Samsung makes world’s first GDDR7 memory
Samsung has announced it manufactured the world’s first GDDR7 DRAM, boasting a memory bandwidth of 1.5 terabytes per second (TBps).
While the South Korean tech giant might be more familiar to most consumers for its smartphones, TVs, and household appliances, it is also the world’s biggest DRAM manufacturer and among the top three in NAND flash memory.
Samsung said GDDR7 provides 1.4× the performance of the fastest GDDR6, which features a total bandwidth of 1.1TBps. Each GDDR7 pin supports a speed of 32Gbps (also called giga transfers) instead of the 24Gbps on GDDR6.
These improvements were possible due to a Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM3) signalling method adopted for the new memory standard instead of the Non-Return to Zero (NRZ) from previous generations.
“PAM3 allows 50% more data to be transmitted than NRZ within the same signalling cycle,” Samsung said.
GDDR7 is also 20% more power efficient than GDDR6, made possible by a new heat management system that uses an epoxy moulding compound with high thermal conductivity for the packaging material in addition to IC architecture optimisation.
“These improvements dramatically reduce thermal resistance by 70% in comparison to GDDR6, aiding in stable product performance even in conditions with high-speed operations,” Samsung stated.
The company plans to install GDDR7 in the next-generation systems of its key customers this year, which will serve to verify its performance.
Samsung Electronics vice president for memory product planning, Yongcheol Bae, said GDDR7 would elevate user experiences in areas that require outstanding graphics performance, such as workstations, PCs and game consoles.
It is also expected that GDDR7 will expand into future applications such as artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and cars.
“The next-generation graphics DRAM will be brought to market in line with industry demand, and we plan on continuing our leadership in the space,” Bae said.
GDDR7’s arrival comes shortly after Samsung announced the industry’s first 24Gbps GDDR6 DRAM last year.
Tom’s Hardware speculated that next-generation graphics cards for home users could adopt GDDR7 as early as 2024.
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