Rambus this week announced that its customers have shipped
over 25 million XDR DRAM (extreme data rate dynamic random access memory)
devices worldwide. The XDR memory architecture operates at 4 GHz and provides 8
GB/s of peak memory bandwidth with a single, 2-byte wide XDR DRAM.
“The market is demanding higher performance memory solutions
to satisfy the needs of multi-core processing and other compute-intensive
applications,” said Sharon Holt, senior vice president of Sales, Licensing, and
Marketing at Rambus. “The XDR memory architecture, coupled with our engineering
services, gives our customers a competitive advantage in both performance and
time-to-market.”
XDR DRAM may be best known as the high-performance memory
solution in the Sony PlayStation 3. Rambus explained to DailyTech that each XDR DRAM chip inside the PlayStation 3 counts
as a single device, which means that each console would add four to the total
tally. With over 5.5 million consoles have shipped worldwide (according to SCEI data),
the PlayStation 3 accounts for around 22 million of Rambus’ 25 million XDR DRAM
devices shipped. Other applications of XDR DRAM may be found in Cell Broadband
Engine-based blade servers from Mercury
Computer.
“The XDR memory architecture with its underlying inventions
is a key element in creating the rich graphics seen in the Sony PS3 and could
lend itself to future graphics-intensive applications such as HDTV,” said Nam
Kim, research director at iSuppli Corporation. According to iSuppli’s initial
teardown of the PlayStation
3 costs, it pegged the system’s four Samsung 512 Mb memory modules to cost
Sony $48.
Rambus current licensees its XDR DRAM to memory companies
such as Elpida Memory, Qimonda and Samsung Electronics.