SHARKY EXTREME
Now that Intel has somewhat embraced the PC-133 option in light
of the recent RDRAM delays, How will average consumers see a
performance benefit from SDRAM that's clocked at a higher speed than
they're used to?
MICHAEL SPORER
I cannot comment in Intel's plans. But, in general, the PC133 SDRAM
offers a 33% improvement in bandwidth over PC100. In the transition from
PC66 to PC100 it is generally acknowledged that the performance
improvement was around 5% (for a 50% increase in memory performance.) So
one can extrapolate that the system level performance improvement due to
PC133 will probably be in the 3% range. This highlights that SDRAM is
also reaching the point of diminishing returns and a significant change
is needed.
SHARKY EXTREME
Several semiconductor manufacturers have committed to
manufacturing RDRAM, including Lucky Goldstar. What timeframe can
consumers expect to see RDRAM-equipped PCs available in their local
purchase outlets?
MICHAEL SPORER
These should be widely available this fall. It is actually unfortunate for LG
that we are so far ahead of our competition on this Rambus memory. The
total market demand for a new memory technology is larger than a single
(or a few) suppliers can meet, so the market introduction was delayed,
despite the fact that some of us were ready.
SHARKY EXTREME
Explain for our readers in laymen's terms why the potential of
RDRAM is strong enough that it outweighs the perceived negatives
associated with it (cost, supply issues, etc)
MICHAEL SPORER
Let's be realistic here. RAM has always played second fiddle to CPU
technology in terms of marketing and getting credit for system
performance. Rambus technology will enable future CPUs to run at their
full potential by eliminating the potential bottlenecks that would occur
if you were using a traditional memory architecture.
You cannot take a system architecture *of today* which is not limited by
memory performance and expect to see an improvement... because there is
nothing to improve upon. But with faster CPU busses, increased AGP
demand and increased I/O requirements it is apparent that drastic
changes are needed.
From a technical perspective the initial implementations of Rambus have
a peak bandwidth that's 200% better than PC100 and an effective
bandwidth of up to 300% better. You can draw your own conclusions about
performance differences. In addition, Rambus requires about 25% of the
pins and interconnect wires from the chipset to the memory, so if you
could use the same number of pins already in use by SDRAM you could have
4x the performance over the first Direct Rambus implementations.
SHARKY EXTREME
What about the competition then? Does DDR SDRAM, HSDRAM, or ESDRAM
show a degree of performance that equals or approaches the
specifications for RDRAM? With Intel pushing forward in one direction with
RDRAM, and competitive designs emerging from semiconductor
manufacturers around the globe, is the industry headed for a show down
or an anti-climax?
MICHAEL SPORER
Every new memory proposal has certain tradeoffs of cost, performance and
availability. Rambus is ready for the market this year. Where do the
others stand? Time to market is everything in this business.
