Samsung Develops 512GB DDR5 Module with HKMG DDR5 Chips

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Samsung uses high-k dielectrics to drive performance of DDR5 memory devices.

Samsung
(Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung has announced that it has developed the industry's first 512GB memory module using its latest DDR5 memory devices that use high-k dielectrics as insulators. The new DIMM is designed for next-generation servers that use DDR5 memory, including those powered by AMD's Epyc 'Genoa' and Intel's Xeon Scalable 'Sapphire Rapids' processors.

Samsung's 512GB DDR5 registered DIMM (RDIMM) memory module uses 32 16GB stacks based on eight 16Gb DRAM devices. The 8-Hi stacks use through silicon via interconnects to ensure low power and quality signaling. For some reason, Samsung does not disclose the maximum data transfer rate its RDIMM supports, which is not something completely unexpected as the company cannot disclose specifications of next-generation server platforms. 

An interesting thing about Samsung's 512GB RDIMM is that it uses the company's latest 16 Gb DDR5 memory devices which replace traditional insulators with a high-k material originally used for logic gates to lower leakage current. This is not the first time Samsung has used HKMG technology for memory as, back in 2018, it started using it for high-speed GDDR6 devices. Theoretically, usage of HKMG could help Samsung's DDR5 devices to hit higher data transfer rates too.

Samsung says that because of DDR5's reduced voltages, the HKMG insulating layer and other enhancements, its DDR5 devices consume 13% less power than predecessors, which will be particularly important for the 512GB RDIMM aimed at servers.

When used with server processors featuring eight memory channels and two DIMMs per channel, Samsung's new 512GB memory modules allow you to equip each CPU with up to 8TB of DDR5 memory, up from 4TB today.

Samsung says it has already started sampling various DDR5 modules with various partners from the server community. The company expects its next-generation DIMMs to be validated and certified by the time servers using DDR5 memory hit the market.

"Intel's engineering teams closely partner with memory leaders like Samsung to deliver fast, power-efficient DDR5 memory that is performance-optimized and compatible with our upcoming Intel Xeon Scalable processors, code-named Sapphire Rapids," said Carolyn Duran, Vice President and GM of Memory and IO Technology at Intel.

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

23 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Geef
    This is probably great for servers but not really that useful if those chips fit into normal computers. There are only a few games out there that use more than 16GB of ram right now so 512GB might be a tinytiny bit too much. :ROFLMAO:
    Reply
  • valreesio
    Obviously you're right, but just a few years ago people were saying 8GB RAM was enough and 16GB was just not needed. As VR becomes better, RAM will be even more important.

    Technology is increasing at an ever increasing rate. Who knows what we'll need in another decade?
    Reply
  • Upacs
    As if "normal computers" where only used for gaming...
    Reply
  • LolaGT
    Never say never.
    My first PC had a 100 MHz P5 and 8 MB of ram. Doesn't seem all that long ago.
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    Geef said:
    This is probably great for servers but not really that useful if those chips fit into normal computers. There are only a few games out there that use more than 16GB of ram right now so 512GB might be a tinytiny bit too much. :ROFLMAO:
    This will be amazing for servers. When it comes to virtualization, you are almost always more RAM limited that CPU limited. Over provisioning on CPU is SOP when it comes to virtualization. However, doing that for RAM can cause MAJOR performance impacts.

    valreesio said:
    Obviously you're right, but just a few years ago people were saying 8GB RAM was enough and 16GB was just not needed. As VR becomes better, RAM will be even more important.

    Technology is increasing at an ever increasing rate. Who knows what we'll need in another decade?
    I went with 16GB RAM in my current desktop when I built it in 2013. At that time 4GB was common, 8GB was high end, and 16GB was extreme. Push forward a few years and I maxed out my desktop at 32GB RAM. Now in 2021 we see 4GB as unusable, 8GB minimum, 16GB main stream, and 32GB extreme. I can tell you that if you have your computer for long enough Windows gets bloated and uses more and more RAM. Right now I have 7 Firefox tabs open, Slack, Outlook, and a VPN running and my desktop is using 9GB RAM with another 3GB used for cache. I've found that once you get to 32GB RAM Windows goes and expands everything into RAM which means it doesn't have to go to disk for many system files. This increases responsiveness of the system. My next desktop will have 64GB RAM due to needed that extra RAM for being a VMware Home Lab.

    LolaGT said:
    Never say never.
    My first PC had a 100 MHz P5 and 8 MB of ram. Doesn't seem all that long ago.
    First DOS computer I used was a 486 DX33 with 8MB RAM. My first computer had a 200MHz P5 with 16MB RAM running Win95. That Win95 computer needed more RAM as it tended to go to disk quite a bit.
    Reply
  • danlw
    I've always had pipe dreams of running games from a RAMdrive. But its so prohibitively expensive to have enough RAM to copy an entire game AND have enough left over for actual RAM use...
    Reply
  • King_V
    LolaGT said:
    Never say never.
    My first PC had a 100 MHz P5 and 8 MB of ram. Doesn't seem all that long ago.
    At the time I got my first PC, Pentium 133 and 16MB of RAM, and a whopping 2.5GB hard drive, my friends thought it was somewhat extravagant, and nicknamed the machine "Ah-nuld."

    And that was only . . uh . . NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS years ago. 😆
    Reply
  • stancilmor
    LolaGT said:
    Never say never.
    My first PC had a 100 MHz P5 and 8 MB of ram. Doesn't seem all that long ago.

    I must be ancient. First computer I used only had 2k RAM. Then I upgraded to a computer with 64k RAM and a processor speed of 1 MHz. I can remember friends paying $1000 dollars for 32 Megs of RAM. My current machine has 32 Gigs of RAM. I regularly use 12 to 20 Gigs. Next computer will either have 32 again or 64 if the price is low enough.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    LolaGT said:
    Never say never.
    My first PC had a 100 MHz P5 and 8 MB of ram. Doesn't seem all that long ago.

    386DX 20MHz, 1 MB RAM DOS 5.0. It was fun messing with the config.sys and tweeking the upper memory to load all the drivers.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin said:
    386DX 20MHz, 1 MB RAM DOS 5.0. It was fun messing with the config.sys and tweeking the upper memory to load all the drivers.
    remember the big joke in config.sys?

    Bugs=OFF

    LOL

    I am glad those days are over. stuff was medieval
    Reply