Samsung announces new 16Gbps GDDR6 memory

Samsung has announced an all-new GDDR6 memory module that will be incorporated into high-end gaming and workstation GPUs launching next year. The memory chip has a transfer rate of 16 Gbps and can reach up to 64 GB/s (per chip) of bandwidth at just 1.35 V. To put things into perspective, the current generation of GDDR5 memory in the Radeon RX 480 or GTX 1070 is only good for around 8Mbps. This means you are guaranteed double the bandwidth and higher clock speeds at the same or lower voltage. Something to look forward to. Support density is also expected to increase from the standard 16 GB for GDDR5 and GDDR5X to up to 32 GB . Meanwhile, speeds are expected to jump from 12 Gbps with GDDR5X to 16 Gbps with GDDR6.

However, Samsung isn’t the only company with a GDDR6 production schedule on track. SK Hynix and Micron are also said to be working on bringing their own GDDR6 modules to market next year, with the former actually announcing their own GDDR6 module at Nvidia’s GTC 2017 earlier this year. The well-known graphics chip maker introduced its latest memory chips to its next-generation Volta-based graphics cards in 2018, replacing the intermediate GDDR5X chips it was using in its cards as a stopgap solution.

While it’s been confirmed that Nvidia is using GDDR6 in its next-generation graphics chips, there’s some confusion about AMD’s plans. The company uses HBM2 in its current products, but is facing difficulties due to difficulties in manufacturing HBM2. However, the company is expected to continue adopting HBM2 on its high-end Vega cards , while more pocket-friendly cards may also adopt the GDDR6 memory interface, which is faster in terms of performance and cheaper to manufacture. there is. Unconfirmed speculation online suggests that may be one of the reasons for the delayed rollout of Vega 11.