Intel Investors - Intel Demos Rambus System at Comdex
Intel demonstrated a system running full speed 400 MHz Rambus modules at Comdex. Although not explicit, the article seems to imply that the system used the new CAMINO chip set and the Katmai processor.
Paul
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techweb.com
November 23, 1998, Issue: 1036
Section: News
Comdex demo keys start of Rambus shift
David Lammers
Las Vegas - Taking its Rambus program closer to the goal of having
next-generation systems on the market next summer, Intel Corp. booted a
Windows machine based on the Rambus memory architecture last week at
Comdex.
The demo, which ran a game called Forsaken, came as PC makers are knee
deep in testing newly received samples of the processors, chip sets and
memory modules that are expected to drive the new memory architecture
forward.
"This is a platform demonstration with the Rambus channel operating at the full
400-MHz speed," said Pete MacWilliams, a fellow at the Intel Architecture
Labs (Hillsboro, Ore.). "We wanted to show the whole system integration
using the Rambus technology-a full motherboard with all of the routing-to
show where we are at with all of the electrical and mechanical issues."
Other sources said Intel began shipping prototypes of its Camino chip set to
computer vendors earlier this month. Camino supports the Direct Rambus
DRAMs (D-RDRAMs), which deliver a peak bandwidth of 1.6
Gbytes/second over the Rambus channel. A spokesman at Intel's Folsom,
Calif., operation said the Comdex demo included "a prototype memory
controller" on the Pentium II-based machine, but declined to confirm the
reports on Camino.
Tests of the major components of the first generation of Rambus-based PCs
"are going on in real-time," said Jan Janick, vice president of development for
IBM Corp.'s client systems. "The next 30 days will tell whether we can ship
these boards in volume on schedule. But I am already a week later than I
wanted to be."
Intel's MacWilliams said the Rambus-based PCs would have two to three
times as much bandwidth as the PC-100 generation on the market today.
Though one source said Rambus-equipped desktops could be ready as early
as next April, Intel is shooting for a summer debut. Those desktops would
"not just be BX-based machines with Rambus memories," said Jan Camps, an
Intel manager working on the Rambus program, referring to the BX chip set
now in production. Intel expects PC OEMs to deliver a host of technologies
surrounding the faster memory architecture, including next-generation
graphics, security for electronic commerce, DVD drives and other features
discussed at the recent Intel Developers Forum.
Camps said Intel envisions a speed sort of the D-RDRAMs, with 400-MHz
parts going to "performance" desktops and a 300-MHz model to sub-$1,500
machines. That would help ensure higher revenue-and less wastage-at the
DRAM vendors.
As of last week, MacWilliams said Intel had tested 64-Mbit D-RDRAMs
from eight vendors, with Rambus in-line memory modules (RIMMs) in hand
from LG Semicon and Samsung Electronics, as well as NEC Corp. and
Toshiba Corp.
The machine shown at Comdex included eight 64-Mbit D-RDRAMs on a
single RIMM, with "continuity" modules inserted in the other RIMM slots to
keep the entire electrical path intact. Intel has succeeded in booting other
systems with 32 devices on the channel, MacWilliams added.
The cost of the Rambus technology remains an issue, and Intel recently
invested $500 million in Micron Technologies Inc. (Boise, Idaho) to ensure
that Micron puts its full weight behind the RDRAM.
128 Mbit is first
Wringing the cost out of the Rambus parts will be a major objective next year,
and several DRAM makers will jump to the 128-Mbit density to jam more
bits into the relatively expensive chip-scale package. The higher density also
will reduce the number of high-speed logic testers required to test the Rambus
interface circuitry.
IBM Microelectronics will come to the Rambus memory market initially with a
128-Mbit D-RDRAM in late 1999, using a 0.2-micron process, said Lane
Mason, a senior strategist based in Burlington, Vt. That design eventually
could be manufactured at IBM fabs in Burlington and in Essonnes, France,
and at the IBM-Toshiba joint venture, Dominion Semiconductor Corp., in
Manassas, Va.
