SK Hynix today announced on its website that it has successfully developed a sample of DDR5 multiplexed array dual inline memory module, which is currently the industry’s fastest server DRAM product. The minimum data transfer rate of the product is also up to 8Gbps, which is more than 80% higher than the current DDR5 product of 4.8Gbps.
Officials say the MCR DIMM product uses a new approach to increase the transfer speed of DDR5. While it is widely believed that the speed of DDR5 operation depends on the speed of the individual DRAM chip, SK Hynix engineers took a different approach in developing the product by increasing the speed of the module rather than the speed of the individual DRAM chip.
The SK Hynix technical team designed the product based on Intel’s MCR technology, which uses a data buffer installed on the MCR DIMM to run two memory columns simultaneously.
While conventional DRAM modules can only transfer 64 bytes of data to the CPU at a time, in the MCR DIMM module, two memory columns running simultaneously can transfer 128 bytes of data to the CPU. The increase in the amount of data transferred to the CPU at a time increases the data transfer speed to over 8Gbps, twice that of a single DRAM.
The successful development of this product was made possible by the collaboration with Intel and Renesas Electronics. The three companies worked closely together at all stages, from development to speed and performance verification.
SK Hynix DRAM Product Planning Vice President Seong-Soo Yoo believes that the successful development of this product depended on the combination of different technologies. SK Hynix’s DRAM module design capabilities were combined with Intel’s superior Xeon processor and Renesas Electronics’ buffer technology,” said Ryu Seong-soo. To ensure stable operation of the MCR DIMM, it is critical that the data buffers and processors inside and outside the module interact smoothly.”
The data buffer is responsible for transmitting multiple signals from the middle module, and the server CPU is responsible for receiving and processing the signals from the buffer.
Vice President Ryu added, “The development of the industry’s fastest MCR DIMM is another significant advancement in SK Hynix’s DDR5 technology. We will continue to seek to break through technology barriers and strengthen our leadership position in the server DRAM market.”
Dr. Dimitrios Ziakas, vice president of memory and IO technologies at Intel, said Intel and SK Hynix are leading the way in memory innovation, high-performance, scalable DDR5 for servers, and are in the same echelon as a number of other key industry partners.
“This adoption of the technology, which resulted from years of joint research by Intel and key industry partners, significantly increases the bandwidth available with Intel Xeon processors. We look forward to the technology being applied to future Intel Xeon processors to support industry standardization and multi-generation development.”
Sameer Kuppahalli, vice president and head of Memory Interface at Renesas Electronics, said the data buffer took three years from conception to productization, and “we are proud to work with SK Hynix and Intel to turn this technology into a great product.”
SK Hynix expects the market for MCR DIMMs to open gradually, driven by the demand for increased memory bandwidth for high-performance computing, and the company plans to mass produce the product in the future.
