DDR4 RAM To Hit Devices Next Year

angry tapir writes "Micron has said that DDR4 memory — the successor to DDR3 DRAM — will reach computers next year, and that the company has started shipping samples of the upcoming DDR memory type. DDR4 is more power-efficient and faster than DDR3. New forms of DDR memory first make it into servers and desktops, and then into laptops. Micron said it hopes that DDR4 memory will also reach portable devices like tablets, which currently use forms of low-power DDR3 and DDR2 memory."

Comments

Re:Would have gotten a FP except

[Dorkmaster Flek]

True, but I'm actually more interested in the supposed power savings. These days, I think reducing power consumption is a higher priority than increasing speed, or at least it should be.

Latency?

[ruiner13]

What is the expected latency of this new RAM? I've noticed that as the RAM technology has progressed, it has favored pure throughput to latency, but this is not always ideal. Is DDR4 going to help with this, or is this yet another advance that comes at the expense of added lag? Just curious on this. I didn't think RAM bandwidth was a problem, but latency could starve these current ultra-fast processors.

Re:Latency?

[beelsebob]

Actually, RAM latencies have slightly improved over time, it's just not as fast as transfer rate, so the units (number of missed transfers) make it look like it's getting a lot worse. The main reason that RAM latencies haven't improved much is because they're not that important in the grand scheme of things.

In reality, it takes around 200 transfers to get from the CPU asking for something to getting it, of that, only about 7-9 are the RAM. An improvement of one transfer, makes that 199 transfers, instead of 200 – yay, we gained 0.5%. Except that in reality, the gain is not 0.5%, because in reality, most of the CPU's requests are in level 1 cache... Make that 0.005%. Except that in reality, the gain is not 0.005%, because in reality, most of the CPU's requests that are not in level 1 cache are in level 2 cache... Make that 0.00005%... You get the idea.

The real way to sort out the latency issue is via tighter integration of things onto the CPU (hence why we've seen memory controllers move on board, and more levels of faster cache), not in skimming one or two cycles off how quickly the RAM responds.

Re:Would have gotten a FP except

[Kongming]

Actually, I am running the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on the same hardware that I was previously running a clean XP installation, and Windows 8 is definitely snappier, plus has better search/launch functionality. I can't say that I am particularly fond of the Metro UI (I mostly use the Explorer-style interface), and I preferred the search UI in Windows 7 to the one in Windows 8. But saying that Windows 8 is a worse OS than such champions as Vista, 98, and ME is quite a stretch.