After almost seven years since the approval of the GDDR6 standard, their successor is coming. JEDEC organization yesterday she published specifications of the new GDDR7 memories, which are supposed to guarantee that future graphics chips will have a fast enough data supply.
The seven standard pushes the throughput up to 48 Gb/s per pin, but 32 Gb/s is expected in the first generation of memories. However, theoretical limits can shift and real chips may not stick to paper values. After all, GDDR6 memories were designed for 16 Gb/s, and the first graphics cards such as GeForce RTX 2000 and Radeon RX used 14 Gb/s chips. But today’s graphics are already at 20 Gb/s, and 24 Gb/s memory is being prepared.
GDDR7 helps to achieve higher throughputs by more efficient coding. Earlier chips relied on NRZ (non-return-to-zero) modulation, which carried two bits of information over two cycles. The new PAM3 (pulse-amplitude modulation) will be used, which will transfer three bits in two cycles. This increases the demands on signal quality and can lead to higher consumption. After all, Micron’s special GDDR6X offshoot uses PAM4, and those are demonstrably more voracious.
Another intergenerational benefit is the integrated ECC correction, support of up to 64Gb densities (instead of 32Gb) and also “non-binary” values, for example 24Gb or 48Gb. Manufacturers of memory and graphics cards will no longer have their hands tied so much and can set bus widths and total video memory capacities more freely.
GDDR5 GDDR5X GDDR6 GDDR7 Pin Throughput Up to 9 Gb/s up to 16 Gb/s up to 24 Gb/s up to 48 Gb/s Chip Capacities 256, 512 MB, 1 GB 512 MB, 1 GB 2, 4 GB 2, 3, 4 , 6, 8GB encoding NRZ NRZ NRZ PAM3 On-die ECC no no no yes release 2007 2016 2017 2024
For example, today’s mainstream six-series graphics (RTX 4060, RX 7600) have 128-bit buses and 8 GB of VRAM, while using four 2GB (16Gb) chips. Successors can reach for 3GB (24Gb) chips with the same width and offer a total capacity of 12 GB.
And when someone makes memories that go to the core of the GDDR7 specifications, a 384b graphics card could be created with, for example, 96 GB of VRAM and a throughput of up to 2.3 TB/s. However, this will only be interesting for AI and other accelerators rather than gaming purposes.
According to speculation, GDDR7 type memories should be used by the upcoming GeForce RTX 5000 cards, which will probably arrive before the end of this year, or at the beginning of the next.
via Anandtech
2024-03-10 09:45:29
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