JEDEC, an industry-standard setting organization, has announced the publication of release 4 of the DDR3 serial presence detect (SPD) document. The updated specifications supports several new memory module types, including new versions of UDIMM, RDIMM, CDIMM and LRDIMM.

“Application specific memory modules are widening the variety of options for system designers, and the serial presence detect is a reliable and consistent way to document the features of these new modules so that system software can tune system performance,” said Mian Quddus, chairman of JEDEC’s JC-45 committee for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) modules.

JEDEC’s JC-45 committee for memory modules developed the SPD specification in conjunction with the development of the new module types with the objective of enabling performance optimizations based on the characteristics of the DDR3 memories used on each module. SPDs are present on all JEDEC DRAM modules. Parameters such as storage capacity, speed, voltages supported, and the presence of thermal sensors allow systems to configure systems dynamically by reading the SPD on each module at initialization time.

“This release of the DDR3 SPD specification adds support for Load Reduction DIMMs used in high end computing platforms and also for 16b-SO-DIMMs and 32b-SO-DIMMs used for embedded applications such as printers," added Mr. Quddus.

Modules using the new parameters in DDR3 SPD document release 4 will be released by manufacturers in the next year.

Tags: DDR3, DRAM