Samsung Demos 64 GB RDIMM Based on 16 Gb Chips, Promises 256 GB LRDIMMs
by Anton Shilov on March 22, 2018 7:30 AM EST
Samsung is demonstrating its 64 GB DDR4 memory module based on 16 Gb chips this week at the OCP U.S. Summit. The 64 GB RDIMM that the company is showcasing is designed for mainstream servers, but ultimately the design will lend itself to build 128 GB and 256 GB memory modules for high-performance servers, the company said.
Samsung’s monolithic 16 Gb DDR4 DRAM chips are rated for DDR4-2666 at the industry-standard 1.2 V. The chips are produced using an advanced manufacturing technology, but Samsung does not disclose details at the moment (it is logical to expect Samsung to use its '10-nm-class' tech though). The only thing we do know is that the fabrication process and monolithic die enable 20% lower power consumption of the demonstrated 64 GB RDIMM when compared to a module of the same capacity based on 8 Gb DDR4 chips.
In addition to the new dual-rank 64 GB RDIMM module, Samsung is set to develop quad-ranked 128 GB RDIMMs and octal-ranked 256 GB LRDIMMs. Today’s servers running AMD’s EPYC or Intel’s Xeon Scalable M-suffixed processors feature 12 or 16 memory slots - if the processors were capable of fitting all 256 GB modules, this could lead up to 4 TB per socket. This should be a massive advantage for applications like in-memory databases, virtual desktop infrastructure, and so on.
When it comes to desktop/workstation ecosystem (again, assuming that appropriate processors and platforms can support them), the new memory chips from Samsung might let makers of modules build 32 GB UDIMMs. The latter will enable PC makers and DIY enthusiasts to install 256 GB of DRAM into high-end desktops/workstations.
Samsung says that the 16 Gb chips are available to its customers now, but naturally does not disclose names of its clients interested in them. The company also does not reveal an MSRP of its 64 GB RDIMMs, but since these products are aimed at servers, they will be sold at appropriate prices. As for pricing of 128 GB and 256 GB memory modules, only time will tell. For example, Crucial sells its 128 GB DDR4-LRDIMM for $3999.99 in retail, so lower-power, and higher-capacity modules would cost considerably higher.
Related Reading
- SK Hynix’s Product Catalog Lists 16 Gb DDR4 Chips, Opens Doors to 256 GB DIMMs
- Mega Memory: Crucial Ships 128 GB DDR4-2666 Modules for Servers at $3999 per Unit
- Intel Unveils the Xeon Scalable Processor Family: Skylake-SP in Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum
- Crucial Announces DDR4-2666 DIMMs for Upcoming Server Platforms
- Sizing Up Servers: Intel's Skylake-SP Xeon versus AMD's EPYC 7000 - The Server CPU Battle of the Decade?
Source: Samsung
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flgt - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Wow, $3999 for 128 GB? And I was complaining about the 16GB I just bought. I don’t work with servers so I didn’t know how expensive big modules got. Does this leave an opening for Optane for big databases or is the performance hit too great?deil - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Optane is 10 times slower than ram in best case scenario. Ram will always be needed, Optane can work same as PAGEFILE, when server will need much more than usual.CheapSushi - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Keep in mind Optane Apache Pass DIMM is a bit closer than PCIe based Optane. It's still not RAM of course. But it's a viable alternative as supplementary. Apache Pass DIMMs are actually connected to a DIMM; they're "chaperoned". They work a bit differently too. So instead of buying 4TB of $$$$ RAM, you could do 1TB of RAM with 1TB of Apache Pass Optane DIMM and get a bit more "good enough / close enough" for those type of workloads if the company is a bit more budget strained.They're the extra green rectangle on the RAM section: https://imgur.com/a/F6z92
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-xd-xpoint-d...
ಬುಲ್ವಿಂಕಲ್ ಜೆ ಮೂಸ್ - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Prices remain what the market will bear as the size and speed go upYou wouldn't want to know what 16 "MB" of Ram cost when the 486 arrived
128GB in 1980 prices would be over $800 Million Dollars today
I don't think the cost per stick has really changed that much, in fact, it seems to be less per stick today at the maximum memory sizes
ಬುಲ್ವಿಂಕಲ್ ಜೆ ಮೂಸ್ - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
128GB in 1980 / over $800 Million128GB in 1990 / over $13 Million
128GB in 2000 / over $140 Thousand
Today / $4000
surt - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
2024: Are you kidding? Who would buy a phone with only 128GB ram?digiguy - Friday, March 23, 2018 - link
it will be more like 2124 for phones with Terabytes of Ram...surt - Friday, March 23, 2018 - link
Nah:2019: $2500
2020: $1500
2021:$1000
2022:$600
2023:$400
2024:$250
2025:$150
2026:$100
2027:cheap enough to be a BOM component.
iwod - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Well we still need those price to come down a lot. In the era of In Memory Computing, we need cheap Memory. $1000 for 128GB, what does it take to get there?nevcairiel - Thursday, March 22, 2018 - link
Well this is server-grade memory, so prices are expected to be higher. It's still worth it for serious Datacenter use most of the time.