Incoming GDDR6 memory with next-generation GPUs
The GDDR6 will be the standard adopted for the memory of the next generation of video cards based on NVIDIA GPUs: bandwidth always higher, with the same voltage.
There are many expectations about the official launch of the new next-generation NVIDIA video cards, designed to replace the GeForce GTX 1000 range currently on the market. On previous occasions, we reported the rumors that appeared online, pointing out that in our opinion the debut of these solutions will take place during the month of August and not before.
One of the news that we will see combined with the next-generation GPU is the memory compartment: we will switch to the GDDR6 modules, evolution of the current GDDR5 on the market and able to offer higher maximum bandwidth thanks to an increase in the clock frequency.
We do not know if the GDDR6 memory will be immediately adopted on the whole range or initially limited only to the top range proposals; this last scenario is what happened with the GDDR5X memory previously, used as a faster alternative to GDDR5 solutions for some products.
SK Hynix is the manufacturer that should provide the GDDR6 modules: at the current time the company lists 8 Gbit capacity solutions with speeds up to 14 Gbps at 1.35V of voltage and are 12 Gbps with a lower voltage of 1.25V, but on the card you can push up to 16 Gbps with this memory technology. By way of comparison, we report how the GDDR5X memory operates as a maximum of 11 Gbps.
A density of 8 Gbps implies the use of 8 memory modules for a total capacity on the board of 8 Gbytes of video memory, using a 256-bit bus: to change to 16 Gbytes it is necessary, with this architecture, to double the memory modules by mounting them doubled for each 32bit bus and significantly affecting the total cost of production of the card.
It is expected to use GDDR6 memory for new-generation NVIDIA video solutions, but it is not to be excluded that AMD can choose this standard as an alternative to the second generation HBM2 memory, High-Bandwidth Memory, for some of its next-generation solutions. We will see in the course of the second half of the year in which direction the market of these high-performance memory will move.
