February 23, 1998, Issue: 1097
Section: News
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Intel, Rambus offer RDRAM 'safety net'
Andrew MacLellan
Silicon Valley- Intel Corp. may be offering its OEM customers an insurance policy to safeguard their transition to high-speed Rambus memory, but with the switch less than a year away, not every PC manufacturer appears willing to pay the premium.
Intel's safety measure, which it announced with memory architect and partner Rambus Inc., is a memory module designed to accept SDRAM operating under the PC100 specification as well as the 800-MHz Direct Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) coming from many chip vendors later this year.
The device was unveiled at last week's Intel Developer Forum in San Jose, and is a revised version of the Rambus in-line memory module (RIMM) introduced in the fall.
The module, a synchronous RIMM (S-RIMM), is being pitched to PC makers in the event Rambus chips are either too expensive or in short supply when they enter the desktop market in 1999. However, at least one PC manufacturer has already rejected the design on the grounds that another memory option will confound an industry that is already using three generations of DRAM and now must choose between three more - Rambus, SLDRAM, and double-data-rate DRAM.
"I think this could create some confusion in the marketplace," said Mike Hoffman, business manager for memory products supply management at Gateway 2000 Inc., North Sioux City, S.D. "People already know what a DIMM is, and they will know what a RIMM is. But will they know what an SDRAM on an S-RIMM is?"
Hoffman is also concerned that additional interface circuitry and dummy modules specified by the Rambus motherboard will add to the materials costs. The dummy, or so-called Continuity modules, are required in each empty memory socket to connect the transmission line to the termination resistors, whereas unused SDRAM sockets on existing motherboards require no additional hardware.
"Our overall impression is that it's interesting, but it's not for us," Hoffman said. "If they said there was a measurable performance gain, then that would have been everything to Gateway. But if you've got a synch DIMM, why not just go right to a RIMM?"
Reports from within the financial community were also mixed. "There's no continuity," said one analyst familiar with Intel's plans. "Every PC OEM that I talk to says that really they don't want to use RDRAM if they can avoid it, but Intel is sticking pretty assiduously to the party line."
Frederick L. Zieber, president of Pathfinder Research, San Jose, said any new memory option, even a temporary one, could further dampen PC OEM enthusiasm, which is already said to be tenuous because of the royalties charged for the new Direct RDRAM architecture.
"I can't make much sense of the technology," Zieber said. "And to tell you the truth, it's easy to see why PC OEMs would be reluctant to embrace yet another memory standard."
In crafting a specification for the S-RIMM module, Intel said it was simply complying with the PC industry's desire for backward compatibility, a provision that has eased previous shifts from fast-page-mode to EDO memory, and from EDO to SDRAM.
"To a degree, we were always a little uncomfortable that we couldn't reach back to the industry in a way that we always had in the past," said Dennis Lenehan, director of memory industry enabling at Intel, Santa Clara, Calif.
Both Intel and Rambus stressed that the new module is only for those systems vendors that need a bridge in their transition from the PC100 specification and may be bypassed by any OEM willing to make the leap directly to an all-Rambus memory system.
"It's a safety net," said David Mooring, vice president and general manager of Rambus' Personal Computer Division, Mountain View, Calif. "Some vendors don't need it but other may choose to unroll it."
While the Rambus introduction dates cited by several DRAM manufacturers appear on track, Intel has slightly revised its Direct RDRAM road map, predicting a delay of higher-speed memory in low-end desktop computers until 2000 at the earliest.
"The most important thing is that our long-term direction remains unchanged," said Peter D. MacWilliams, an Intel fellow and director of platform architecture for the company. "Unfortunately, there is no clear line you can draw where one memory technology is no longer needed and the next takes over. This is a very gray area."
MacWilliams said the growth of the sub-$1,000, or Basic PC, segment has created a price-sensitive class of computers that do not have the cost structure to support new memory technologies.
Additionally, the all-time low price of DRAM could prolong the market life of existing PC100 SDRAM and retard the acceptance of more expensive memory. MacWilliams said these and other factors caused Intel to reconsider its original adoption plans that would have rendered PC100 SDRAM obsolete in motherboards with Rambus sockets.
"This is not an interim solution along the way to Rambus," MacWilliams said. "This is a way to accelerate the use of the RIMM socket on the PC and limit the amount of options the vendor has to consider. As we move into the volume segment, if Rambus either is not available or costs too much this will allow us to make the transition."
The S-RIMM device will be made available to Rambus' 13 memory technology licensees, all of which received the final version of the Direct RDRAM interface design last week, according to the company.
While Direct RDRAM will likely not be adopted in 1999 by either mainstream or basic PCs, such systems could begin shipping with SDRAM-compatible S-RIMMs within that time frame. High-end PCs should ship with Direct RDRAM RIMMs sometime in mid-1999, according to Intel's road map.
Because of the new module design, initial shipments of Rambus ICs should be fewer than first anticipated, which could cut into the company's royalties. However, the SDRAM-enabled S-RIMM will "increase the number of controllers that have Rambus interfaces, increase the number of sockets supporting Rambus, and increase the number of PC OEMs who can introduce Rambus systems early," Mooring said. |
