Rambus, RD RAM ...obsolete?

Question

I'm sure this has been discussed before and probably old hat to most techies but why has Dell (and maybe even other box assemblers) stopped offering RD RAM?

When I bought my 8250 about a year ago, it was being promoted as the cutting edge in memory ...well, even a year or two before that. Now I don't see it offered in any Dell computer. Is it old or flawed technology now? I know when the P4 was first introduced there was some sort of controversy about proprietary motherboards or something but if Rambus RAM was that good, why weren't the obstacles worked around?

Is my computer prematurely obsolete?

TIA for any explanation.

--'rocco

JOKERSWILD · Answer

Rambus was the best ram when you bought your computer.DDR ram is better now and is a lot cheaper.Your computer is obsolete as soon as you order it anymore.

se7en5ive2 · Answer

The obstacle was the price, Rambus Inc just wants to gouge the consumer, rdram stills runs circles around DDR speed wise but priced itself out of the market. If you could find a mobo manufacturer building a board with the modern chipsets to run rdram, it would be the board to own. What it all boils down to is profit margins and Rambus's licensing fees for their memory. No one wishes to pay it.

7

scirocco22 · Answer

7 and Joker--

Thanks for your response. I guess what I wanted to hear is that RD RAM isn't flawed since it's not being used anymore ...sounds like it really isn't. Should I be feeling good that I have it? ...I don't know.

--'rocco

Greatone1601 · Answer

DDR is fine, but anyone who knows anything knows that RDRAM is the FASTEST ram available, but the INSANE prices is what pushed it out as someone stated above. It used to go SDRAM, DDR RAM, then RDRAM was top. Yes DDR is speeded up these days, but in the end RDRAM is that much better.

scirocco22 · Answer

Hi Greatone-- Ah okay, thanks for your reply!  I feel much better now.     --'rocco

tando · Answer

Get him to check memory bandwidth on an 8250 against a Dual Channel DDR Canterwood/Spingdale will you?

Have you noticed why most on-line retailers stock few flavours of RDRAM and multitudinous varieties of DDR. I think they may have a better handle on where the future lies. Right now your performance with that memory is fine. You'll need a complete new system before it becomes unacceptably constrained.

Greatone1601 · Answer

Compare 1 GB of RDRAM vs 1 GB of DDR ram and you'll find your answer. RDRAM was so expensive 1 GB was almost unaffordable. DDR is close enough in speed, and with the lower price allows for more of it to compensate I.E. 512mb of RDRAM vs. 1 GB of DDR.

If I could bring myself to pay over 240 bucks for a 512 chip of RAM I would...but I CANT! Wish I had DDR now!

That's that.

Message Edited by Greatone1601 on 11-19-2003 03:45 PM

MrEMan · Answer

Well there are now new variants of RDRAM that allow up to 9.6 GB/s bandwidth...$$$.  Also a new SiS chipset to go along with it.

dandivine · Answer

Read article at this link:   Asus P4S13G PC motherboard http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031105/55919_1.html Asus P4S13G PC motherboard

talmy · Answer

If you have been around long enough, you will realize that all types of RAM ever sold have had a lifetime (for new systems) of a couple of years at most. I've got four Dell systems at home bought in the past two years and each one uses a different type of RAM. So don't sweat it.

And as far as 1GB of RDRAM being "barely affordable", the first RAM I bought I got a great deal on -- $60 for 16 KB, or about $4/KB. At that price 1GB of RAM would have cost me $4,000,000! :-)

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Rambus, RD RAM ...obsolete?

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