Samsung produces first 32GB DDR3 stick
updated 04:15 pm EDT, Thu June 18, 2009
Samsung 32GB DDR3
Samsung today claimed to be the first with a 32GB DDR3 RAM stick. The record device comes by using a 50 nanometer manufacturing process to produce 16 gigabit (2GB) stacked memory chips, nine of which are put on each side of the stick to provide the 32GB plus a certain degree of overhead. Despite the sheer amount of memory, Samsung is keen to observe that the 1.35V example uses about 20 percent less power than previous memory, which normally uses 1.5V of energy.
The specific module is intended for servers, where long RAM sticks and very high memory counts are feasible; pricing isn't public but will be very high. However, the technology behind the memory means it can also increase densities for smaller components. 16GB DDR3 should be possible for regular desktop memory, and 8GB is likely for notebooks. [via I4U]
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Wrong Term...
1.5V vs 1.35V says nothing by itself about energy. Oversimplifying, energy is power times time; power is voltage times current. Without knowing the current draw, the voltage is meaningless.
Lower voltage does usually mean lower power due to the way this kind of component works, but you could easily have something that draws double the current at a slightly lower voltage, which would lead to much higher power consumption despite the lower voltage.
On a completely unrelated note, 2x8GB sticks of RAM in a laptop would be mighty impressive. Probably cost more than the rest of the laptop, but still cool.