Samsung begins sampling 32 gigabyte DDR3 modules

Robert Hallock 30 Mar, 2010 at 11:50pm ET Article published in Tech

Samsung yesterday announced that it has begun supplying limited quantities of 32GB DDR3 modules to partners for evaluation.

Based on the company’s cutting-edge 40nm-class 512MB DRAM ICs, each module contains 32 such chips running at DDR3-1066 and a low voltage of just 1.35V. Intended for servers, the new modules are registered to permit higher memory capacities without compromising the stability of the system or unduly stressing the system’s memory controller.

“Samsung continues to set the pace in advanced memory for high-end server applications by offering 40nm-class 32GB memory modules to reach previously unattainable levels of system capacity,” said Soo-In Cho, President and GM of Samsung Electronics’ Memory Division. “In just 10 months, Samsung has now secured the best competitive advantage with the broadest portfolio of 40nm-class DDR3 based memory solutions in the industry since the 40nm-class DRAM was first produced last July.”

Mass production of the new modules is expected to begin in early April, with a retail release not far behind.

Comments

31 Mar 2010 ~ 12:23am Bandrik I would love to have a couple of these babies for a theoretical 64GB of memory in a desktop.

Even though admittedly it would be both expensive and rather impractical to need that much based on my current computing habits. I'll let them stay in the server solutions where they belong.

For now.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 12:42am danball1976 Where can you find a consumer level board that actually supports anything higher than 16GB currently? These are probably good for servers and that's it.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 12:49am mas0n All the X58 boards with 6 slots support 24GB.

Good for servers now; will benefit consumers soon enough. Higher densities are good for everyone.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 8:26am Joe I just want to know when the price of 4 Gig sticks are going to come down. They sould not cost twice as much as 2X2gig sticks!
31 Mar 2010 ~ 12:49pm Cliff_Forster Joe,

The more dense the chips used on the pcb, the more expensive they are to manufacture. Ram pricing has never been on a 1/1 ratio.

Still, I have to wonder, who in the world needs more than 8 GB of fast DDR3 for their home machine, no matter what you use it for.

I think this is more forward looking for server applications and such.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 12:57pm airbornflght I don't know. I'm contemplating upgrading to 8GB. I have 4 right now and manage to fill it to 80% quite often.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 1:05pm Cliff_Forster

airbornflght wrote:

I don't know. I'm contemplating upgrading to 8GB. I have 4 right now and manage to fill it to 80% quite often.

Yeah, 8 GB is reasonable for a power user, some intel boards make it easy to plug in 12 if you really want too.

Single 32 GB modules are an exciting prospect, but its really forward looking.

In terms of system performance and throughput for your home system, an SSD may do more for you than just saturating in RAM. In fact, with SSD's going where they are, and the linking to them on the board, the general speed of it, thats probably where the performance gains are going to be best realized by home users, by removing that bottleneck.

32 GB modules are for enterprise applications for the forseeable future. Probably Windows 7 whole cycle, which I am betting will last at least four or five more years.

I guess what I am saying, is if your already hitting 8 GB of RAM, and you don't have a fast SSD, the next logical step is a fast SSD, not more RAM.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 2:27pm Snarkasm I have 12GB in my home rig. Photoshop and Lightroom really chew it up.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 2:39pm Cliff_Forster

Snarkasm wrote:

I have 12GB in my home rig. Photoshop and Lightroom really chew it up.

Thats interesting, you are running professional level projects though, right?
31 Mar 2010 ~ 3:06pm AlexDeGruven Yeah, definitely for the Enterprise market. We'll probably start seeing these rolling into high-end gear in the next 3-6 months.

I'd like to see our POWER7 gear loaded up with these.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 6:04pm Snarkasm

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Thats interesting, you are running professional level projects though, right?

Quite true. Most folks are more than good with 8 or 9 gigs.
31 Mar 2010 ~ 6:14pm photodude For the Enterprise market I wouldn't be surprised to see 6x32GB setups in the pipeline maxing out x64-win7pro at 192GB of Ram for movie editing, animation, photoshop, matlab, and CAD/BIM applications.

I've heard talk suggesting that as more applications move to 64bit that 8GB is the new minimum (many consumer desktops come with 8-12gb stock) for professional level DCC/CAD/BIM, and matlab 12-24GB is the absolute minimum. With more ram needed as multi tasking increases.
1 Apr 2010 ~ 9:42am AlexDeGruven They need to start working on throughput and threads-per-core in the x86 market. The new IBM gear they just announced for us is more powerful to an insane degree, and they're reducing prices to start hitting some real competition points.

x86 needs to bump up to 4 threads per core, and get their internal bandwidth up if they still want to compete on the high-end server market.

32GB DIMMS don't do you any good if your processor's constantly waiting on the memory controller.