Dynamic Random Access Memory Topics

Simple DRAM Fast Page Mode (FPM) DRAM Extended Out (EDO) DRAM Burst EDO (BEDO) DRAM Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)  DRAM (RDRAM)  (DDR) SDRAM O a n n e R d e c S t a q r u im a p U ir n a s e p s c e s l i it d i s o i r c t n e it o r d fr y r es e kt s op h vol atile Leaks a small amount of power, the capacitor slowly discharge General DRAM Formats

• DRAM is produced as integrated circuits (ICs) bonded and mounted into plastic packages with metal pins for connection to control signals and buses • In early use individual DRAM ICs were usually either installed directly to the or on ISA expansion cards • later they were assembled into multi-chip plug-in modules (, , etc.) General DRAM formats

• Some Standard Module Type: • DRAM chips ( or IC) • Dual in-line Package (DIP) • DRAM (memory) modules • Single in-line in Package(SIPP) • Single In-line (SIMM) • Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) • Rambus In-line Memory Module (RIMM) • Small outline DIMM (SO-DIMM) Dual in-line Package (DIP)

• is an electronic component package with a rectangular housing and two parallel rows of electrical connecting pins • 14 pins Single in-line in Package (SIPP)

• It consisted of a small printed circuit board upon which were mounted a number of memory chips. • It had 30 pins along one edge which mated with matching holes in the motherboard of the . Single In-line Memory Module (SIMM)

SIMM can be a 30 pin memory module or a 72 pin Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM)

Two types of DIMMs: a 168-pin SDRAM module and a 184-pin DDR SDRAM module. The SDRAM module has two notches (rectangular cuts or incisions) on the bottom edge, while the DDR1 SDRAM module has only one. Also, each module has eight RAM chips, but the lower one has an unoccupied space for the ninth chip. Rambus In-line Memory Module (RIMM)

RIMM is not an acronym and is a trademark of Rambus incorporated for the Direct Rambus or DRAM (RDRAM) modules. RIMM is that resembles DIMMs; however, it is 184-pin and is available with built-in ECC support and Non-ECC at speeds up to 800MHz. RIMM modules are commonly used on the . Small outline DIMM (SO-DIMM)

SO-DIMMs are a smaller alternative to a DIMM, being roughly half the size of regular DIMMs. SO-DIMMs are often used in systems that have limited space, such as notebooks, small-footprint personal (such as those with a Mini-ITX motherboard), high-end upgradable office printers, and networking hardware like routers and NAS devices. Fast Page DRAM

• Also called FPM DRAM, FPRAM, Page mode DRAM, Fast page memory, or Page mode memory • Prior to newer forms of dynamic random access memory it was the most common kind of DRAM in personal computers • essentially accesses a row of RAM without having to continually respecify the row Fast Page DRAM

• A row access strobe (RAS) signal is kept active while the column access strobe (CAS) signal changes to read a sequence of contiguous memory cells • Clock timings for FPM DRAM are typically 6-3-3-3 (meaning 3 clock cycles for access setup, and 3 clock cycles for the first and each of three successive accesses based on the initial setup) Fast Page DRAM

• Static column • is a variant of page mode in which the column address does not need to be stored in, but rather, the address inputs may be changed with /CAS held low, and the data output will be updated accordingly a few nanoseconds later. • Nibble mode • is another variant in which four sequential locations within the row can be accessed with four consecutive pulses of /CAS. The difference from normal page mode is that the address inputs are not used for the second through fourth /CAS edges; they are generated internally starting with the address supplied for the first /CAS edge. Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)

• a memory subsystem that promises to transfer up to 1.6 billion per second • the subsystem consists of the random access memory, the RAM , and the (path) connecting RAM to the and devices in the computer that use it • It consists of the random access memory, the RAM controller, and the bus (path) connecting RAM to the microprocessor and devices in the computer that use it • It consists of the random access memory, the RAM controller, and the bus (path) connecting RAM to the microprocessor and devices in the computer that use it Extended Data Out (EDO) DRAM

• sometimes referred to as Hyper Page Mode enabled DRAM, is similar to Fast Page Mode DRAM with the additional feature that a new access cycle can be started while keeping the data output of the previous cycle active. • became very popular on video cards towards the end of the 1990s. It was very low cost, yet nearly as efficient for performance as the far more costly VRAM. Burst EDO (BEDO) DRAM

• An evolution of EDO DRAM, Burst EDO DRAM, could process four memory addresses in one burst, for a maximum of 5-1-1-1, saving an additional three clocks over optimally designed EDO memory. Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)

• a generic name for various kinds of DRAM that are synchronized with the clock speed that the microprocessor is optimized for. • has replaced asynchronous RAM, is the support for multiple internal banks inside the DRAM chip. Using a few of "bank address" which accompany each command, a second bank can be activated and begin reading data while a read from the first bank is in progress. By alternating banks, an SDRAM device can keep the data bus continuously busy, in a way that asynchronous DRAM cannot. • Access time less than 60 nanoseconds. Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)

• Rambus is intended to replace the current main memory technology of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). • Much faster data transfer rates from attached devices such as videocams using FireWire and the Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) make it important to reduce the bottleneck in getting data into the computer, staging it in RAM, and moving it through the microprocessor and to the display or other output devices • provides a two- (16 ) bus • RAM speed of 800 megahertz (800 million cycles per second), the peak data transfer rate is 1.6 billion bytes per second Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM

• was a later development of SDRAM, used in PC memory beginning in 2000. Subsequent versions are numbered sequentially (DDR2, DDR3, etc.). DDR SDRAM internally performs double-width accesses at the , and uses a double data rate interface to transfer one half on each clock edge.