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

To: REH who wrote (3837)	4/17/1998 10:57:00 AM
From: REH	Respond to of 93625

Thread: Article from the UK - don't know if its been posted earlier so here it is: RIMM memory The new memory module for operation beyond 100MHz. CURRENTLY, 66MHz SYNCHRONOUS DRAM (SDRAM) is the most widely used type of system memory, because of its higher theoretical performance and ability to cope with bus speeds up to 100MHz. This will be important when the first 100MHz Intel AGPset, the 440BX, is announced later this month, supporting new 100MHz SDRAM DIMM modules for optimum performance. These will initially command a small price premium of perhaps five per cent over 66MHz DIMMs, and will fit into standard DIMM sockets designed to meet the current Intel PC SDRAM specification (available at developer.intel.com. Current 66MHz modules won't work with this chipset, so will be limited to use in existing designs and the low-end 66MHz variant of the BX chipset (reportedly named the 440EX) before gradually being replaced by 100MHz parts during late 1998. SDRAM is only a stop-gap, however, as it can't operate beyond 100MHz. A more long-term solution is the planned introduction of Direct Rambus DRAM (Direct RDRAM) during 1999. This can operate at up to 800MHz, providing a potential memory bandwidth of 1.6GB/s. Enter the RIMM module (the name's not an acronym, but a trademark of Rambus Incorporated), which should start to appear in systems in 1999. To pacify system integrators still smarting from the migrations to EDO RAM and DIMM modules, Intel's working hard to phase in the new technology while maintaining maximum backwards compatibility. RIMMs use the same socket specification as a standard 100MHz SDRAM DIMM. Information in the SDRAM module's EEPROM enables the PC's BIOS to determine what type of RAM is fitted, so 100MHz SDRAM modules should work in a RIMM-compatible system, but a system won't be able to use RIMMs unless both the chipset and BIOS support it--and Direct RDRAM support won't come until Intel's next generation of chipsets. With Intel about to enter the bottom end of the market for the first time in many years with their new low-cost 'Covington' Pentium II variant, the indications are that for once the market might not simply function as a conveyor belt between the top and bottom of the PC spectrum. zdnet.co.uk reh