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

To: kash johal who wrote (31319)	10/1/1999 3:34:00 AM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Hi kash johal; Re low end machines with single memory chips. I, too, think that this is inevitable, and soon. That is the natural market for RDRAM, not the high end market. But if they do end up putting that DRAM in a processor module, they may not need to use Rambus to connect to it. Samsung is talking about their x32 DDR SGRAM, for instance - it would provide plenty of bandwidth. And how much bandwidth does a low-end PC really need? Since high pinout packages are getting cheaper and cheaper there really is no reason to pay the royalty (and design effort) on the processor chip. My guess is that they will combine the "chip-set" chips into the processor before they put the DRAM on the processor module. But Rambus is going to get design wins in those low end machines. (Provided chip costs get low enough.) Man! I can't believe how long it takes to catch up on my SI reading these days! Back to work for me now. -- Carl

To: kash johal who wrote (31319)	10/1/1999 9:58:00 AM
From: grok	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 93625

RE: <Kznerd, Re"granularity" Well the argument can be made that by end of next year we will be there. Low end machines may consist of a single chip plus a memory chip. Intels timna is an example of this approach. For lots of low end apps and appliamnces 32/64Mb of DRAM is fine. Pretty soon it'll be on a single chip. And maybe on a processor module with CPU and DRAM wire binded or flip chipped onto a single substrate. In this area Rambus is surely a compelling choice. regards, Kash> The argument has always been made that by the end of next year granularity will arrive in the computer business so Rambus will be king. First of all Timna has two Rambus channels so min memory consists of two chips not one. If x32 Sdrams arrive at the same time in mass volume (instead of just in volume as they are now) then the chip count between Rdram and Sdram (or DDR-Sdram) will be the same and the Sdrams cost less. Please realize that I am talking about the computer business with this statement about granularity. Perhaps Rambus is a good choice for games but what about the computer biz? Should the 120 MU PC business suffer in order to build up dram volume for Sony? Of the 120 MU in the PC business 100% have a 64-bit processor bus. Why should dram skinny it down to 16 so that it can be expanded back to 64?