GDDR6 memory will reach 24 GHz by the end of 2023

The launch of GDDR6 memory was one of the most important events in the graphics card industry, as this new standard opened the door to its introduction models with higher bandwidth without the need to upgrade the bus from memory. The first mainstream consumer graphics cards to use it were the Radeon RX 6000 and GeForce RTX 20.

Compared to GDDR5 memory, GDDR6 scored jump from a maximum frequency of 8 GHz to a ceiling of 14 GHz. The difference was substantial, as a graphics card like the GeForce RTX 2070 could achieve a bandwidth of 448 GB/s with a 256-bit bus and GDDR6, while the GeForce GTX 1070 only achieved 256.3 GB/s with a 256-bit bus. bus and GDDR5.

Over time, the maximum speed of GDDR6 memory has increased and today It peaked at 20 GHz. At this frequency and with a 384-bit bus, we can achieve a bandwidth 960 GB/s, although its use is currently limited to the most powerful graphics cards AMD has on the market, the Radeon RX 7900 XT and XTX. NVIDIA, on the other hand, uses GDDR6X memory, which can reach 22.4 GHz (GeForce RTX 4080).

According to Rambus, the frequency increase of GDDR6 memories has not yet reached its ceiling and expects to reach it by the end of this year maximum peak of 24 GHz. This would allow it to match the GDDR6X standard, which was developed exclusively by NVIDIA and Micron, as this too has a theoretical maximum peak of 24 GHz, but has not yet been implemented in any commercial product at this speed, perhaps for a while. stability.

If the first 24GHz GDDR6 memory chips are released later this year, which seems quite likely, I believe both AMD and NVIDIA could take advantage launches intergenerational updates within the Radeon RX 7000 and GeForce RTX 40 series equipped with these memories at a higher frequency.

As for future generations of graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD, currently known as the GeForce RTX 50 and Radeon RX 8000, both are rumored to be it will use GDDR7 memorya new standard that will have a base frequency of 34 GHz and theoretically peak in the 50 GHz band. Yes, it’s impressive and will apparently allow massive bandwidth even with very limited buses.