Boise (ID) – Micron has begun sampling 2 Gb DDR3 memory chips, enabling the production of 16 GB memory modules for servers and 4 GB modules for desktop and notebook PC.

The next generation of DRAM densities is on its way: Micron today said that it has put 2 Gb DDR3 components into low volume production, with mass-production and commercial availability expected to begin in the first quarter of next year.

These new devices will effectively double the maximum capacity of today’s DRAM modules, taking server modules from 8 GB to 16 GB and desktop and notebook versions from 2 GB to 4 GB. The 78 nm chips will be available with speeds up to 1333 MHz - which is enough horsepower to transfer a 100,000-page document in about one second, Micron said.

Besides potentially higher capacity, the higher density also allows memory manufacturers to use fewer chips in mainstream memory configurations, which can reduce power consumption when compared to 1 Gb models.   

Cool

Oct 30, 2007 11:39     

It will still take me a while before I think of 8 gig notebooks for doing serious work.
enewmen report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Very nice!

Oct 30, 2007 13:46     

But I wonder when that much ram will even be needed? Would 8gb help with anything in the next year?
gamebro report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Mmmmmmm :-)

Oct 30, 2007 14:34     

16GB of ram in a board that supported it. Sounds delicious. Dual quad-core processors, how many virtual machines could I stably run whilst gaming?
Conor report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Limits

Oct 30, 2007 15:53     

With regards to virtual PCs, you will still have a limit on the number of Virtual Machines due slow Disk Access, the # 1 bottle neck.
Limits report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RE: Mmmmmmm :-)

Oct 30, 2007 16:22     

I calculated 4.7 virtual machines while playing Crysis (assuming you have massively uber video cards). My calculations are as follows: return rand()1/10.
Olson report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: Limits

Oct 30, 2007 16:33     

But with flash drives coming in to replace disks in the near future, that will be less of an issue.
Casey report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

ramdisk

Oct 30, 2007 17:02     

with 16 GB of ram, you could host a decent sized ramdisk. so you would still be limited by how much memory you have, depending on whats placed on the ramdisk, but at least the hdd would no longer be a performance bottleneck.
Brandon report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Not MUCH use in desktops

Oct 30, 2007 18:22     

There will still be the 4GB limit for 32bit software, so unless you use 64bit (which is SO rediculously unsupported) the 8GB wont help much. Plus will probably cost alot more for a fair while
Peanutsrevenge report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

100000pages/sec?

Oct 30, 2007 18:41     

1 page is about 2500 characters. That is ca 2.5 kB. 100000 times that per socond is 250MB/s. Not a mind-boggling speed.
Michal report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0