AMD chip set could start DDR ball rolling
Apr. 29, 2000 (Electronic Engineering Times - CMP via COMTEX) -- NEW ORLEANS -
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is poised to release a chip set that supports the
Athlon processor used with double-data-rate DRAM. The launch could be a key
factor in whether mainstream PC systems embrace DDR, which is starting to see
support in graphics applications in a still-fragmented memory market.
At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2000 here, AMD demonstrated a
prototype system using an Athlon chip and DDR memory, linked by early samples of
its 760 chip set. The 760 is slated to be available in volume in the second
half.
Earlier this month, Via Technologies Inc. also announced plans to launch a chip
set later this year for DDR memory used with the Athlon processor or with Via's
own upcoming Cyrix III device. The company has said the Cyrix III will be
pin-compatible with Intel's Celeron using the Socket 370 packaging, meaning
there will be DDR options available for both low- and high-end processors.
"The momentum for using DDR in PCs is definitely up, but the main problem is the
lack of chip sets," said Dean Klein, vice president of integrated products at
Micron Technology Inc. (Boise, Idaho). DDR chips have been available for
sampling from Micron since March, and Klein said the technology could represent
as much as 10 percent of the company's total DRAM output by the fourth quarter.
A graphics charge
While the lack of chip sets means no PCs are using DDR for main memory, the
DRAMs are starting to appear in graphics subsystems. At WinHEC, both Nvidia
Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc. released high-end graphics products that are
intended to be implemented in standalone graphics cards with dedicated DDR DRAM.
Both companies are also developing graphics products for next-generation game
consoles, another major destination for advanced memory.
Nvidia recently secured the design win to supply a part for Microsoft Corp.'s
X-Box, and since the company is already using DDR interfaces, there is
widespread speculation that Microsoft will include DDR in its X-Box road map.
ATI earlier this year acquired ArtX Inc., which had already won the bid to
provide the graphics engine for the upcoming Dolphin box from Nintendo, but the
companies have yet to say what memory technology will be used in the Dolphin.
It is commonplace in the game box field for the company designing the graphics
chip to have final say on the memory components to be deployed alongside the
engine. That is how the Toshiba-designed Emotion Engine chip inside the new Sony
Playstation II came to utilize 32 Mbytes of Rambus DRAM in every box.
But the holy grail for any DRAM supplier is PC main memory, where millions of
units ship monthly and current systems demand upward of 128 Mbytes of DRAM. The
PC will be ground zero for the DDR vs. RDRAM debate, especially now that the
Camino is available and DDR chip sets are coming online.
"The memory market in the near future will be marked by turmoil and contention,
and maybe even a little progress," said Michael Slater, executive editor of
Microprocessor Report (Sebastopol, Calif.), during a keynote address at WinHEC.
Neither technology is cheap. Avo Kanadjian, vice president of worldwide
marketing at Rambus Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.), said RDRAM products currently
sell for about 30 percent more than standard SDRAM at the same density. Much of
that comes from the extra costs associated with the larger die size compared
with basic SDRAM, and that is where DDR advocates hope to earn a price
advantage.
At current densities, Micron's Klein said, DDR DRAM chips are slightly larger
than SDRAM, but at the 512-Mbit chip generation the two technologies should have
the same die size. Micron has said DDR will eventually have the same price as
SDRAM, chiefly because identical die sizes can mean identical production costs.
But current DDR chip prices can be double that of SDRAM.
Both DDR and Rambus offer high performance, with DDR chips running at 266 MHz
and RDRAM specs claiming speeds in the 800-MHz range. But Slater said that "the
PC market is simply not hungering for huge increases in memory bandwidth,
because the memory is delivering more bandwidth than the microprocessor can use.
The dirty little secret in the PC business is that most users don't care about
performance anymore."
Instead, users demand low prices. By the fourth quarter, Klein said, DDR prices
could be just 5 percent to 10 percent higher than those for SDRAM.
While Kanadjian said RDRAM vendors are also looking to cut product costs, the
chips need different manufacturing processes and will always have a larger die
than SDRAM. And the vendor will still need to pay royalties to Rambus. All that
makes it unlikely that RDRAM will ever reach cost parity with SDRAM.
With those price points in mind, the PC OEMs seem to be weighing in for DDR
DRAM. Mark Bode, AMD division marketing manager for Athlon, said nearly all of
his customers are asking for DDR support. "We are working on a chip set to
support RDRAM, but it just isn't a priority for us," he said.
High-end market
PCs are shipping with RDRAM now, and Kanadjian said most DRAM vendors are
selling the chips about as soon as they can make them. But Slater said demand
will likely be at the PC market's high end.
The largest factor promoting RDRAM remains Intel's unwavering support. Intel is
the only company selling a chip set that supports RDRAM, and its upcoming,
high-end Willamette processor is expected to run only with RDRAM.
But if the rest of the market shifts toward DDR DRAM, that could leave
Willamette out in the cold, and after spending considerable resources to develop
a successor to its Pentium III line, Intel wants to ship the processor in the
multimillions.
Kanadjian said that current projections show about 10 percent of the total DRAM
market this year will be RDRAM, which is similar to the run rate for DDR that
Micron's Klein predicted for the fourth quarter. Kanadjian conceded the
connection between DDR's momentum gains this year and RDRAM's failure to launch
on time last year.
eetimes.com
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