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> I think Intel's approach with on chip memory in some of the new Xeons is interesting Thing is, HBM is a questionable fit for laptops because its extremely ex
by brucethemoose2 3y ago
> I think Intel's approach with on chip memory in some of the new Xeons is interesting
Thing is, HBM is a questionable fit for laptops because its extremely expensive, and pretty high power.
What Apple does is essentially what smartphones have been using for awhile, just scaled up. Its a good idea, and AMD/Intel can do it or even improve on it if they want.
- dragontamer 3y agoThe opposite. HBM is low power actually. Very very low power at very low clock-rates. The issue is that HBM needs like 4096 pins per connection or something absurd like that. So the only way to run HBM is through die-stacking (where the 4096 pins all lineup and the chip-manufacturer solders them together in a cleanroom). HBM uses incredibly low amounts of power as a protocol. But then it jacks up the pin-count and runs thousands of the protocol in parallel to increase effective bandwidths. In any case, you won't be able to physically route HBM on a PCB. The trace count alone makes it impossible.
- brucethemoose2 3y agoDoes it have, say, power saving modes at idle like DDR5 does? And coming iterations of HBM seem to be cranking up the clock rate
- dragontamer 3y agoI don't think DDR5 is known for any good power-saving modes (certainly not like LPDDR5, if that's what you were trying to reference?). I'd assume HBM is closer to DDR5 or GDDR6 than LPDDR5, but honestly I don't know. In any case, I don't personally consider DDR5 to be very memory-saving. ------ LPDDR5 on Apple Chips has a substantial power advantage. But like HBM, LPDDR5 cannot be socketed or expanded like DDR5 can be. LPDDR5 gets its assurances from either stacking on top of the die (like in Apple products), or by directly-soldering to the motherboard. -------- The technical discussion here is about the socket. Should computers have a socket for RAM? Sockets require more power due to the lower-quality connection, but they allow for far more expansion and customization of the overall computer.
- LargoLasskhyfv 3y agoThere was this news recently, which made the rounds: https://www.anandtech.com/show/21069/modular-lpddr-becomes-a-reality-samsung-introduces-lpcamm-memory-modules https://www.anandtech.com/show/21069/modular-lpddr-becomes-a...
- zamadatix 3y agoSorry, I was completely unclear there considering there are multiple "Pro" lines. I meant the Studio/_Mac_ Pro, not the Studio/_MacBook_ Pro. I'd rather not see modular/hybrid RAM in any of the laptops, including the MacBook Pro. For the latter I just think 16 GB should be the minimum instead of 8 GB is all, whereas on the Air 8 GB is a somewhat more reasonable base.