SDRAM becoming obsolete

[jadison]

I have 160MB SDRAM on my puter, and for me that's enough...I won't be spending $$ on new RAM for awhile, this is the same for most other users like me who don't have a business machine. Now for Very High-End users they might want the faster Rambus RAM for the 1GHz+ systems, but for me, i'm not spending the $325 or so for 64MB+ RDRAM

I'd keep the SDRAM u have for a while if I were you

-=jd=-

[Dputiger]

I don't know how much longer SDRAM itself will be used, but the SDRAM design is what's being used in the next generation of RAM--DDR-SDRAM. I know that various groups are trying to get QDR-SDRAM working, but I have no idea where that idea has gone.

[Warthog]

Rambus is in it's beginning stages. It isn't ready to be accepted as standard. It is simply too expensive. Also, the kinks haven't yet been worked out of it. The speed increase that you benefit from using Rambus is not worth the outrageous price. It's about 5 times the price of SDRAM.

Warthog

[RobRich]

QDR-RAM is already in small scale production. I will attempt to find the link, but I do know that one comapny is already using it for extremely high bandwidth Flash Card-like devices.

As for RAMBUS, unless you enjoy paying $550+ US for 128meg, I would avoid it. It offers extremely good trasfer rates, but lacks the bandwidth needed to compete right now. Even the slower 200mhz DDR-SDRAM (100mhz FSB) offers more effective bandwidth than RD-RAM.

Robert Richmond

[PatrickB]

About SDRAM getting phased out, how soon will this happen, is RAMBUS 168 pin etc.
Any info would help as I've just bought a 650 Athlon and will be pissed-off if buying RAM becomes suddenly becomes a problem (I can think of one salesman who'll get a very, very hard kick where it hurts the most)

[chipbgt]

Well, I dont think we have to worry about it for awhile. I mean true faster memory is available, but no one is gonna spend the money on rambus or pc800 ram. I know my sdram isnt going anywhere for a long time.

[PatrickB]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it

[^EvilDragon^]

Rambus is dead technology. I expect it disappear (or almost disappear) in 2 years. It's simply not faster than SDRAM in most cases and definitely will lose against DDR SDRAM.
Don't let 400MHz number to fool you. Rambus is 16-bit wide (SDRAM is 64-bit wide). And it has much worse random access latencies than SDRAM.
So it's not only price, it doesn't deliver any performance gain, except may be for some very narrow class of applications which need extremely high burst rates.

[Warthog]

I read that Rambus is not being used to it's full capabilities. Most the tests you and I see online are done on Intel's current top chipset (can't remember name). When the Willamette comes out on the 840 chipset (I think) Rambus will be much, much, faster. I don't think it will disappear, it's just not ready now. The technology has to be further developed. None of us can say a thing about DDR RAM because there are no test systems to my knowledge. Can you go out and by a DDR system? No. But you can by a Rambus system. Because of that, there are reviews out for Rambus and not DDR.

Warthog

[Dputiger]

True enough, true enough--but unlike Rambus, DDR is built on proven technology. It's like the Thunderbird. People expected it to be good, because its built on a proven core technology. DDR SDRAM COULD suck, of course--but I highly doubt it.

[cyclone2]

Patrick you will have to kick him real hard because to my knowledge you will need a motherboard too to support RD or DDR ram to its potential, look for some Thunderbird boards out this fall optimized for DDR, they should smoke! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Win_98]

sdram also known as sync ram
very fast indeed when compared
to simm which had a latency of 60-80nanosec
vs sdram 6-10 nanosec
I doubt it be obsolete anytime soon
but maybe you should change your subject to
Simm is becoming obsolete!
funny there are still alot of people using it
who haven't upgraded.
Cause we all be using these for at least another 5 years...

[^EvilDragon^]

RAMBUS won't get faster just because of faster processor and even new release of chipset won't make any major difference. The only thing can improve RDRAM performance is dual-port interface (double bandwidth). Still according to various benchmarks, RAMBUS is not faster than plain SDRAM. The double-port RDRAM (which hasn't hit market as well) won't be faster than DDR SDRAM. RAMBUS technology's fate is to die soon.

[wtp]

stick with SDRAM, it's certified, cheaper, and yes, fast too. Don't waste your money on RDRAM, it's unnecessary.

wtp

[Krymson]

There's a a whole boatload of reasons why RAMBUS sux, and DDR-SDRAM and SDRAM rock. check it out if you have the time at www.tomshardware.com. (http://www.tomshardware.com.) I cant give you the exact url cuz theyre like 6 different articles about rambus.