DDR4?

[officedemon]

I know some video cards have "GDDR5" and RAM has DDR2/DDR3 now but whats to come? how soon will we see DDR4 (some kinds of upgrade) or will SSD's take its place?

also take a look at this!
http://www.itechnews.net/2009/05/06/ddrdrive-x1-ram-based-pci-e-ssd/

 

[fundip]

in no more than 3 years that will be standard on the cheapest motherboards, lol.

 

[ssjwizard]

Last time I was doing research on DDR4 they were saying its going to be pushed off to 2014ish to allow manufacturers time to get ready for it. The standard for DDR4 has been tested and established though.

 

[kmo_9000]

I've read a few people in this forum and on reddit talk about how they are waiting for DDR4 to come out before building a new pc and such. But the thing is that I really don't think DDR4 will take off as fast as DDR3 did.

I mean when we were still using DDR2 you could make the argument that the average 800mhz kit was not fast enough, so DDR3 that could reach 1333mhz and now 1600 and 2000+ really does offer a huge increase in performance.

I just don't see the same thing happening to replace DDR3, I don't see a point in paying for a premium on speed that we arguably don't need.

But then again I guess were going to have to see what kind of motherboards and CPU's are available in 2014. Regardless I am still skeptical.

 

[petteyg359]

I've got a quad core i7 laptop with 16GB DDR3, and a sex* core P2 desktop with 16GB. By the time I need an upgrade, there'll be DDR4. So, I'm waiting, despite kmo_9000's skepticism


*If we're using dual-, quad-, and octo-, then the matching prefix for six is sex-. Otherwise we'd be using tetra- for four. See Greek and Latin numerical prefixes. Having a sexy CPU just sounds cooler than a hexy CPU, anyway

 

[kmo_9000]

What I mean is I don't see what will make use of all that extra bandwidth. It wouldn't really give much extra noticeable performance.

 

[hokiealumnus]

I've read articles about it periodically. The consensus is that it will be 2014 before any kind of wide availability.

 

[eskimochaos]

Waiting for PC technology is an oxymoron.

 

[freeagent]

Waiting for PC technology is an oxymoron.

Most of us already have some pretty highend rigs.. No need for ddr4 just yet.. In the mean time, ramp up youre mhz, and tighten those timings!

 

[kmo_9000]

Most of us already have some pretty highend rigs.. No need for ddr4 just yet.. In the mean time, ramp up youre mhz, and tighten those timings!

Ya, DDR4 will probably make more of a difference for low end pc's and laptops when it becomes cheaper. My ram is plenty fast for me right now.

 

[petteyg359]

What I mean is I don't see what will make use of all that extra bandwidth. It wouldn't really give much extra noticeable performance.

They're not just increasing bandwidth. DDR was 2.5-2.6v. DDR2 dropped that to 1.8v. DDR3 standard is 1.5v, and I've got 16GiB of 1.35v in my laptop right now. I expect DDR4 will eventually go under 1v.

 

[Woomack]

I think that we will see DDR4 in servers somewhere in 2nd half of next year. In desktops maybe half year later.
There are already working DDR4 and first chipsets so I'm counting that +/- 1 year for tests.
IC manufacturers ( Samsung/Hynix ) are pushing Intel to make premiere of DDR4 platforms faster so already available technology will start earning money.
Micron is working on some other IC but I don't remember what was it exactly, if I remember it right then it was compatible with DDR4 standard.

Only question is who really needs faster memory for home PCs as we can't even use full DDR3 speed. Even most servers won't really use it.

 

[petteyg359]

Only question is who really needs faster memory for home PCs as we can't even use full DDR3 speed. Even most servers won't really use it.

Please read my post right above yours. It's not all about speed.

 

[kmo_9000]

We know it will bring lower voltages. But that only matters in laptops and portable devices, not in high powered gaming towers.

I have 1.35v ram running at 1.475 with the overclock. It works and I get plenty of speed, its not like it's consuming all that much power anyway compared to the rest of the parts.

The OP asked how soon we will see the upgrade, and I say probably not for a long time unless we plan on buying a laptop or tablet. If the performance increase is indistinguishable then it's going to be hard to push it onto the builders market, people will just keep buying DDR3 motherboards because they will probably be cheaper as well.

 

[ivanlabrie]

It matters the most where the big money is, servers!
Why do we see all these green things lately? It's all aimed towards mobile and server grade stuff...not us.

 

[Woomack]

Please read my post right above yours. It's not all about speed.

So far eco memory series gave us almost nothing. Drop from 1.5/1.65V to 1.25/1.35V is under 1W difference ( DDR4 is going to start at about 1.2V ).
Better DDR3 SODIMM series have maximum operating power at about 2.5W, that's for 8GB 1600 9-9-9 1.50V sticks ( 4GB sticks have about 1.5W ).
Power draw will be good only as marketing gimmick in this case for everything except maybe some mobile devices like smart phones or tablets.

JEDEC DDR4 Standard

 

[petteyg359]

So far eco memory series gave us almost nothing. Drop from 1.5/1.65V to 1.25/1.35V is under 1W

Not sure where you're pulling watts from, since I have never seen amperage specifications on various RAM types. Regardless, dropping 0.25v is a 17% reduction. For a random number, if a RAM module uses 5W, that's 120 Wh per day, or 3600 Wh per month. Given a 90% efficient PSU, that's 4 kWh. Shaving 17% off that number is a significant saving.

 

[Woomack]

I added example link to Kingston datasheet of 8GB 1600 SODIMM stick where is info about wattage - " Maximum Operating Power 2.580 W* (per module) (DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9 @ 1.5V) "

1.5V 4GB sticks are about 1.3-1.5W and 2GB sticks are 0.725-1.110W ( that you can also check on Kingston site in datasheets ). It also depends from used IC and probably that's why there is no A info as under one product number can be more IC.
I couldn't find datasheet for 1.25-1.35V modules.

 

[fornoob]

DDR4 technical specifications are available to download (free, you just have to log in) on the JEDEC website