Jump to...
Columns:
Advanced Software and Technologies
BYTE Media Lab
Chaos Manor
Conference Reports
Features
Free Features
Gigglebytes
Letters to BYTE.com
Mr. Computer Language Person
New Products
Op/Ed
Portable Computing
Serving with Linux
The Upgrade Advisor
August 1996
/
Bits
/ Future Watch
New RAM technologies are almost as plentiful as ticks on a hound in August, but one that's gaining momentum is the new synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) standard. Extended data out (EDO) RAM starts running out of performance at bus speeds above 66 MHz. Because it runs at only 70 nanoseconds, EDO RAM incurs wait states at higher speeds. However, SDRAM can handle bus speeds of up to 100 MHz. SDRAM is also be
tter for multimedia. Due to its multibanked nature (two now, four in future generations), one bank can send data out while the other gets recharged (this increases performance by decreasing latency).
System vendors are already using SDRAM, and officials at DRAM vendor Hitachi America (Brisbane, CA) predict that by the end of 1997, half of all systems will have SDRAM. Sherry Garber, who is vice president of Semico Research (Phoenix, AZ), a semic
onductor research company, is only slightly less optimistic. She predicts that 40 percent of systems then sold worldwide will have SDRAM.
Matthew Wilson more...
BYTE Digest editors every month analyze and evaluate the best articles from Information Week , EE Times , Dr. Dobb's Journal , Network Computing , Sys Admin ,
and dozens of other CMP publications—bringing
you critical news and information about wireless communication,
computer security, software development, embedded systems,
and more!
Find out more
Future Watch
