Carl, <there are no simple solutions, or one-line answers to engineering. Requiring tight tolerances raises the cost of production. Reducing pin counts reduces the cost of production. Which is more important?>
I contend that the answer is pretty clear. The cost
of reducing or increasing the pin count is simply
proportional to the count: same pins, same proven
traces, etc.
In contrast, requiring high tolerances escalates
the cost in multiples: it cost to control each:
materials, photoplotters, etching, lamination process,
component variability, soldering variability,
etc. Pumping up frequency as high as 8 times
the current technology escalates the cost
dramatically. Even property of materials are
impossible to find for those frequencies, so
additional cost of characterization is required.
Take in the cost of 3GHz-range testing equipment,
top of the available in the whole industry.
So, you know the drill...
I see the answer is clearly not in favor of
Rambus approach - pin saving goes down linearly, but
higher frequency costs grow exponentially.
- Ali, with no Rambus agenda. Just wondering. |
