The PlayStation 3 will have rockin’ XDR memory chips that transfer data at a rate of 3.2GHz; however, the new memory interface from Rambus, dubbed XDR2, will transfer data at 8GHz. Richard Warmke, director of Rambus product marketing, says games with intense 3D graphics should benefit from the faster speed. But will this enable memory to close the gap with processor speeds? It will help, Warmke says, but not enough to satisfy power users. Consequently, Rambus will license the technology to memory chipmakers that are expected to debut XDR2 DRAM chips in 2007. The XDR2 interface includes several innovations that enable data to overcome noise problems in computer pathways. XDR2 also includes an innovation known as microthreading, which can quadruple memory speed through architectural improvements alone. With microthreading a processor will fetch data in chunks of eight bytes at a time, instead of the typical 32 bytes, which is more efficient.
Sign by Danasoft - Get Your Free Sign
