XBox 360 gets embedded DRAM

NEC SAID it will supply embedded DRAM to be used in the Xbox 360, to speed up anti-aliasing calculations.

The firm said its eDRAM macros would be a "key piece" of the console's graphics subsystem.

The memory will be used by the the video processor, developed by ATI, in much the same way as cache RAM is used by a processor. By using a high-speed storage area as a frame buffer, the R500 in the Xbox 360 will be able to perform anti-aliasing at 1280x720 with almost no impact on frame-rate, apparently.

ATI appears to have patented this method of graphics processing, although when or if it will appear on the PC is as yet unknown.

What also remains to be seen is just how much memory will be stuffed into the boxes. µ