Samsung Electronics has announced that it has completed development of the industry’s first Graphics Double Data Rate 7 (GDDR7) DRAM. The new memory, which is expected to be installed in next-generation systems of key customers for verification this year, offers a 1.4x boost in performance and a 20% improvement in power efficiency versus existing 24 Gbps GDDR6 DRAM. Thermal resistance has also been reduced by 70% compared to GDDR6.
“Our GDDR7 DRAM will help elevate user experiences in areas that require outstanding graphics performance, such as workstations, PCs and game consoles, and is expected to expand into future applications such as AI, high-performance computing (HPC) and automotive vehicles,” said Yongcheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics. “The next-generation graphics DRAM will be brought to market in line with industry demand and we plan on continuing our leadership in the space.”
Samsung’s GDDR7 achieves an impressive bandwidth of 1.5-terabytes-per-second (TBps), which is 1.4 times that of GDDR6’s 1.1TBps and features a boosted speed per pin of up to 32Gbps. The enhancements are made possible by the Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM3) signaling method adopted for the new memory standard instead of the Non Return to Zero (NRZ) from previous generations. PAM3 allows 50% more data to be transmitted than NRZ within the same signaling cycle.
Significantly, in comparison with GDDR6, the latest design is 20% more energy efficient with power-saving design technology optimized for high-speed operations. For applications especially mindful of power usage, such as laptops, Samsung offers a low-operating voltage option.
To minimize heat generation, an epoxy molding compound (EMC) with high thermal conductivity is used for the packaging material in addition to IC architecture optimization. These improvements dramatically reduce thermal resistance by 70% in comparison to GDDR6, aiding in stable product performance even in conditions with high-speed operations.