The official successor to SO-DIMM has been announced. CAMM2 supports up to 128 GB of memory on a RAM module.

CAMM, an entirely new format for laptop RAM, is now officially a JEDEC standard. From now on, these RAM modules will be officially known as CAMM2. With JEDEC adopting the standard, there’s a good chance that many laptops will switch from SO-DIMM to CAMM2 in the coming years.

Dell introduced CAMM in 2022 in the Precision 7670 and 7770 workstations. According to Dell, a successor to SO-DIMM was necessary because this standard was gradually reaching its limits. Classic RAM modules are based on a 25-year-old design that is now quite complex.

The connections between memory and laptop are unnecessarily long, which increases energy consumption and reduces maximum speed. CAMM reduces the distance from memory to CPU. With SO-DIMM, the connections bridge a distance of approx. 7.6 cm. CAMM halves this to 3.8 cm.

The associated performance gain will initially only be felt in niche workstation applications, but it won’t stay that way. In theory, when DDR6 memory becomes a reality in the future, CAMM will offer more tangible advantages over SO-DIMM.

Read our full analysis of CAMM here. Dell donated the CAMM technology to JEDEC last year to make it a universal standard.

First CAMM module already available

At the end of September, Samsung brought commercial RAM modules onto the market for the first time under the name LPCAMM. They are 60 percent smaller than DIMMs, deliver 50 percent more power and are 70 percent more energy efficient. The modules (LPDDR5X-6400) offer a memory bandwidth of 7.5 Gbit/s.

Samsung confirmed LPCAMM compatibility with Intel during the announcement. Other brands such as AMD, Qualcomm or Apple are not yet reported. Samsung emphasizes that it is in discussions Next Generationsystems for major customers and also sees great potential in implementation in data centers.

It goes without saying that the new JEDEC will speed everything up. Combined with new AI computers set to lift the PC industry out of the doldrums and a possible launch of Windows 12, this means 2024 could be a very exciting year.