engadget.com— Samsung seems to have found room to do a little boasting of its own, trotting out its first 4GB DDR2 DIMM RAM.
Apr 24, 2007View in Crawl 4
Nonetheless, the real news is about the technology used to achieve the memory density. Stacked dies already exist, but Samsung have used direct metal connections between the dies (dubbed wafer scale package), where existing die stack technology use wire bonding techniques which takes much more space both horizontally and vertically. The only other company that does direct metal connect is IBM, which was only recently announced also.
No doubt it's interesting and new technology, I definitely agree with you. However, existing packaging technology can actually package up to eight die in the space of a single TSSOP DRAM. I've designed memory modules using four-high stacks like this. It's a slightly thicker package than a monolithic BGA, but much less expensive than Samsung's and it has the virtue of allowing any die to fit on any layer, something that's especially important in new technology when yields are low.However, I'm sure that the direct metal connections will be the technology of the future.
The prices on 4GB DIMMs are just plain rape. You can get a 2GB 667MHz DDR2 DIMM For about $75, but twice the bits will cost you 10x the cash. I guess the manufacturers are just plain lying about being able to produce these modules, since they can't price them low enough to make a profit by breaking the pain threshold of the mass-market.
georgethompsonApr 24, 2007
Im pretty sure the ASUS Striker Extreme can hold 4GB in each of its 4 dimm slots.
scabbersApr 24, 2007
From what I can tell, you can only use 3 gb of the 4 for apps in 32bit windows, but I'm usually wrong.
felixdaahackApr 24, 2007
Those are all desktop memory prices retards...DDR2 for laptops is much more expensive
ebfoxbatApr 25, 2007
I need Leopard to support this. Mmmm 8 gigs in a laptop.
hardcaseApr 25, 2007
Fellas, these are registered DIMMs. They're made for servers.
nudgeeeApr 25, 2007
Nonetheless, the real news is about the technology used to achieve the memory density. Stacked dies already exist, but Samsung have used direct metal connections between the dies (dubbed wafer scale package), where existing die stack technology use wire bonding techniques which takes much more space both horizontally and vertically. The only other company that does direct metal connect is IBM, which was only recently announced also.
hardcaseApr 25, 2007
No doubt it's interesting and new technology, I definitely agree with you. However, existing packaging technology can actually package up to eight die in the space of a single TSSOP DRAM. I've designed memory modules using four-high stacks like this. It's a slightly thicker package than a monolithic BGA, but much less expensive than Samsung's and it has the virtue of allowing any die to fit on any layer, something that's especially important in new technology when yields are low.However, I'm sure that the direct metal connections will be the technology of the future.
wonkavsnApr 25, 2007
Wow I remember when it was 50$ a meg.
aminorexJun 13, 2007
The prices on 4GB DIMMs are just plain rape. You can get a 2GB 667MHz DDR2 DIMM For about $75, but twice the bits will cost you 10x the cash. I guess the manufacturers are just plain lying about being able to produce these modules, since they can't price them low enough to make a profit by breaking the pain threshold of the mass-market.