X-bit labs

Interview with VIA Technologies’ Ben Boyden (page 5)

Category: Chipsets

by Anton Shilov

[ 01/06/2004 | 09:23 AM ]

Technologies, Trends, Plans

X-bit labs: What has happened to QBM? There are no chipsets to support this type of memory and there are no memory modules to use QBM technology.

Ben Boyden: As the technology was not quite ready, we decided to remove QBM support from the first version of the PT880 chipset, in order not to delay the launch of the chipset. However, our engineers are still working with the technology and we do not rule out delivering this technology in future chipsets.

X-bit labs: Are there any issues with QBM support implementation, e.g. stability or cost related?

Ben Boyden: This is something I am not fully aware of. I know the technology works, but I have no information on performance or cost.

X-bit labs: Do you have any plans to support memory technologies developed by Rambus? Maybe RDRAM or XDR DRAM?

Ben Boyden: No, at this time we have no plans to support Rambus memory.

X-bit labs: Do you expect DDR-II to be big in 2004? I mean, can you estimate the share of your Pentium 4 chipsets with DDR-II support next year?

Ben Boyden: Without doubt, yes DDR-II will be the next key memory transition, but exactly how much market share it will command before the end of 2004 is hard to say. Undoubtedly there will be a transition period between DDR and DDR II, so we have planned with this in mind and chipsets such as the forthcoming PT890 will support both DDR and DDR II, allowing our mainboard and OEM customers the flexibility to support one or the other standard with a single chipset.

X-bit labs: Does single-channel DDR-II make sense in certain market segments? Maybe not in 2004, but in 2005 or 2006?

Ben Boyden: Yes, single-channel DDR-II memory configurations make sense in certain market segments. Not everybody needs the performance boost of dual-channel memory, so the extra cost of running dual-channel memory is not acceptable for these users. Consider that the majority of new desktop PCs shipping today still run single-channel memory, even if the mainboard shipped can support dual-channel memory. Furthermore, I would expect that sometime in 2005 DDR-II memory will become cheaper than DDR, as this is where the majority of the manufacturing volume will be.