[Code Monkey]

IBM has devised a way to triple the amount of memory stored on computer chips and double the performance of data-hungry processors by replacing a problematic type of memory with a variety that uses much less space on the slice of silicon.

International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday that its new memory technology will help unclog crippling bottlenecks that build up as increasingly powerful microprocessors attempt to retrieve data from a separate memory chip faster than it can be delivered.
"We kill ourselves in the semiconductor industry to try to get a little bit more performance in each generation. What we're doing here is trying to merge two technologies ... on the same chip to get significantly more memory," said Lisa Su, vice president for semiconductor research and development at IBM.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said its solution entails swapping out most of the static random access memory, or SRAM, used to store information directly on computer chips and integrating onto the chip another kind of memory, known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM.

SRAM is a type of memory that's fast and easy to manufacture but takes up a lot of valuable real estate on the chips. DRAM, the most common type of memory used in personal computers, has typically been stored on a separate chip and has previously been viewed as too slow to be integrated directly onto the microprocessor.

IBM said it has been able to speed up the DRAM to the point where it's nearly as fast as SRAM, and that the result is a type of memory known as embedded DRAM, or eDRAM, that helps boost the performance of chips with multiple core calculating engines and is particularly suited for enabling the movement of graphics in gaming and other multimedia applications. DRAM will also continue to be used off the chip.

"A lot of people have been trying to do this," Su said. "As we look into the processor roadmap, this is one of the most difficult things to solve. We were basically memory-limited in the high-power processors, so this has been very significant for us."

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[Yvgeniy]

Damn, that's pretty awesome. I wonder how much of a different it'll make in actual performance, though... I mean, RAM is RAM. It's not so much the speed that matters as the amount that you have.

[Loco]

it will only be as fast as your slowest point

[Code Monkey]

Yes but the issue is always power and heat. This will cut down those factors tremendously. Plus they can get more chips out of production which means a cut in cost.

[Optimus]

Originally Posted by Loco

it will only be as fast as your slowest point

exactly, as more programs require more horse power to function it doesn't feel like all this technology really makes a different. only if you're running old software. could be wrong.