Samsung and Hynix are developing cheaper, higher density (and faster) third-gen HBM

[Shawn Knight]

Products utilizing High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) have thus far been few and far between but that isn’t stopping Samsung and Hynix from pressing forward with development of a third generation.

At the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino, the two teased the aptly named HBM3 which looks to offer improvements all around. Best yet, it’ll be much easier on the wallet which should hopefully translate to wider adoption by industry partners.

As Ars Technica explains, traditional memory setups consist of multiple RAM chips that are placed as close to the logic device (CPU or GPU) as possible. With HBM, however, memory is stacked on top of each other, connecting directly via through-silicon vias (TSVs). The stacked RAM is then placed on the logic chip package, a technique that reduces the physical real estate needed (think AMD’s compact Fury Nano) and opens the door for massive bandwidth boosts.

Thus far, however, capacity and price have been the limiting factors to widespread adoption. Fortunately, these issues will be addressed with HBM3.

The third-generation technology will offer individual memory dies of 16Gb (up from 8Gb in HBM2) and allow more than eight dies to be stacked on top of each other. This means that video cards with as much as 64GB of memory will be possible. What’s more, HMB3 will have a lower core voltage and twice the peak bandwidth (up to 512GB/s per layer of DRAM).

About the only “bad” news is that HBM3 won’t be ready for another few years.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/66072-samsung-hynix-developing-cheaper-higher-density-faster-third.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

About the only "bad" news is that HBM3 won't be ready for another few years.

I think I can manage with my trusty GTX 660. I'm planning on holding out another generation anyway. Then decide on 1160, 1170, or wait another gen. This HBM Gen3 could be a deciding factor for me at that time.

 

[hahahanoobs]

I imagine HBM 2 and GDDR6 will suffice until then.

 

[Evernessince]

About the only "bad" news is that HBM3 won't be ready for another few years.

I think I can manage with my trusty GTX 660. I'm planning on holding out another generation anyway. Then decide on 1160, 1170, or wait another gen. This HBM Gen3 could be a deciding factor for me at that time.

Nvidia might just keep HBM out of the consumer space like they are right now, only using it for their business cards. I really hope they did switch up their naming scheme, The 1100 series just doesn't sound that appealing.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

HBM (gen 1) came out at about 2 years ago and gen 2 seems to have disappeared into distant memory without anyone really getting their hands on it. Only now are they developing gen 3. What's the hold up? I was expecting them to be working on gen 7 by now.

 

[Evernessince]

HBM (gen 1) came out at about 2 years ago and gen 2 seems to have disappeared into distant memory without anyone really getting their hands on it. Only now are they developing gen 3. What's the hold up? I was expecting them to be working on gen 7 by now.

Vega is supposed to be gen 2 so we'll see how that works out. There's only so much performance to be gained by the memory alone but HBM2 could be enough to push AMD's high end to being competitive. If I'm AMD I'm thinking of ways to improve utilization in DX 11.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Vega is supposed to be gen 2 so we'll see how that works out. There's only so much performance to be gained by the memory alone but HBM2 could be enough to push AMD's high end to being competitive. If I'm AMD I'm thinking of ways to improve utilization in DX 11.

It's just a matter of (short) time before HBM is shown the door because we'll need higher densities, faster speeds and all that good stuff so a new architecture will be called for. I'm genuinely surprised that DDR, in in spite of all it's gens has lasted as long as it has and is not really showing much sign of slowing up.