RDRAM (Rambus Dynamic Read Only Memory) is a serial memory technology developed by Rambus Technology of US and Intel has decided to use RDRAM as standard memory for its future chipsets to be launched in the market. The technology was first introduced by Intel in late 1999 on workstation motherboards featuring the Pentium III Xeon processor.

Intel claims that RDRAMs are a better option as compared to SDRAM. Rambus memory provides higher throughput required by new generation processors, as compared to the output of the existing technologies like SDRAM. According to Mr Mahesh Rao, technical support manager, Intel Asia Electronics, "RDRAMs provide higher throughput due to the higher frequencies and the different protocols which they use in their data transfers."

When compared, the through put of RDRAM works out to be double as compared to the throughput of SDRAM. RDRAM uses a serial connection to move data between the system and memory using a 16 bits (2 byte) wide channel at a speed of 800MHz. It means that RDRAM provides a through put of 1.6 giga bytes per second. (800 MHz x 2 bytes = 1600 mbps = 1.6 gbps). The SDRAM, on the other hand, uses a 64-bit (8 byte) channel at a speed of 100 MHz. This way, the throughput of SDRAM works out to 800 mbps. (100 MHz x 8 bytes = 800 mbps = 0.8 gbps). Even if we take the latest speed of 133 MHz available in SDRAM. It works out to be 1 gbps (133 MHz x 8 bytes = 1064 mbps = 1.064 gbps) which is also less then the throughput of RDRAM.

The new chipsets coming out of Intel have already started supporting 133 MHz speed and the speed is expected to go further up with Pentium IV chipsets. In such a case, the SDRAM will become the bottleneck on the motherboard. According to Mr Rao, "The higher throughput helps in removing the memory bandwidth limitations typically encountered in high performance PC systems using existing memory technologies." However, the market sources say that Intel might provide compatibility to SDRAM in its earlier chipsets to ease the transition.

It means that SDRAM can also be used on latest Intel mother boards with an option to be replaced by RDRAM in future. But Mr PK Sharma of Comnet Vision, an Intel dealer in Delhi argues, "The new chipsets of Intel will support the higher bandwidth throughput. Even if there is an option to use less speed memory on the motherboard, why will anybody do it as it will create a bottleneck in the system."

The technological advantages notwithstanding, the most important factor behind the success of RDRAM is going to be the support that it has from Intel. Intel is a leader in processors and chipset market, and most of the motherboard manufacturers design their circuits as per Intel specifications to accommodate Intel chipsets. This will help RDRAM getting an easy acceptance in the market. The memory is increasingly becoming a critical part of the PCs as applications have been demanding quick transfer of data in and out of the processor. Transferring graphics, video, and animation poses a real challenge. This has made the performance of applications more dependent on memory rather then other technology factors. Let us hope the the new breed of memory come up to the expectations.