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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richard surckla who wrote (25974)	7/30/1999 4:14:00 AM
From: Shumway	Respond to of 93625

Dell believes this new memory technology is the best choice for the long term for many of its platforms. and Dell believes that Rambus technology will offer a scalable solution for many of its desktop computers for the next several years. I love it.

To: richard surckla who wrote (25974)	7/30/1999 10:48:00 AM
From: Boplicity	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

re: Integration of video and core logic in a single chip is expected to drive Rambus into the value segments in the future. And, as integrated repeaters and chip sets that support multiple Rambus channels become available, Rambus will begin to provide a cost-effective, high-capacity memory solution for some Dell servers. Does anyone have time frame for the above to happen? Also, Thanks for the url, it was easy read. Good starting point for anyone that wants to understand what RMBS is up to. Greg

To: richard surckla who wrote (25974)	7/30/1999 11:39:00 AM
From: Hunterbob	Respond to of 93625

DELL says this about RAMBUS:Transitioning to Rambus Technology Bill Sauber, Dell Technical Strategist July 1999 1)The added bandwidth of Rambus memory can not only be effectively used in high-end systems, but integrating the Rambus interface with the microprocessor and a video controller in a single chip could have significant benefits for low-end systems. 2)Probably the most important advantage is that the transition to Rambus will provide greater memory bandwidth headroom. Although most current processor buses are limited to an 800-MB/sec maximum transfer rate, Rambus will provide 1.6 GB/sec. This speed will not only allow headroom for advances in processor bus speed, but it can improve performance in current systems by reducing memory interference.3) A PC 133 DDR memory system with a peak bandwidth of over 2 GB/sec may be available within months of the introduction of Rambus; however, the effective bandwidth will still be less than that of Rambus due to Rambus' superior pipelining and command handling. SDRAM efficiencies will be approximately 60 percent while Rambus accesses can be scheduled to reach up to 95-percent efficiency. 4)Rambus offers a major advantage for future bandwidth expansion. Adding bandwidth with Rambus consists of adding another channel with 33 signal pins. In comparison, an additional SDRAM interface requires 132 pins. Although an additional 132-pin interface may be a reasonable approach for expanding server memory, it is not appropriate for workstations or desktop PCs due to the component cost and system board space required. Moreover, increasing the clock rate or widening the data path beyond PC 133 parameters for a single SDRAM channel will increase the difficulty of controlling emissions, maintaining signal integrity, and meeting timing margins. 5)As Windows 2000 replaces older operating systems, its improved management, security, backup, and virus scan capabilities will greatly increase simultaneous memory activity and the inherent interference caused by this activity. Rambus' ability to support simultaneous activity through its page management and pipelining schemes (reads and writes can be interleaved) will offer a significant performance advantage. 6)Rambus' additional bandwidth will soon be needed because most microprocessor vendors have plans for improving processor bus bandwidth in the next generation of their products. For example, the Advanced Micro Devices K7 microprocessor will use the Alpha processor bus at a bandwidth of 1.6 GB/sec. A transition to Rambus should provide a memory interface with sufficient bandwidth for a wide variety of systems for years to come.7)The added bandwidth of Rambus memory can not only be effectively used in high-end systems, but integrating the Rambus interface with the microprocessor and a video controller in a single chip could have significant benefits for low-end systems. Although the Rambus memory interface has reduced pin count, it has sufficient bandwidth for both the microprocessor and video controller. The benefits in terms of cost and performance are compelling for manufacturers of low-end systems.8)Because Rambus is a scalable memory architecture, it is reasonable to add channels to increase bandwidth and capacity or just add repeaters for more capacity. In comparison, SDRAM architectures are limited in frequency because of their bus width?as bus frequencies go up, timing margins become more difficult to meet, and it may be impractical to scale SDRAM beyond 133 MHz for main system memory. Rambus channels are also less costly to replicate than SDRAM, because a 33-signal interface must be replicated compared to 132 signals for SDRAM. The cost difference for replicating the two interfaces is significant.9)Another benefit of Rambus is its ability to take advantage of the additional gates in the memory interface for tasks such as intelligent prefetch and intelligent management of power states. One possibility would be to use Rambus' additional bandwidth to prefetch and buffer data before it is requested. 10)The DellTM product lines selected for initial adoption of Rambus technology will be largely driven by the availability of chip sets. Workstations and performance desktop computers are expected to be the first recipients of this new technology. Value PCs will retain SDRAM memory to minimize cost, while servers will move to high-performance SDRAM (possibly PC 133 with DDR) to maximize memory capacity and performance. Integration of video and core logic in a single chip is expected to drive Rambus into the value segments in the future. And, as integrated repeaters and chip sets that support multiple Rambus channels become available, Rambus will begin to provide a cost-effective, high-capacity memory solution for some Dell servers. 11)The need for Rambus in servers is not as urgent. Bandwidth in these larger systems can be improved with higher-speed SDRAM and multiple SDRAM interfaces. Moreover, servers are not as constrained in terms of emissions (the more lenient Federal Communications Commission [FCC] Class A requirements apply) and some of the performance benefits of Rambus (such as improved command bandwidth) are not as important for most server applications. 12)The initial price premiums for Rambus cannot be justified for today's value systems with their lower- frequency processors. However, future value systems will combine video controllers with memory interfaces and processors, resulting in only one memory interface in the lowest-priced systems. To support video and main memory streams concurrently and reduce cost with lower pin counts, Rambus could become the preferred memory technology for value systems. 13)Rambus offers the capability of scaling with the other system buses without another major technology transition. 14)As with any hardware improvement, Rambus benefits will be more apparent as software that can exploit its performance advantages becomes available. Dell believes this new memory technology is the best choice for the long term for many of its platforms. The restriction in memory capacity per channel will soon be alleviated as 256-Mb RDRAMs increase the per-channel capacity to over 1 GB. For the server and workstation market, 1-Gb RDRAMs are planned for 2002, bringing the memory capacity per channel to over 4 GB. 15)Another limitation for the first generation of PCs with Rambus memory will be microprocessors with processor bus speeds that cannot take full advantage of Rambus' bus speed, and lack of application programs that exploit concurrency. Because of this, some business benchmarks may see little improvement. Preliminary data indicates that current memory/processor bandwidth restrictions seriously impact performance gains as processors reach core frequencies of 600 MHz and higher. 16)As more application programs are written to take advantage of the additional bandwidth, and as Windows 2000 becomes more widely used, the benefits of Rambus memory will increase dramatically. Rambus will be an important technology for achieving peak performance from application programs introduced in 2000. 17)Dell believes that Rambus technology will offer a scalable solution for many of its desktop computers for the next several years. This appears to be one of the most comprehensive and resounding endorsements yet to come out--Uncle, you're riding the wave of the future my man!