DDR SDRAM is IN the building!

[Samantha]

Here's the press release (http://www.amd.com/news/prodpr/20161.html) from AMD on the new Athlon-DDR SDRAM combination.

Here are the first tests from Anand's (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1344) and Tom's Hardware Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/00q4/001030/index.html).

Micron is taking orders for AMD-DDR SDRAM systems, the Millenia Max XP (http://www.micronpc.com/home/store/desktops/xp_deal.html?mcode=WEB%2D31409%2D1001&sid=XJHLWQ2QM7SR2M5R00LHRTR3R26XBPP9). $1800 for a 1Ghz, complete. Amazing price.

Motherboard combos are expected to appear before the end of the year, but except for Micron in the U.S. and NEC in Europe, systems are not expected to be widely available until after the beginning of next year. Since the motherboards have to be totally re-engineered, I assume both companies are using their own in the systems for now.


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[This message has been edited by Samantha (edited 11-01-2000).]

[Samantha]

AMD really hit the ground running with this launch. Not only did Anand's and Tom's have reviews of the platform and Micron begin taking orders on launch day, but PC World has a front page review (http://www.pcworld.com/news/article.asp?aid=33422) of the Micron system. A similarly configured Athlon 1.1GHz scored the same as the Micron on the PC WorldBench (standard apps) test, but the Micron blew away the scores for high-end apps.

I priced a nearly identical 1GHz Athlon/FSB100/SDRAM system from a reputable vendor with reasonable prices. The Micron price is only $22 more. Micron has very limited configuration on this new system, though - WinMe only (yuck), what looks like onboard video, no network card option, etc.


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[ixl]

Very cool. I'm excited about this, along with Barrett's repudiation of Rambus a couple of weeks ago. I normally stay away from hardware holy wars but very much would like to see everything associated with Rambus go away: the overpriced, overhyped underperforming technology, the company run by lawyers, the attempts to get people to pay royalties for technology that existed before they were formed, etc...
Micron has been anti-Rambus for some time, and I am not surprised they positioned DDR so cheaply. While it doesn't cost a lot more to make the SDRAM, they could have gotten away with charging more if they had wanted to.
What's the bottom line on those reviews, Samantha? Does it make a big difference? With modern cache hit rates so high, I'd be surprised if it was more than 5-10%: about what EDO gave us over FPM four years ago.

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Charles M. Kozierok
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[Samantha]

Tom says this is the best increase in memory performance that he's seen since he started testing with EDO-DRAM. Anand says 10% overall. I see 5-8% on most of the gaming benchmarks; 10-15% on memory/cache intensive operations; 5-10% for in the WinStone benchmarks.

The VIA chipsets definitely impose a performance penalty on the Athlons and the new one, according to Tom's tests, really needs work.

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[This message has been edited by Samantha (edited 11-03-2000).]