Chip giants pledge Rambus core overhaul

In an effort to cut the high manufacturing costs of Rambus DRam, Intel, Rambus and other vendors are discussing overhauling the memory's core.

In an effort to cut the high manufacturing costs of Rambus DRam, Intel, Rambus and other vendors are discussing overhauling the memory's core.

By reducing the number of banks inside the core, the companies expect to reduce the chip's size closer to SDRam and to boost yields.

The so-called 4i initiative has come as Intel is on the verge of launching its next-generation PC processor, the Pentium 4, expected to offer speeds of 1.4Ghz. However, analysts said the fast chip could face a slow ramp because it is tied to costly Rambus memory.

Under the 4i initiative, vendors will be able to reduce the number of memory banks that divide the core of an RDRam module from 32 to four, cutting the die penalty by half for 256Mbit-generation devices.

The random access of RDRam is likely to degrade. However, Rambus said that such a memory architecture would retain its edge over standard or double-data-rate SDRam.

One of the memory vendors involved, Samsung Electronics, is reportedly preparing to launch four-bank RDRam by the end of the year.

Intel has clearly stated its interest in driving down the cost of RDRam so that memory prices do not stand in the way of bringing down costs for Pentium 4-based systems.

Previously, Intel urged DRam makers to boost RDRam production to reduce production costs, but in its current state this plea has been largely ignored, with manufacturers instead keen to concentrate production on more profitable SDRam.

First published in Computer Reseller News