Hi all; Simmtester reports on incompatiblities in DDR:
DDR SDRAM facing interoperability issues
Doc Memory, SimmTester, 3/13/01
Memory manufacturers are working to solve inter-operability issues with their DDR SDRAM parts, which in some instances have prevented customers from using modules from different suppliers in a common platform.
Many vendors hope the emergence of DDR SDRAM will excite growth and shore up prices in the memory market, companies are scrambling to tighten their timing signal and impedance specifications to make sure DIMMs from different sources will work in desktop PC and other computing systems.
Desi Rhoden, chairman of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), sees no major barriers preventing various DDR modules from working together on the same board. “We faced the same issue in each previous major generation change in memory, and we got it worked out,” said Rhoden, who is also president of Advanced Memory International Inc., an industry group promoting the adoption of DDR SDRAM.
Similarly, executives at Smart Modular Technologies which is validating DDR modules from most major suppliers, doesn't see compatibility problems putting up a roadblock. “The industry has now validated a wide range of DDR products at both PC2100 and PC1600 bandwidths,” he said. “The only remaining issue is to make sure different vendor modules can be used interchangeably on the same motherboard,” he said.
The DDR ramp depends in part on the industry's ability to optimize DDR performance through close collaboration among myriad chip and module makers, chipset suppliers, and motherboard vendors.
Being able to use modules from different vendors is important for OEMs-particularly in the desktop PC market-because they don't want to become locked into a single supplier, industry executives said. Module compatibility is also key in the after market, where end users looking to upgrade their PC main memory don't want to have to differentiate between competing brands.
simmtester.com
Still, I haven't seen a single report to the effect that DDR DIMM "XXX" is incompatible with DDR motherboard "YYY". For those who think that RDRAM hasn't had similar issues to face, my next post is a list of bugs in the 840 RDRAM chipset, particularly those having to do with Rambus memory...
-- Carl |
