DDR future cloudy... DRDRAM may be the answer

outsideroutsider
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
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.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    cdhostagecdhostage Posts: 1,038member
    Perhaps. Remember though that the article only came out a few days ago. Apple has been planning for a new memory set for a while. I'm usrte that someone will figure out this production problem with DDR. Maybe Apple will join. I'm hoping Apple gets something top-of-the-line, something absolutely new, something not done before. Like Firewire in its infancy. Like Airport. Now they are both standard. I dunno, maybe holographic memory? The magnetic chip storage I read about in Wired?
  • Reply 2 of 13
    codewarriorcodewarrior Posts: 196member
    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.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,458member
    Apple has traditionally been quite conservative when it comes to memory technologies, and that probably won't change. My guess is that we'll see DDR266, skip the DDR333, and go to DDR-II. I'd be surprised if Apple went RamBus, but stranger things have happened, I suppose.



    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.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    [quote]Originally posted by CodeWarrior:

    <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
  • Reply 5 of 13
    discstickersdiscstickers Posts: 314member
    [quote]Originally posted by Wrong Robot:

    <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.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    I really wouldn't be terribly surprised to see a low adoption of DDR 333 memory. A lot of the big manufacturers are thinking about just going to DDR II, which should be seen 1H next year on not giving DDR 333 a lot of attention.



    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.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    agent302agent302 Posts: 974member
    how fast is DDR-II?
  • Reply 8 of 13
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    DDR II is expected to roll out at (effective) speeds of 400MHz and 533MHz early in 2003.



    [ 02-14-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 13
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    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...
  • Reply 10 of 13
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <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?
  • Reply 11 of 13
    agent302agent302 Posts: 974member
    [quote]Originally posted by Amorph:

    <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
  • Reply 12 of 13
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,458member
    [quote]Originally posted by Eugene:

    <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.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    I think we all believe it's mostly about Motorolas bus support and not Apple's willingness to adopt new standards. Rambus or DDRII, eitherway we need something faster for the future.
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