what is RDRAM?

[broadwayblue]

is that the same as ddr ram? thanks.

 

[Rigoletto]

RDRAM is something fkloster likes very much because he was one of the first to buy it.

 

[Czar]

ITS CRAP, if you see a RDRAM chip, then BURN IT. If you see a paper with RDRAM or Rambus on it then BURN IT.

IF YOU ASK AGAIN THEN BURN YOURSELF.


lets just say, 99% of the computer industry hates Rambus, the creators of RDRAM. That 1% is Rambus themselves, and maybe Samsung.

 

[Rigoletto]

Well, go to Tom's Hardware Guide and you'll find both the highs and lows of RAMBUS and plenty of tech info.
RAMBUS with the right chipset (NOT FOR PIII) has a great deal of memory flow rate- for the P4. But it's sooooo much more expensive than SDR or even DDR when DDR settles.
Unless you're crazy enough to buy a P4 now, you should look forward to the DDR that's coming out.

 

[UsandThem]

It is........

very hard and expensive toilet paper. I think their motto is "Think different and empty your wallet"

 

[AdamK47]

Uh oh! I knew where this thread was heading.

 

[Neoplasia]

Ouch, sounds like painful toilet paper to me. :Q

 

[OneEng]

RDRAM is a memory technology from a company called RAMBUS Inc. Intel has choosen this memory for its superior bandwidth (how fast memory can stream into and out of it). It uses a serial protocol meaning that actual messages are sent like on your RS232 port. This unfortunately makes the first piece of information you ask for take quite some time to get to you. This is called latency. Long latency is BAD BAD BAD!.

Intel has a controller on the current P4 that can use 2 channels of RDRAM concurrently. This helps the latency somewhat, but is very expensive to implement.

All scenarios of RDRAM are inferior in performance to DDR with the exception of total bandwidth. I'll give you the lay of the land here.

• Latency - DDR has much lower latency. This effects processor performance much more than total bandwidth.
• Cost - DDR is much less expensive to make.
• Ownership - DDR is an open standard that can be used freely by any company while RDRAM is owned by RAMBUS and any company that makes it must pay RAMBUS every time they sell a stick of RAM.
• Bandwidth - using dual channel expensive chipsets, RDRAM has about 2 times the bandwidth of current PC2100 DDR ram running at 266. This is important in some applications that are not very computationally limited, but need large amounts of information in single chunks so that the latency issue is not a problem in performance.

Intel will move to DDR mid next year leaving RDRAM stranded. Serial protocol RAM isn't the best of ideas ever to grace the computer market. I will be glad to see it finally die.

 

[Charles]

Hehehe, good replies guys.

 

[Czar]

<< Ownership - DDR is an open standard that can be used freely by any company while RDRAM is owned by RAMBUS and any company that makes it must pay RAMBUS every time
they sell a stick of RAM. >>



Actually DDR is no longer an open standard, thanks to BLOODY RAMBUS!!!!!!

nVidia is now making dual channel DDR chipset that would double the bandwith of PC1600 and PC2100 bandwith, but ofcorse nVidia will be sued by Rambus.

 

[konichiwa]

Friend$ Don't Let Friend$ Get RIMMJOB$

 

[broadwayblue]

ok...so I what I want then is DDR? But that's not out yet right? Or is it just that it's expensive right now and that there are no mb's out yet to support it?