Micron has shared some efficiency figures for its next-gen graphics reminiscence, and if these numbers develop into true, it might imply nice issues for upcoming graphics playing cards.
The corporate claims that its GDDR7 VRAM will supply as much as 30% efficiency enchancment in gaming eventualities, and this reportedly applies each to video games that rely closely on ray tracing and on pure rasterization. Will Nvidia’s RTX 50-series, which is claimed to be utilizing GDDR7 reminiscence, develop into an even bigger improve than anticipated?
Within the information, which was first shared by harukaze5719 on X (previously Twitter), Micron pits its new GDDR7 32Gb/s modules towards its GDDR6 VRAM that max out at 20GB/s. For comparability, GDDR6X reminiscence can go as much as 24GB/s per pin, so it’s a giant improve it doesn’t matter what, however it’s price noting that GDDR7 reminiscence will begin at 28Gb/s.
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Micron additionally lists a couple of of the important thing advantages of its GDDR7 tech. For starters, the bandwidth is elevated by as much as 60% for those who examine the highest GDDR6 and GDDR7 modules, with GDDR7 with the ability to obtain over 1.5TB/s in system bandwidth.
Regardless of these spectacular positive aspects, Micron additionally reviews that GDDR7 is as much as 50% extra environment friendly by way of energy consumption, and its new sleep modes can massively reduce on the quantity of energy consumed whereas on standby — as much as 70%. Micron additionally managed to cut back response occasions by as much as 20%, which will probably be useful for generative AI workloads.
micron, 30% FPS enhance
28Gbps: https://t.co/hj9RtqyraN
32Gbps: https://t.co/sWJAe1oDnG pic.twitter.com/lsToW4nwr9— Posiposi (@harukaze5719) June 29, 2024
With first-party benchmarks like this, it’s vital to all the time take them with a little bit little bit of skepticism. Nevertheless, some numbers are onerous to dispute. Whereas we will’t make sure how common that 30% enchancment in frames per second (fps) goes to be, we do know for a incontrovertible fact that the quickest GDDR7 reminiscence will supply an enormous improve in reminiscence bandwidth.
Micron’s comparisons match up a setup with 12 GDDR7 built-in circuits (ICs) and a 384-bit reminiscence interface towards a precise match from the earlier technology, and that brings the bandwidth over the 1.5TB/s line. In the meantime, the RTX 4090, geared up with sooner GDDR6X modules that hit as much as 21Gbps, maxes out at a little bit over 1TB/s. The positive aspects are undoubtedly there.
This seems like excellent news for Nvidia. Latest rumors concerning the specs for the RTX 50-series depart lots to be desired, with the same big enchancment within the RTX 5090 and considerably smaller boosts throughout the decrease finish of the product stack. However with this a lot sooner reminiscence, we would see GPUs that share related CUDA core counts nonetheless shoot forward in fps simply due to the sooner VRAM.
In fact, that 30% determine isn’t going to use to each GPU. A slender reminiscence bus can stifle even the most effective VRAM, as we’ve seen in GPUs just like the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. Within the RTX 40-series, Nvidia stored the quantity of VRAM pretty conservative for a lot of the graphics playing cards, and the reminiscence interface was the identical approach. With that very same method within the RTX 50-series, GDDR7 reminiscence will nonetheless be an enchancment, however that 30% could also be reserved for GPUs just like the RTX 5090.
Micron’s new reminiscence modules sound fairly superb, and with a bit of luck, we’ll be seeing them this manner in Nvidia’s upcoming graphics playing cards. AMD is claimed to be sticking to GDDR6 in RDNA 4. This might find yourself giving Nvidia an edge over its competitor in additional methods than one.