Mason said the die-size penalty over synchronous DRAMs that's incurred by
using a 0.25-micron process at 64 Mbits would not produce a cost-effective
solution. Nor is IBM ready to jump to 256 Mbits, which will require first
0.17-micron and then 0.15-micron technologies.
"We view the 128-Mbit as the point where IBM can pick up the hunt, but the
256-Mbit generation is the point where RDRAMs will be the majority," said
Mason. "The Rambus memories will require more capital equipment, but that
is the same for any high-performance memory."
Samsung also will emphasize the 128-Mbit generation, said Avo Kanadjian, a
vice president at Samsung Semiconductor Corp. Most performance desktops
will ship with 128 Mbytes of base memory, which can be satisfied with a
single module populated with eight 128-Mbit D-RDRAMs. It is more
cost-effective to spread the additional package and testing cost over eight
128-Mbit parts than sixteen 64-Mbit parts, he said.
In Kanadjian's view, the 64-Mbit D-RDRAM will be an "enabler" that will
allow computer OEMs to get their Rambus-based systems validated and out
on the market; the 128-Mbit density will meet volume demands.
Kanadjian predicted that by the second half of next year a Direct Rambus
DRAM will carry a component-level premium of 30 to 35 percent over
SDRAMs. That will improve to "the mid-teens" in 2000, he said.
He discounted fears that the supply of RDRAMs will not be able to meet
demand. Samsung is investing about $250 million in its Austin, Texas, fab to
increase wafers per month to about 21,000, he said. Samsung will use a
0.23-micron process for its 128-Mbit Direct Rambus parts, moving to 0.18
micron for the 256-Mbit generation.
Back in South Korea, Samsung will increase its micro-BGA packaging
capability, as well as its RIMM module manufacturing and testing facility,
Kanadjian added.
Intel's MacWilliams said that during last year's push to bring up the PC-100
specification SDRAMs, "we learned the hard way" that work with the
memory-module industry is essential. "With the PC-100 program the module
makers picked up our Gerbers [for pc-board layout] and specifications, and
went off to do it. With this [Rambus] generation, we will have a lot more
interaction with the module industry."
At Tanisys Technology Corp. (Austin), the work required to manufacture and
test the RIMMs is topic No. 1. Joe Klein, an engineering manager at Tanisys,
said the shift to chip-scale packages on the D-RDRAMs will come in two
versions: center-bonded and edge-bonded CSPs, requiring separate RIMM
designs from the module makers.
"Noise is critical with the RIMM design because the voltage swing on the
Rambus memories is a lot smaller at higher frequencies," Klein said. "From a
system standpoint, I like the Rambus approach, because the channel has an
even distribution of the data and instruction wires, whereas with the
SDRAM-based DIMMs there was a much more uneven distribution."
The SDRAMs come in thin, small-outline packages, and it was relatively easy
to inspect the fillup. Tanisys will buy X-ray inspection equipment to ensure that
the solder balls on the CSP are properly attached to the board. With the
CSPs, "the via size on the pcbs is larger than the pads on the chips, so
soldering becomes an art," Klein said.
Also, he said, the module makers will need to be more vigilant about
controlling impedance, with tolerances that are half that of the DIMMs used in
the PC-100 specification. The RIMMs also will require a heat sink
clamshelled around the module, and thermal stress will be a bigger issue.
"With the PC-100 modules it was more of an evolution. The Rambus
generation is a revolution, but there aren't any particular issues that can't be
solved," said Klein, who earlier worked at IBM's memory division.
One Tanisys division makes module testers sold under the Dark Horse brand,
and that group is preparing the software and hardware required to test the
RIMMs at speed. That work should be finished by the first quarter, said Don
McCord, marketing manager at Tanisys.
Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc.
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