AMD K7 Chip Sets Will Support Direct Rambus Memory

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October 12, 1998 (12:00 AM EDT)

AMD K7 Chip Sets Will Support Direct Rambus Memory

By Amber Howle,

Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday unveiled plans to develop chip sets supporting Direct Rambus memory for its K7 microprocessor.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based integrated circuit supplier will do its own development by licensing the Direct Rambus interface technology developed by Rambus in conjunction with Intel. In the past, third parties supplied chip sets for AMD's (company profile) processors.

Direct Rambus technology is expected to enable the DRAM industry's highest level of performance to date: 1.6 Gigabytes per second of peak bandwidth from a single device.

"Our basic strategy right now is to have two chip sets for the K7," Richard Heye, general manager and vice president of AMD's K7 division, says. "One will support 100MHz SDRAM and the other would support Direct Rambus."

AMD is expected to release K7 during the first half of next year, with volume shipments in the second half, an AMD spokeswoman says. The Direct Rambus and SDRAM chip set releases should correspond with the K7 releases, she confirmed.

Major memory suppliers are officially geared up for the transition from regular DRAM devices and DIMM modules to next year's Direct Rambus memory systems. Many are already showing designs at fall Comdex in Las Vegas, and plan to ship products as soon as supporting chip sets are released next year.

Analysts have said Direct Rambus memory should wind up with about 15 to 20 percent of the DRAM market by the end of next year.