DDR3 gets thorough makeover

ONE OF THE more interesting parts of the showcase at IDF was tucked away in a corner, the Wall of DDR3. Nothing earthshattering, just a very quick maturation of the technology from CeBIT mere weeks ago.

There were working samples at that show, but very little of what I would call productised parts. Most were obviously development units, some more than others, and very little of it was pretty. Most of those had 'older' style DDR2 package artwork.

If you look at the mid-sized posterboard of DDR3, you will see that most of it is branded product with correct stickers on it, not obfuscated codes and pre-production warnings. Some like Corsair even has new artwork.

Between this and the manufacturers that we talked to saying supply wasn't going to be a repeat of the DDR2 launch debacle, we have a lot of hope for DDR3. The launch of Intel 3x chipsets is a few weeks away, so we will know for sure in June. µ