Posted 08/14/08 at 03:09:27 PM by Paul Lilly

Rambus hoped to make strides with its RDRAM technology, and while it never did take off, it's only a matter of time before a new technology shakes up the random access memory market. Engineers and physicists from Germany think they'll be the ones to do it and have demonstrated what looks to be the quickest prototype yet of an advanced form of RAM, one which challenges the fundamental speed-limit for the process.

Called magnetoresistive random access memory, MRAM uses a faster and more energy efficient version of today's modules, which store a digital 1 or 0 as the level of charge in the capacitor. By comparison, MRAM stores the same information by changing the north-south direction of a tiny magnet's magnetic field, with each variable magnet positioned next to one with a fixed field. To read the stored value, a current runs through the pair to discover the direction of the variable magnet's field.

There are different types of MRAM technologies, and the one most manufacturers are hedging their bets on is called spin-torque MRAM, which involves spinning electrons to flip the magnetic fields. In what could see the technology emerge in as little as just a few years, German researchers have now built a spin-torque system from tiny pillars just 165nm tall that looks to be dramatically faster than any other. The top of the pillar acts as a variable magnet that stores the data, with fixed magnets occupying the bottom. When a current passes through, the electrons reach the pillars' other end and flip the variable magnet region's field to match.

 NewScientistTech has much more on the topic, and we want to hear what you think about the emerging RAM technology by posting below.

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polarity, build a pc, ram, Memory, spin flip, MRAM, magnetoresistive

Posted 08/07/08 at 10:27:51 AM by Chris Moody

Elpida Memory, Inc. based in Japan announced that it is going to launch a 16-gigabyte Fully Buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM), the world's largest capacity. It is based on its own unique integrated packaging technology (stacked FBGA or sFBGA) with 2-gigabit DDR2 SDRAM. Elpida has achieved development of FB-DIMM products that feature an ultra thin thickness of 7.7mm.

The chip was designed with the ultra high-end servers and workstation market in mind.

Sample shipments of the new 16-gigabyte FB-DIMM will begin later this month. Mass production is expected to get underway in the 4Q of 2008.

Now if they would just come up with 8 Gig DDR3 sticks for my next desktop build, I’d be very happy indeed!

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hardware, ram, FB-DIMM, 16GB, Elpida, DIMM

Posted 08/01/08 at 10:56:48 AM by Paul Lilly

Records are meant to be broken, but it's Corsair who keeps doing all the breaking. Once again, the company's auspiciously named Dominator series has taken memory frequencies to new heights, surpassing its own world record for the highest achieved DDR3 frequency set just over two months ago.

On May 20, Corsair's Dominator danced at 2462MHz, a record that went untouched until now. This time around, Corsair managed to push ahead to 2580MHz and did so with respectable latencies set at 9-9-9-24. It took an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 overclocked to a 645MHz frontside bus to get there, as well as cooling the motherboard, CPU, chipset, and memory to a very chilly -20 degrees Celsius. Brrr!

Because of the extreme cooling involved and obvious risk of component failures, kids probably shouldn't try this at home, but if you're a memory manufacturer not named Corsair, feel free to give it a shot.

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build a pc, Memory, DDR3, ram, corsair, dominator, 580MHz

Posted 07/25/08 at 02:21:51 PM by Paul Lilly

It wasn't that long ago when DDR2-1066 was considered high-end, and while DDR2 modules are still making a case for themselves with crazy-low prices, DDR3 continues to separate itself with insanely high clockspeeds. How high? Try twice as fast (on paper) as yesterday's top offerings.

Setting the bar is Corsair, who just released what the company rightfully claims is the world's fastest DDR3 memory solution in production volume. The new Dominator TW3X2G2133C9DF screams along at 2133MHz, the only kit on the market guaranteed to run at that speed.

"Our engineers have been working hard to achieve this astounding speed of 2133MHz," said John Beekley, VP of Applications Engineering at Corsair. "This is a tremendous accomplishment to be able to manufacture memory modules at this speed in production volumes," added Beekley.

The record-breaking modules aren't for the faint of heart carrying an MSRP of $575, with stock available right now.

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build a pc, Memory, DDR3, ram, corsair, dominator, 2133MHz

Posted 07/22/08 at 08:42:31 PM by Paul Lilly

Love him or hate him, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel has managed to get his branding slapped onto nearly every PC component it takes to build a computer, leaving only hard drives and processors left to conquer. Don't believe it? Have a look for yourself. Motherboard? Check. Videocard? Check. Case, soundcard, mouse, keyboard, and headset? Check, check, and check ad nauseum. And thanks to a recent partnership with OCZ now coming to fruition, Fatal1ty can notch both DDR2 and DDR3 memory into his belt too.

"OCZ worked closely with Fatal1ty and his team to desin new memory kits that pair perfectly with the top selling motherboards for a superior gaming experience," commented Alex Mei, cheif marketing officer of OCZ.

Hit the jump to find out why OCZ's excited about the partnership, and whether or not you should be too.

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build a pc, Memory, ram, ddr2, DDR3, ocz, Fatal1ty, hardware

Posted 07/16/08 at 12:45:39 PM by Paul Lilly

While a handful of DDR3-2000 kits can be found in the marketplace, the industry standard remains at DDR3-1600. That might soon change, as Elpida Memory today said it has developed power-efficient DDR3 memory in 1GB densities capable of cruising at 2Gbps.

Elpida's new memory uses a 65nm manufacturing process, and the company claims its 2Gbps modules use 35 percent less operating current compared with its existing products. And for those looking to save a bit of juice while running at the industry standard 1600Mbps, Elpida's memory will oblige at just 1.35V. Timings look to be a tad on the high side, most likely the result of running lower voltages:

• DDR3-2000 (11, 11, 11)
• DDR3-1867 (11, 11, 11)
• DDR3-1600 (9, 9, 9)

Intel, AMD, and memory manufacturers are all pushing the market towards DDR3. Are you buying?

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DDR3, ram, Memory, build a rig, hardware, eplida, 2gbps

Posted 07/11/08 at 02:30:50 PM by Chris Moody

Rambus, the technology company turned responsible for RDRAM has filed suit against Nvidia claiming that they violated 17 of its memory patents. Rambus’ lawsuit alleges that at least six of Nvidia's product lines infringe the Rambus patents including chip sets, graphics processors and applications processors. They ask for an injunction that would prevent Nvidia from selling the products as well as damages.

Tom Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus was quoted as saying, "For more than six years, we have diligently attempted to negotiate a licensing agreement with Nvidia, but our good faith efforts have been to no avail," he adds, "We are left with no other recourse than litigation to protect and seek fair compensation for the use of our patented inventions,".

Can you smell the bull? I better get my rubber boots it’s getting thick. His own statement shows this to be an attempt to force Nvidia to cough up something to make Rambus go away and they haven't been interested. Nvidia has yet to comment on the suit.

Read on to hear more about the Patent Troll.

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Rambus, RDRAM, SDRAM, nvidia, ram, Memory, Patent Troll

Posted 06/30/08 at 01:27:02 PM by Paul Lilly

Perhaps taking a cue from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, memory maker OCZ hopes its newly announced 3GB SO-DIMM kit will prove just the right amount for notebook users looking for a cost effective upgrade. The PC2-5400 part targets Vista 32-bit users and is meant to occupy the sweet spot between not having enough memory, and overpaying for too much RAM.

Click through the jump for detailed specs, and to find out if you're better offer investing in a 4GB kit.

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SO-DIMM, ram, ocz, notebook, Memory, laptop, hardware, dual-channel, ddr2, build a pc, 3GB