DDR future cloudy... DRDRAM may be the answer
Check out this article about PC2700 RAM and the difficulties they are having getting it to work:
<a href="http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20020212S0031" target="_blank">http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20020212S0031</a>
Looks like early adopters are going to be stuck with DDR266 when their chipset supports DDR333. And they're having problems standardising on a final spec. Rambus may be on Apple's mind.
<a href="http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20020212S0031" target="_blank">http://www.eet.com/sys/news/OEG20020212S0031</a>
Looks like early adopters are going to be stuck with DDR266 when their chipset supports DDR333. And they're having problems standardising on a final spec. Rambus may be on Apple's mind.
Comments
Firewire is the only example (homegrown technology) that I remember Apple jumping onboard early. Even USB was out a while before Apple put it on the iMac.
The difference between DDR266 and DDR333 isn't that significant and if Apple can deliver the kind of optimization they've got for the current SDRAM on DDR266 they will be competitive with the DDR333 systems.
<strong>Apple won't come out with DDR333 the first time they use DDR. They always seem to be a generation behind. As soon as it is standard across the PC industry (read: prices down and proven with all the bugs out), Apple will move to it. Until then, look for DDR266 in Macs (whenever they go to it).
Firewire is the only example (homegrown technology) that I remember Apple jumping onboard early. Even USB was out a while before Apple put it on the iMac.</strong><hr></blockquote>
USB was out for a while yes, but it was not yet standard...apple helped make it standard imo
<strong>
USB was out for a while yes, but it was not yet standard...apple helped make it standard imo</strong><hr></blockquote>
I say Apple didn't help. Apple did it by itself.
As for Apple I would say expect DDR 266 in MWNY followed by DDR II at probably MWNY next year. Might come a little later but I'd say whatever chips Apple does release in the future will be aimed at being ready for that.
[ 02-14-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
<strong>Conservative? Hmm, Apple was one of the first to move away from SIMMs to 168-pin FPM DIMMs when they introduced the Power Mac 9500 and 8500...</strong><hr></blockquote>
How long ago was that?
<strong>DDR II is expected to roll out at (effective) speeds of 400MHz and 533MHz early in 2003.
[ 02-14-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
thanks
<strong>Conservative? Hmm, Apple was one of the first to move away from SIMMs to 168-pin FPM DIMMs when they introduced the Power Mac 9500 and 8500...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, but it was still FPM RAM. They've not been shy about using new SIMM/DIMM formats, but generally the actually type of RAM chips are fairly mundane. This ensures a good supply and decent prices, but usually means they struggle along with inferior memory performance. Every so often they manage to jump into a brief lead and then it slips away as the PC juggernaut forges ahead.