ECC! ECC for everyone! SK Hynix spills the beans on its DDR5 DRAM tech

SK Hynix releases DDR5 memory details - Production starts this year

ECC! ECC for everyone! SK Hynix spills the beans on its DDR5 DRAM tech

The memory industry is prepping for its next big transition, and SK Hynix is ready. DRR5 memory is coming, and the fabs of SK Hynix plans to enter mass production this year. 

SK Hynix was the first memory producer to create JEDEC compliant DDR5 memory modules, and it’s only a matter of time before this technology becomes the industry standard within the memory market. It’s faster, more efficient, and integrates error correction support, making DDR5 memory a huge upgrade for consumers and enterprise users alike. 

DDR4 memory can offer a 2x bandwidth increase over DDR4, with SK Hynix aiming for frequencies of between 3200MHz and 8400MHz across its DDR5 memory lineup. Better still, DDR5 memory is designed to enable higher capacity DRAM modules, lower power draw and increased cost-efficiency.  

SK Hynix’s design goal for DDR5 was to hit 4800MHz, offering 50% more bandwidth per DIMM than 3200MHz DDR4 memory. Beyond that, SK Hynix is already preparing faster modules. 

Capacity-wise, DDR5 will offer minimum densities of 8Gb, which is over four times larger than what DDR4 provides. The same applies to DDR5’s maximum capacities, which will extend to 64Gb. 

Unlike DDR4, ECC (Error Correcting Code) and error check and scrub (ECS) are part of the DDR5 standard. No longer will these features be limited to specialised processors and memory modules. This change will make DDR5-based systems more stable and reduce the cost of ECC enabled systems tremendously. 

Power-wise, DDR5 memory will run at an operating voltage of 1.1V, which is much lower than DDR4’s 1.2V. DDR5 aims to reduce power consumption per unit of bandwidth by more than 20% when compared to DDR4.

  

SK Hynix releases DDR5 memory details - Production starts this year  
DDR5 support is due to be added to future processors from both Intel and AMD, likely as part of their late 2021 or early 2022 product lineups. DDR5 memory is also expected to be used widely for 5G networks, autonomous vehicles, AI applications and both home/enterprise computer systems. 

By supporting higher memory densities and heightened security features, SK Hynix’s DDR5 DRAM will make future systems more secure, less error-prone and capable of handling larger data sets. 

Based on AMD’s current hardware roadmap, we expect AMD to deliver DDR5 memory support with Zen 4, assuming that the market is ready to move away from DDR4 memory modules. This change will require new consumer and enterprise motherboards, thanks to DDR5’s new features, specifications and form factor. 
 

SK Hynix releases DDR5 memory details - Production starts this year  

While today’s 3200MHz DDR4 memory may seem fast today, it is worth remembering that datasets are only getting larger and that applications are already starting to get bandwidth constrained. There’s a reason 3200MHz memory is now the norm amongst gamers, and not the 2400MHz DIMMs of yesteryear. 

DRAM speeds are fast enough until they aren’t. You won’t see the benefits of increased bandwidth until you hit the limits of what you already have, and with CPU core counts continuing to increase, faster memory technology is quickly becoming a must for both the consumer and enterprise PC markets. 

You can join the discussion on SK Hynix’s DDR5 memory technology on the OC3D Forums.Â