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I miss RAM. I feel like if you lived through that 90s RAM frenzy, you probably miss RAM too. It was crazy how quickly we move through SDRAM/DDR, prices dropped
by neom 2y ago
I miss RAM. I feel like if you lived through that 90s RAM frenzy, you probably miss RAM too. It was crazy how quickly we move through SDRAM/DDR, prices dropped and you could make real increases in performance year over year for not much money. I'm sure some of it was the software being able to capture the hw improvements, but that certainly was my fav period in tech so far.
- IshKebab 2y agoNah the biggest jump in performance by far was SSDs. It was a huge step so software had no chance to "catch up" initially.
- szundi 2y agoIt's happening, Windows gets slower every year to adapt to SSDs.
- Gibbon1 2y agotinfoil hat on. I think Microsoft is making windows slow to prepare people for when they move everything on your computer to their cloud. tinfoil hat off.
- anticensor 2y agoThat's Wirth's law moved to a conspiracy theory level.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- thr0w 2y agoGetting a new stick of RAM was so damn exciting in the 90s.
- myself248 2y agoAnd putting the old ones in a SIMM-stack to still use them on a new motherboard, because noone would be so crazy as to throw away good DRAM.
- UltraSane 2y agoRAM speeds are still improving pretty fast. I'm running DDR5 6000 and DDR5 8300 is available. GDDR7 uses PAM3 to get 40Gbps
- malfist 2y agoHow does that contrast with the increase cas latency in real world terms? (Actually asking, not being combative, I don't know)
- vbezhenar 2y agoLast time I checked, DDR5 and DDR4 latency was basically the same. Very little progress there. May be with integrating DRAM and CPU on the same package, some latency wins will be available just because wires will be shorter, but nothing groundbreaking.
- sundvor 2y agoMy DDR4 was C16, but my DDR5 at C30 makes up for that with sheer speed. Currently sporting this - G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB Black 64GB (2x32GB) PC5-48000 (6000MHz) with a 7800x3d. Previous kit was G.Skill Trident Z Neo RGB 32GB (2x16GB), PC4-28800 (3600MHz) DDR4, 16-16-16-36 [X2, eventually, for 64 total] with, you guessed it, the 5800x3d, from the 3900xt - my son loves it.
- smolder 2y agoTo reiterate the GPs point, in case anyone didn't get it: DDR4-3200 CL16 is equivalent to DDR5-6000 CL30 or DDR5-6400 CL32 in terms of latency. Divide the frequency by the CAS latency and you get the same number for all of those. It was the same situation going from DDR3 to 4. There's some wiggle room if you run above-spec voltages (and depending on the quality of the chips, etc.) but things have stayed roughly where they are latency-wise, gen-to-gen.
- sundvor 2y ago
- gregmac 2y agoI am confused by this comment. You said "RAM" (contrast to "DRAM" in the article title) but I think you are talking about DRAM sticks? But those have not gone away (other than with some laptops where it's soldered on and not upgradable). Going from 8MB to 32MB in the 90s is still comparable to going from 8GB to 32GB today. One difference is just that the price isn't dropping at the same rate anymore [1], so it doesn't make as much sense to buy small and re-buy next year when bigger chips are cheaper (they won't be much cheaper). Another is that DRAM speed is at the top of an S-curve [2], so there's not that same increase in speed year-over-year, though arguably the early 2000's were when speeds most dramatically increased. [1] https://aiimpacts.org/trends-in-dram-price-per-gigabyte/ https://aiimpacts.org/trends-in-dram-price-per-gigabyte/ [2] http://blog.logicalincrements.com/2016/03/ultimate-guide-computer-ram/ http://blog.logicalincrements.com/2016/03/ultimate-guide-com...
- emptiestplace 2y ago> Going from 8MB to 32MB in the 90s is still comparable to going from 8GB to 32GB today. This statement makes it difficult to believe you were there.
- CalRobert 2y agoHow so?
- phil21 2y ago8GB -> 32GB doesn't really give you a whole lot more than opening more browser tabs or whatnot. Cache some more filesystem into memory I suppose. 8MB -> 32MB enabled entirely new categories of (consumer-level) software. It would be a game changer for performance as you were no longer swapping to (exceedingly slow) disk. They simply are not comparable, imo. 8MB to 32MB was night and day difference and you would drool over the idea of someday being able to afford such a luxury. 8GB to 32GB was at least until very recently a nice to have for power users.
- 2y ago
- bloedsinnig 2y agoI started late but i rememeber when i upgraded my system with an additional 64mb stick, i was able to reduce the GTA 3 Loadtime between one island to another from 20 seconds to 1. And at that time i also learned how critical it was to check your ram for errors. I reinstalled win98 and windows 2000 so often until i figured this out.
- sva_ 2y agoSad indeed. All that was taken away once it became possible to download more ram[0]. 0. https://downloadmoreram.com/ https://downloadmoreram.com/
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- sulandor 2y agocan relate though i guess the 90's are _the_ best tech era by far and for some time to come, because that's where capable and modular computing machines became a real commodity.