Micron Shipping LPDDR5 DRAM
by Billy Tallis on February 6, 2020 8:30 AM EST
Micron has announced their first LPDDR5 DRAM is in mass production and now shipping to customers. The new RAM is significantly faster and more power efficient than LPDDR4x. One of the first products to use the new LPDDR5 will be the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphone.
Micron's LPDDR5 is available in 6GB, 8GB and 12GB packages, with speeds of 5.5Gbps and 6.4Gbps per pin. The faster speed grade is a 50% improvement over their fastest LPDDR4x products (4266Mbps per pin), and Micron also claims better than 20% reduction in power use compared to LPDDR4x. Micron will also soon be offering multi-chip packages pairing LPDDR5 with UFS-based flash storage; these products will be available sometime during the first half of the year.
The most visible applications for LPDDR5 will be this year's crop of flagship smartphones, but Micron is also targeting automotive and networking applications with the obligatory references to 5G and AI driving demand for faster memory.
Related Reading:
- Micron’s DRAM Update: More Capacity, Four More 10nm-Class Nodes, EUV, 64 GB DIMMs
- Samsung Starts Production of LPDDR5-5500 Devices: 12 GB of DRAM in a Smartphone
- Samsung Announces First LPDDR5 DRAM Chip, Targets 6.4Gbps Data Rates & 30% Reduced Power
- Samsung Starts Production of 16 Gb LPDDR4X Chips Using 2nd Gen 10nm Tech
- Micron Kicks Off Mass Production of 12 Gb LPDDR4X DRAM Chips
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Techtree101 - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Specifically simulation type of games like Civilization, Cities Skylines, etc. Ones that tend to prefer higher frequencies (both CPU and memory, and lots of cache). (duplicate comment, sorry).Targon - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
With the memory controller being on the CPU, it's not just about the motherboard in the desktop/laptop, it would require a new socket type to support it. For AMD, Ryzen benefits more from faster RAM compared to Intel, so AMD would stand to gain a lot more from the move to DDR5 than Intel would. I don't expect to see DDR5 based laptops until at least late 2021, though I would be happy if it came sooner.peevee - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
I want a desktop CPU package with 4 slots for 4 channels of SODIMMs with LPDDR5 on 4 sides of it. Short wires would enable both low power consumption (both by memory and memory controllers) and low latencies, and 4 64-bit channels would finally provide enough bandwidth for a half-decent GPU on the package. And such packaging would enable much cheaper motherboards with very few layers.Valantar - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
That would be a challenge for sure. Either you'd occupy an extreme amount of board space with flat SODIMMs on all sides or you'd make the socket incompatible with pretty much every single cooler design on the market if you want traces that short/slots that close to the socket. Not to mention the difficulty of routing other I/O out of a die with RAM traces on four sides.It would nonetheless be a rather attractive proposition if possible, yes.
PeachNCream - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
The other problem with that surrounded socket design is that wiring to the chipset and other system components like power delivery have fewer ways to reach the CPU package, possibly offsetting some or all of the advantages shorter traces to memory might provide.artk2219 - Friday, February 7, 2020 - link
Basically something like whats below but DDR5 and 4 sockets instead of 2? Talk to an oem and give them a high enough order count, they'll make something work. Oh, also be ready to fork over a few million dollars.https://www.asrockind.com/overview.us.asp?Model=IM...
Dolda2000 - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
What is the reason why LPDDR is so much faster than ordinary non-LP DDR? Is it because LPDDR needs to be soldered?name99 - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Yes. Direct attachment rather than DIMMs allows for higher speed and lower power. But prevents user modification of DRAM size...Expect the same level of whining as we saw around replaceable batteries, or loss of 3.5” jack, as this reality starts to impact PCs...
ksec - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
Nice, At least iPhone will get another memory bump with the minimum being 6GB.Tuna-Fish - Thursday, February 6, 2020 - link
> Micron's LPDDR5 is available in 6GB, 8GB and 12GB packagesIsn't that a typo? Aren't the capacities 6Gb, 8Gb and 12Gb?