Micron to make graphics memory
THE MEMORY BUSINESS is no game, but that hasn't stopped DRAM maker Micron from diving headfirst into the graphics market with plans to supply memory chips for Nvidia and AMD GPUs.
According to CNET, Micron, the number three DRAM maker in the world, will enter the graphics memory sector with Double Data Rate 3 (DDR3) memory at first, with an aim to move on to 50nm process tech for GDDR3 and GDDR5 chips in the near future.
The offerings will be aimed at punters in the upper middle range of the graphics chip business, initially targeting memory with speeds of 1600MHz and competing directly with already established players like Samsung and Hynix.
But the firm reckons its 1.35 volt DDR3 will have real power consumption advantages over proprietary 1.8 volt GDDR3, and will only get better.
Micron is likely making the push into DRAM for GPUs to help haul itself out of the slumping PC memory market, where DRAM sales have slumped 20 percent from Q408 to Q109. Over the whole year, a glut in memory markets has translated into a 44 percent drop in sales according to market research outfit Isupply. µ
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then I would have bought a new cpu, mobo and ram. Since the prices are inflated for the CPU and MOBO then I will continue to wait. I expect many others are also waiting.
This is a recession and it's about time Intel's cpu and mobo prices reflected this. Monopoly is painful for everyone.
Yeah, this i7 debacle reminds me of when the 8800 series was released and AMD/ATI (whatever) had absolutely nothing to counter for ages leading to stupid high prices for GFX cards.
To the two earlier posters: Despite your opinions about the supposed high cost of i7, I have to ask - compared to what? i7 920 (both processors and motherboards) falls squarely in the middle of the Intel price range (priced above Q9400, but below Q9550). However, for the most part, memory for i7 systems (DDR3) has remained high because it's sold in three-stick packs primarily. (DDR2, however, which remains the memory of choice for LGA775 and AM2+, is sold primarily in pairs.) Anything else for an i7 system is priced no different than it is for LGA775 (and shouldn't be).
As far as why Micron is entering the GDDR business, that's actually rather sensible, as other than Samsung and Hynix, there are NO real players in that market right now; also, outside of Asia, who else could take on either Samsung OR Hynix, let alone both? (Micron is, in fact, THE company largely giving Samsung a bellyache in the PC DRAM space.)
it's affordable high-end. i5 will come out later this year and mainstream users can buy that. Intel actually did a good thing by breaking up it's line up into separate high-end and mainstream models. This way if you're an enthusiast but don't want to spend much, you can still get the low end model of the high-end line (i7 920) which is a great value (considering it can go above 4 GHz easily and is a blazing performer).
Any mobo over £100 is enthusiast or high end. Over £150 and it's v high end.
The i7 cpu mobos are all expensive, like the cpu's, like the ram. I'd love to know what their market share is. I've not seen too many of them.
The X58 is the ONLY mobo for i7 1366 LGA cpu right now......BUT..... They all have problems if you read the 1 egg users comments (list found here) ...
http://i4memory.com/f55/x58-motherboard-real-user-feedback-comments-12649/
It seems like every board is junk with memory problems, lan , bad slots , whole board DOA ,etc. not working or breaking in a few weeks. There is no other choice besides x58 mobo if you have one of these new i7 cpu (which I now have),
But I can't even decide what mobo would be worth a damn. ALL The boards with 5 star rating don't seem to pass the 70% level and those could be people that wrote the comment a day or two after buying/building and now months later could be having problems. So it's a 50/50 guess if the board will be reliable for the long term ????
And what about the new B-3 stepping for x58 intel was supposed to release in April 09 , if this fixes problems how would a person know what boards have this new stepping before buying one ?
You don't see Motherboard manufactures jumping up and down waving the B-3 stepping for sale flag like you do the i7 920 CPU D0 stepping core ads. For a $200.00-300.00 mobo it sure would be NICE to KNOW!