Samsung Electronics, the world’s top maker of dynamic random access memory, unveiled its first GDDR5 memory chips that can work at unprecedented clock-speed. The new chips will be able to power ultra powerful graphics cards or enable currently maximum level of performance on more affordable graphics boards.

Samsung’s GDDR5, which will be introduced at a density of 512Mb (16Mb x 32) chips, is capable of transmitting data at 24GB per second, which means that the new chips can operate at 6GHz clock-speed. Nowadays the fastest GDDR4 memory chips are capable of working at about 2.50GHz.

“We’re pushing image enhancement to a limit never before realized, enabling the smoothest, clearest animation that gamers have yet to experience. Samsung’s 512Mb GDDR5 will enable the kind of graphics hardware performance that will spur software developers to deliver a new level of eye-popping games,” said Mueez Deen, marketing director, graphics memory, Samsung Semiconductor.

The new Samsung graphics memory operates at 1.5 volts, representing an approximate 20% drop in power consumption over today’s most popular graphics memory chip – the GDDR3 – that requires 1.8V voltage to operate.

 Samples of Samsung’s new GDDR5 chip have been delivered to major graphic processor companies last month and mass production is expected in the first half of 2008.

Samsung expects that GDDR5 memory chips will become the de facto standard in the top performing segment of the market by capturing more than 50% of the high-end PC graphics market by 2010.

A technical paper on Samsung’s new 6Gbps graphics chip is the only one on GDDR5 technology to be selected for presentation at ISSCC 2008, the company indicated.