News - A-Data announces tri-channel DDR3 kits for Intel's Core i7

[HEXUS]

Intel's Nehalem microarchitecture is drawing near, and A-Data has a pair of 3GB and 6GB tri-channel memory kits ready for X58 motherboards.

Read more.

[LuckyNV]

inevitable really, lets hope the DDR3 price drops

[mercyground]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...damage-nehalem

Intel is adivising mobo-makers and memory vendors alike about their new X58+Core i7 combo and to abide to a strict 1.65V limit on memory voltages, beyond which there is the risk of burning out the CPU.

So... there goes overclocking and any "performance" ram as the high speed ram takes 2v usually.

So whats up with cooking your cpu by using higher ram voltages? Is this pointing to no overclocking for Nehalem?

[shaithis]

I guess the memory and CPU voltages are linked in some way. We will only know in time if there is a way around it, or if the memory manufacturers can released faster-then-needed RAM that falls within an acceptable voltage range. We also do not know if this could be a moot point for overclocking.......higher RAM voltage = higher CPU voltage........when your overclocking you frequently raise the CPU voltage anyway. Until we know the actual effect one has on the other and what is "safe", its all guesswork.

As for DDR3 prices, they will continue to slowly fall but it's going to take a massive shift in the market before they reach current DDR2 pricing.

[Funkstar]

Isn't the i7 the first Intel chip with an integrated memory controller?

That would explain Intels position on memory voltage.

[MSIC]

So i understand, loosely, that Intel have followed AMD's path of an integrated memory controller and therefore no true front side bus any more.
But i still think in FSB terms, looking an memory speeds, overclocking etc (i guess hard habits etc).

So... if this is tri-channel, each at 1333 Mhz (and i can't remember - does this mean 2666 each effective data rate?), so we have 2666 x 3 Mhz of data bandwidth = 8Ghz ...! Are my calculations correct? If so, how would the CPU use this much? Back in the P4 days they had 4 x 200 Mhz, have we jumped ten times since then?

[shaithis]

I'm pretty sure that the AMD systems have separate RAM and CPU voltages even though the memory controller is embedded in the CPU.

Still, we might see less then 1:1 CPU:RAM dividers like a lot of AMD users use. On AMD system having the RAM running at a divider of the CPU hardly effects performance thanks to the embedded controller.

[manwithnoname]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...damage-nehalem

Intel is adivising mobo-makers and memory vendors alike about their new X58+Core i7 combo and to abide to a strict 1.65V limit on memory voltages, beyond which there is the risk of burning out the CPU.

So... there goes overclocking and any "performance" ram as the high speed ram takes 2v usually.

So whats up with cooking your cpu by using higher ram voltages? Is this pointing to no overclocking for Nehalem?

The CPU isn't running at 1.65V (is it!?) so the CPU and Memory will have different voltages powering them. AMD managed to cope with a large difference with the s939 Athlon and DDR (1.35v-1.4v CPU, 2.5v+ RAM).

I would be suprised if the memory in an i7 system didn't take a bit of extra juice, but I'm not suprised that intel are advising that it might fry the CPU if you try it.

[Webby]

Just as DDR2 has a standard voltage of 1.8v (performance sticks require more say 2.1v) the DDR3 standard is 1.5v

So for DDR2 we saw performance sticks needing 2.1v (some can take more but most current are specified at 2.1v) that is a 17% increase over the stock voltage.

DDR3 starts at 1.5v and Intel are asking for a cap at 1.65v which is a 10% increase.

However if you look on scan etc the DDR3 kits currently available in the performance bracket 1600+ are already using 1.8v

We will all just have to wait and see what memory is available when it all arrives and more importantly when/if we actually decide to buy it!

[Lanky123]

I guess the memory and CPU voltages are linked in some way.

Yep.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10122/...eeds_crippled/

This info has been around for a while...

[pow1983]

I hope this sparks some fear into AMD, for them to survive they cannot be late with their AM3 offerings.