Nvidia to use GDDR5X memory with next generation GPUs

Nvidia to use GDDR5X memory with next generation GPUs

 

It is now rumored that Nvidia will be using GDDR5X memory with some of their upcoming Pascal GPUs, offering double the speeds of current GDDR5 memory. 

From what we know about GDDR5X memory we know that it has a very similar memory architecture to currently available GDDR5, with the main change being that the memory has double the pre-fetch from 8 data words per memory access to 16 data words per data access, in theory giving the memory double the theoretical bandwidth while maintaining an architecture that is nigh identical to GDDR5.

  

(Image from Toms Hardware)

 

Micron designed GDDR5X and has approached JEDEC to make GDDR5X a memory standard, so that this memory can be adopted into the industry more widely. So far in the first generation of this memory Micron has increased the memory data rates of GDDR5 from 8Gbps to between 10-12Gbps with GDDR5X, with future iterations hoping to surpass 14Gbps mark or even reach its theoretical maximum of 16Gbps.  

Micron expects GDDR5X to be able to hit the market in the second half of 2016, just in time for a new generation of GPUs. With supply of HBM and HBM 2.0 memory being very constrained it is likely that some next generation GPUs will need to run on GDDR5 memory, though with the availability of GDDR5X GPUs can still use GDDR memory and not have as large of a bandwidth disadvantage when compared to HBM. 

When compared to GDDR5X, HBM and HBM 2.0 still has significant advantages, as it consumes less power, reduces the required PCB space for a GPU and HBM 2 offers a significantly higher amount of bandwidth than GDDR5X.

 

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