Hot, synchronous DRAM: Next-gen memory tech spec DDR5 lands Great news for anyone who wants to use Slack and Google Chrome simultaneously: The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association has formalised the spec for DDR5 SDRAM, expected to become the standard memory for most computing devices. As expected, the new standard promises improved memory density and frequencies, and should speed …
Basically the same as DDR4 when measured in cycles, new revs don't really do anything to improve latency. Process shrinks do but the effect is pretty small. You get a bigger bang for the buck if Intel or AMD improve the memory controller on their CPU than from upgrading to a newer rev of DDR.
> Hot synchronous DRAM Batman!
Batman: "Quick Robin, to the Bat Computer"
[The Dynamic RAM Duo rush over to the other side of the Bat Cave]
Robin: "If we install this DDR5 RAM now Batman, we'll be able to flush out that pernicious Penguin in super-quick time" <fx: balls fist in other gloved hand>
[Icon: Nearest thing to the Bat Signal]
It would be interesting if Apple silicon would have this capability in there new chips especially if they have one for the iMac pro in 2021. They could build that capability into all there chips as they no longer have to wait on Intel.
Highly improbable as the cost of the memory chips would probably be too high for personal or commercial usage at this early in the cycle, but they could surprise us.
I could see them maybe doing it for the Mac Pro / iMac Pro which likely won't ship until next summer and maybe not until summer 2022. Not going to see it on the first ARM Macs due by the end of this year. Heck some of the consumer line (like Mac Mini or Macbook Air) might use LPDDR5 since they are probably going to solder the RAM to the board on those - might as well put it in the package and gain a performance & power advantage out of it.
The downside is that you can't expand it and LPDDR5 is limited to a max of 12 or 16 GB (can't remember) but that's fine for those lower end consumer models.
It'll just be an excuse for Chrome to use even more memory. I mean for heaven's sake! I just checked and Chrome is using 3GB of RAM. I've only got 18 tabs open, and none of them is the daily mail. OK, I just opened the daily mail website (out of sheer curiosity) and Chrome gobbled up 400MB of RAM! 400! for one crappy website. Mind you, Firefox uses the same.
My point is that if one website requires that much space, no wonder we have more and more RAM installed in a computer. 4GB is too low now. 8GB is 'normal' and 16GB is reserved for heavy workers, or even 32GB to cope with all eventualities. And to manage that much RAM we need faster and faster processors and faster hard disks to store it all when needed. The computer industry self-perpetuates this conveyor-belt of continuous speed improvements when it's probably not necessary a lot of the time. If we don't find some way of recycling the materials that go into tech, we won't be able to build it any longer. If we need nearly half a gig of RAM (and its associated processing) to display one web site, then we really are being wasteful. I just realised that it's probably the stupid ads more than the website content itself.
In my view, 8GB has been the minimum for several years for Windows 8 and 10.
I upgraded my middling Windows 10 PC (with reasonable SSD) several months ago from 8 to 16 and was surprised that it had quite such an impact. Much of the time my apparent memory usage is showing several gigabytes free but that upgrade made a very noticeable improvement.
I accept that there needs to be advertising but cannot see the value in forcing whack-a-mole on auto-opening videos.
Is there ever going to be a time like the past where RAM gets cheap? When DDR4 came out i expected 3 to drop in price like 2 once did, but instead the new stuff was expensive because it was new and the old stuff stayed expensive because everyone quit making it nobody wanted to splurge on the new stuff, and that was before any of the chip shortage shenanigans.
As some have already pointed out, the only consistent part of using Chrome is that it will eat every available gig not wearing a chastity belt and locked in a cell the moment you give it the chance. I remember being so excited the day i upgraded to 64GB and thought i could finally surf unmolested by slowdown for a while (this didn't happen, but because of a Windows 10 issue, because of course). 32GB still seems low-middle to me in the range of personal requirements for that reason. Ugh. I'm just whining now.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2023
