Intel Corp’s delay in moving to Rambus chips as its main PC memory source is causing more vendors to get behind the alternative PC133 specification, at least as a short term solution, according to industry experts. With Taiwanese design house, VIA Technologies, aggressively promoting PC133 (CI No 3,647) with a series of conferences, module makers such as Unigen Corp, Smart Modular Technologies Inc and Kingston Technology Co are all starting to produce PC133 dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) for OEMs.
However, PC133’s time in the sun looks likely to be short-lived. There could well be a window of opportunity for PC133 and DDR [Double Data Rate] towards the end of this year and into 2000, Dataquest analyst Richard Gordon said. However, he thinks that Rambus will win out in the longer term. Once Rambus is introduced and ramped, the industry will adopt it quickly and Rambus will become the most cost effective memory because of volume manufacture, Gordon says. However, some industry insiders have speculated that Intel’s Camino 820 chipset – the means the system chips ‘talk’ to the main processor – could be further delayed into the year 2000; a fact denied by an Intel spokesperson we spoke to.
Moreover, the spokesperson said that standard PC100 SDRAMs could be used with the Camino chipset if manufacturers chose not to use Rambus DRAM chips or the chips do not become available in the volumes they require. He said the 820 chipsets can accommodate Rambus memory modules but also what Intel has dubbed ‘SRIMM’ modules – SDRAM modules with an additional memory translator hub that can pass data through the Camino chipset to the CPU. SDRAMs can also be located on the main motherboard or on a separate daughterboard, as long as the data from the memory chips is routed through the translator before it reaches the 820 board.
