Samsung Readying Fast New Memory Circuitry for Servers

Get ready for a technical mouthful.
Samsung said July 3 that it has begun sampling the industry’s first 16GB Double Data Rate-4 (DDR4), Registered Dual Inline Memory Modules (RDIMMs), optimized for high-end enterprise-level servers. Go ahead, say that product name fast a few times in a row.

Using a 30nm-class process, Samsung sampled new 8GB and 16GB DDR4 modules in June and provided them to major CPU and controller makers. The company is banking on the modules to bring new density and performance levels to premium enterprise servers.

Samsung has a little history in this department, having introduced the first 30nm-class 2GB DDR4 module back in December 2010. This isn’t to mention that Samsung invented and brought to market the industry’s first DDR DRAM in 1997.
Due to its new and improved circuitry, Samsung said that its DDR4 has recorded the highest data-movement performance among currently available memory chips. DDR4 speeds are expected to reach twice the current 1,600M bps of DDR3-based modules by a year from now.

Also, by processing data far more efficiently at a low 1.2 voltage, Samsung’s DDR4 modules are expected to reduce power consumption by approximately 40 percent compared to its predecessor DDR3 modules (those first came to market in 2005), which operate at 1.35V.
Samsung is a key member of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), which is finalizing the standardization of DDR4 technologies and product specifications. They expect to finalize the specs next month.