAM (Random Access Memory).
72-pin SIMMS (Single Inline Memory Modules) were asynchronous, which meant they worked at their own pace, with no regard for the processor clock. Next came SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) which works at the same speed as the CPU clock, reducing time it took to get the information in memory onto the memory bus. DDR (Double Data Rate) is still SDRAM, but it is capable of sending twice as much data per clock cycle as regular SDRAM. DDR also requires a 184-pin socket and a motherboard with a chipset that supports DDR.

RDRAM is the same as Rambus and it's a new technology that Intel chose to support with the P4. Intel offered motherboards that supported Rambus for the PIII too, but their performance was dreadful because the mobo had to convert the information in the memory back into something that the processor could understand by way of an extra MTH (Memory Translation Hub) placed on the motherboard. The P4 is the first and only CPU that I know of that offers native support for the potential 800MHz bus speed that RDRAM is capable of. There are rumors that the next P4 may support the much more economical DDR Ram, but for now, I believe that if you go with a P4, it will be coupled with Rambus.

BTW, you can check out the Crucial FAQ (http://support.crucial.com/scripts/crucial.exe/faq) for common questions about memory issues, and also the Crucial glossary (http://www.crucial.com/library/glossary.asp) for more memory related definitions. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Shagnasty]

Great! Thanks for the replies, it doesn't
seem as intimidating as before...Think I'll
hold off awhile longer on the P4 system.
At least until the end of the month, Since
I heard here that Intel is about to slash
chip prices again...

[Dputiger]

Shagnasty,

I recommend you hold off for the new .13 micron P4 chips and DDR-RAM.

[Psycho Logical]

Kingston Technology --> The Ultimate Memory Guide www.kingston.com/tools/umg/default.asp (http://www.kingston.com/tools/umg/default.asp)