What’s interesting here is that the single 8GB MetaRAM Hynix DDR3 DIMM on display is just the start. Up to 16GB DDR3-1333 modules can be created, allowing up to 96GB RAM per CPU, or 192GB per dual-CPU board. If you go for slower DDR3-1066 and boards with three DIMMs per channel,- nine DIMMs per CPU – we have 144GB per CPU, or 288GB memory per mobo!
However, the supposed up to 6ns – 8 DDR3-1333 CAS cycles – MetaRAM chip latency penalty could be a bit of a drawback for jobs with lots of short memory accesses. However, for in-memory databases or large scientific models, the amount of RAM is far more important than its bandwidth or latency. Not to mention that, with improved large-page TLBs, Nehalems should handle big memory tasks better.
MetaRAM and Nehalem combine for up to 288GB of memory
You might remember recently we talked about a new company called MetaRAM, started by former AMD CTO Fred Weber, that is set on expanding the amount of memory a system can access without the dramatic price increases we are used to. Of course, “expensive” is term that depends on the one using it, but TheInq has some shots of a demo system from IDF that can support up to 288GB of memory using the MetaRAM technology on the upcoming Nehalem processor.
