Hi capt rocky; I have no doubt that Samsung is the best memory maker in the world, for the combination of leading edge and volume. IBM does good leading edge, but never seems to produce enough to supply outside customers with leading edge parts. But all that has not a lot to do with rambus.
Samsung is the leading memory maker. They have been the firstest with the mostest as far back as I can remember. Rambus is a great opportunity for them, because it puts a big roadblock in the way of the other DRAM makers, in comparison. Rambus is an extremely difficult thing to manufacture, compared to other DRAM types, and this gives an advantage to the company that is best. They can charge a huge premium for RDRAM chips, which is good for Samsung, not for the long-term health of rambus as a standard. Notice that Samsung was the first to really be able to make RDRAM.
Take a look at Samsung's web site. They provide all kinds of specialty DRAM. They invented both VRAM and SGRAM, if I remember correctly. (Is that true? Now I can't remember, and I'm too lazy to look it up. Anyway, they are the best.)
Also you should be aware that Samsung is gearing their SDRAM production to be wire bond option to DDR. This means that they can ramp up DDR very, very quickly, and it also means that any process improvements to their highest production line can be easily tested as DDR. Rambus, by contrast, is too weird to share a die with SDRAM, and this is a disadvantage.
Samsung is the best because they cover all the options, and they cover them first. When DDR starts shipping strong, (and large quantities are now available, in fact, you now have to buy them a couple hundred at a time) Samsung will be the firstest with the mostest.
Incidentally, because the minimum order for DDR has gotten so huge, (the onesies and twosies sampling period is over), I would guess that DDR equipped machines will be selling by sometime in October. If some of those early adopters are PCs, you will see comparative performance figures by the end of that month.
-- Carl |
