IBM has unveiled a new design for embedded Dynamic Random Access Memory (eDRAM) chips that promise to speed up processor performance.
eDRAM modules are embedded on a CPU, allowing the processor to quickly access commonly-used data. Standard DRAM modules are located outside of the CPU, and require more power than embedded modules.
The new chip uses silicon on insulator (SOI) technology to reduce leakage and improve speed. IBM also said that the new architecture will allow for denser merory modules.
IBM said it hopes to introduce the chips by 2008 as part of the firm's forthcoming 45 nanometer processors.
IBM's use of embedded DRAM for the last four years has been limited to specialized, custom-built chips. That trend is likely to continue with the new design, said
Insight 64 founder and principal analyst Nathan Brookwood.
"This does not replace the separate DRAMs that are used in PCs, servers or even in a lot of embedded equipment, because you can't beat the price of standard DRAMs," Brookwood said.
"But for people working on specialized designs where they might use standard DRAM on a custom chip, this is an attractive alternative because it uses less power and is much denser."
Where end-users may end up finding the chips, said Brookwood, is in graphics-heavy equipment, such as gaming consoles and video cards.
"Typically, if you look at game consoles, they don't have the same memory footprints that a PC has," the analyst explained, "3d graphics controllers might use high-speed dram as a graphics buffer."
In those cases, the performance boost gained from having the buffer embedded on the graphics processer and the larger capacity offered by the new, denser IBM module could be extremely attractive to chipmakers, Brookwood said.