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

To: Bilow who wrote (42044)	5/11/2000 3:20:00 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Hi all; A rather complete article by an industry insider about DDR vs RDRAM: (Hint. He doesn't work for Rambus, but for the other side.) This is old news, but I am posting it because it was only briefly excerpted by Gene Parrott, and it is the most complete accounting of the issues I've seen. August 1999: Direct Rambus has been positioned by an aggressive marketing campaign to fill this need, [i.e. for higher system performance] and gag rules have largely prevented an unbiased examination of the options for memory technologies. ... [Cost] is an area where DDR really shines over its competitor, Rambus. ... DDR SDRAMs offer superior performance in three distinct aspects: latency to first data, peak burst performance, and switch time between power modes. ... Power consumption numbers for DDR and Rambus are dramatically different. A look at two systems with four 256Mb RAMs, one using DDR and one using Rambus, shows a typical bursting power of 335mW for DDR and 470mW for Rambus. ... Direct Rambus solutions require tightly controlled printed circuit boards, however, with impedance of 28W ñ10 percent which virtually requires a single laminate layer. ... The number of data and control signals initially appears to be an advantage for Rambus over DDR. However, this advantage quickly fades once ground guard traces are added around each high frequency signal trace. ... This long [RDRAM clock] trace complicates EMI concerns as it acts as a long antenna, radiating high frequency noise into the system chassis. ... Year after year, Rambus solutions will play catch-up with DDR family devices on burst performance, and will never be able to compete on latency as long as the Rambus stays with a packet protocol. ... On each of the primary considerations for systems designers, DDR memories provide a superior solution. ... While DDR has the clear technical advantage, Rambus has the attention in the press. It will be fascinating to see which is more compelling in the long run. infrastructure.supersites.net An industry editorial that hasn't been seen on this thread: January 5, 2000 To us, the real problem with Rambus is that in single channel implementation, it is a revolutionary approach that offers no performance advantage over evolutionary competitors. infrastructure.supersites.net -- Carl