Samsung to Unveil 42.5Gbps 24GB GDDR7 Memory

Samsung has announced it will reveal its groundbreaking GDDR7 memory at the upcoming "Non-Volatile Memory and DRAM" session during the ISSCC on February 19, 2024. This new memory technology is expected to be around 77% faster than the current flagship GDDR6 memory.

The GDDR7 DRAM from Samsung is designed to operate at speeds of up to 42.5 Gbps, making it a powerful option for high-performance applications. The new GDDR7 modules will come in 24 Gb (3 GB) configurations, optimized for maximum speed while offering improved energy efficiency compared to their GDDR6 counterparts.

While GDDR7 is significantly faster than GDDR6, the 42.5 Gbps speed may exceed the capabilities of current-generation GPUs, making it unlikely to be widely adopted in the near term. However, it holds promise for future devices, such as Nvidia's upcoming RTX 60 series graphics cards. Nvidia plans to integrate GDDR7 modules running at up to 28 Gbps into its next-generation Blackwell RTX 50 series GPUs. This speed already surpasses the flagship GDDR6 memory (24 Gbps) used in the RTX 4090 by 4 Gbps.

Despite these advancements, the highest GDDR6 speeds seen in GPUs like AMD's RX 7900 XTX and Nvidia's RTX 4090 are still limited to 20-21 Gbps. Consequently, even with the potential of GDDR7, the 42.5 Gbps speeds may not be implemented in GPUs for the foreseeable future.

Nvidia's Blackwell GeForce RTX 5090 is expected to feature 28 Gbps memory, with future models potentially reaching 30 Gbps or more. This follows the trend seen in the evolution of GDDR6 memory speeds. The RTX 5090 will be equipped with 7 GB of GDDR512 memory on a 32-bit memory bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 1.7-2.0 TB/s—up to twice the bandwidth of the RTX 4090. If GDDR7 reaches 42.5 Gbps, the memory bandwidth could exceed 2.5 TB/s, further enhancing performance.

In other developments, SK Hynix will also showcase its latest 321-layer 4D NAND at the ISSCC, a product that has recently entered mass production.