Samsung was also the first manufacturer to complete development of the GDDR6 memory we use today, the industry’s first 24Gbps DRAM arriving last year. Of course and as expected, the next generation of GDDR7 (which, by the way, will come in 16 gigabit (Gb) chips) will deliver the highest speed to date.
What’s new with Samsung’s GDDR7 memory?
Innovations in integrated circuits (ICs) and chip packaging provide greater stability, an often limiting attribute when working at very high speeds. Samsung’s GDDR7 achieves impressive bandwidth of up to 1.5 TB/s (terabytes per second), which is 1.4 times what current GDDR6 is capable of, thanks in large part to its speed per pin of up to 32 Gbps.
These improvements were possible due to the new Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM3) signaling method they adopted in this generation, compared to the non-return to zero (NRZ) of previous generations. PAM3 allows 50% more data to be transmitted than NRZ in the same signaling cycle, greatly increasing bandwidth since much more data is being transmitted at the same time.
Compared to the current GDDR6, this new design is also 20% more energy efficient, as it implements an optimized power saving system for high-speed operations. For particularly power-hungry applications, such as laptops, Samsung also offers another low-voltage GDDR7 option, but which they haven’t discussed in depth yet.
Finally, to minimize heat generation, an important point in graphics cards, an epoxy molding compound (EMC, although it has nothing to do with eMMC memories, not to confuse them) with high thermal conductivity is used for its housing, in addition to the optimization of the architecture of its integrated circuit which already generates less heat. These improvements dramatically reduce thermal resistance by up to 70% compared to GDDR6, resulting in even less heat generation despite much faster speed.
When will there be graphics with this new memory?
It is difficult to predict this point, because of course Samsung has not said anything. After the current GDDR6 and GDDR6X, it is obvious that GDDR7 is the next step in the evolution of graphics memory and that sooner or later we will see it implemented in NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards, but “when” is another matter. … You already know that the two manufacturers already have their next generation graphics cards in the oven, which means that, since Samsung has just finished developing its GDDR7, it would be very difficult for them to have it already. .. therefore, in the next generation, its use is practically excluded.
Now, by the time graphics card makers have their next generation ready, it’s likely that GDDR7 will already be in the mass production phase (and that affects not only Samsung, but also Micron surely), and that’s at this when we can expect the first graphics with GDDR7.
When will this happen? If all goes well and being realistic, we are talking about 2025 at the earliest.
