Kingston slides in new Rambusta Rimms

The chips should slip nicely into the new 1066MHz-supporting chipset motherboards, unveiled by Intel this week, including, says Kingston, the ASUS P4T533.

The 32-bit RIMMs support two 16-bit channels per memory module to effectively double the peak bandwidth per module when compared to a 16-bit RIMM module, says the company. Unlike 16-bit RIMMs that needed to be installed in pairs, the new 32-bit RIMMs can be added one at a time.

The new RIMMs are available in both 800MHz (RIMM 3200) and 1066MHz (RIMM 4200) speeds. Kingston offers 128MB and 256MB RIMM 3200 and RIMM 4200 ECC and non-ECC RIMM modules.

A spokesperson for the company claimed Rambus was "a very fast memory technology, aimed primarily at endusers who work with memory-intense applications such as video, TV, Cad/Cam but also for computer gamers. For those users Rambus is the perfect solution," she said, adding that Kingston Technology "follows the market and we support memory for all technology that is available."

Rambus itself yesterday coughed to a decline in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings from a year ago as revenue also declined. Earnings fell to $5.9 million, from $6.5 million. Revenue declined to $24.5 million from $27.9 million, the company said.

Given the economic circumstances, however CEO Geoff Tate, reckoned "modest sequential revenue growth while maintaining profitability is a very good outcome."

The company's board also authorized the repurchase of "up to an additional 5 million shares of the company's stock in open market transactions effective immediately and over an indefinite period." The authorization is in addition to the 1.1 million shares of the company's stock that remain authorized for repurchase from the last authorization, said the company. Rambus said it had repurchased some 3.9 million shares during its 2002 fiscal year. µ