Tony:
Re: ..have it from a very good source that SDRAM will become THE DRAM of choice starting in 1997...Do you know of any smaller companies that may clean up with SDRAM?
SDRAM may indeed be hot in '97 and '98, but a better bet is that Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) will be the standard form of main memory by 1999.
Electronic Engineering Times had an excellent article on this very subject recently ("Predicts It'll be PC standard by '99 -- Intel champions RAMBUS DRAM", EE Times, Issue 927, News Section, November 11, 1996). This article may be available on the Web, but I'm not sure.
According to the article, the PC of 1999, powered by the Merced processor and "supporting multiple very high-speed ports into main memory, will have memory-bandwidth requirements far beyond the abilities of current extended-data-out (EDO) DRAM and SDRAM modules."
The article also says that in late '98, Intel will look for a transition to 64-Mbit Rambus DRAMs, capable of 1.6 Gbyte/second transfers.
Rambus invented the technology, but apparently doesn't manufacture the chips. Instead, they license the RDRAM technology to other memory manufacturers, including Samsung, LG Semicon, NEC, and Toshiba. Unfortunately, from what I can find Rambus is at present privately owned.
Adam |
