04-18-2004, 11:30 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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RAM Prices Rise � Memory Markets Mutating
Noticed anything about RAM prices recently? Ars Technica certainly have: "If it seems like you have been spending more money on RAM lately, it's not your imagination. RAM prices have been on the rise since the beginning of 2004, as some types of RAM have increased up to 70% in price. New production facilities and technology were expected to keep supplies high and prices down, but problems with new fabrication technologies have kept manufacturers from realizing the expected cost savings from switching. The popularity of digital cameras and MP3 players is also to blame, with some manufacturers moving more of their capacity towards making flash memory instead of DRAM."
ZDNet expands on this theme: "Demand for flash memory--which, unlike DRAM, retains its contents when power is switched off--is so strong that chipmakers are switching a significant portion of their DRAM capacity to flash. Analysts said Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest memory chipmaker, has slashed DRAM output to 60 percent of its total memory production from above 80 percent two years ago to lift its flash chip component to more than 35 percent. Flash chips allow mobile phones and handheld computers to switch on instantly without "booting up,'' as in the case of a PC using DRAM."
However, that's not the whole story as the typical Pocket PC used 64Mb of SDRAM and 32Mb of ROM (actually Flash Memory). So, while the price of one increases, the price of the other should decrease with more capacity coming on stream. The price of storage cards such as CF, SD and mini-SD (the only ones really worth talking about :wink: ) should continue to rapidly fall with the increased supply and larger chip sizes.
Of course, Flash Memory used in PPCs comes in several flavours. This other ZDNet article describes Intel's decision to change it's focus, in terms of which type of Flash memory they manufacture:
"The new strategy will also put the company in direct competition with the current market leader, Samsung, as Intel will start to manufacture an inexpensive type of flash more suited for storing data on memory cards, Samsung's specialty in this area. At the moment, Intel specializes in the more reliable, but more expensive, type of flash that's used for storing software code.............. Intel also failed to anticipate the popularity of NAND flash, the less expensive and more familiar version of flash memory for storing data. NAND flash sits inside MP3 players and portable flash cards like Sony's Memory Stick. Shipments of products using this technology more than doubled in 2003, lifting the fortunes of NAND manufacturers like Samsung and Toshiba. Intel makes NOR flash, used to preserve data like operating systems and applications that need to be kept in a pristine state. (NAND and NOR refer to how the chips characterize data)."
So, not only is the balance swinging from DRAM to Flash Memory, but the balance of Flash Memory is swinging from NOR to NAND memory. PPCs usually use NOR memory for non-volatile storage. NOR is generally physically much larger than NAND Flash for a given capacity, is faster, more reliable and is more expensive. NAND tends to be physically smaller, is slower and much less reliable, is cheaper and the power consumption of NAND flash is about one tenth that of NOR. However, you can't execute programs from NAND, like you can with NOR, requiring the PPC Kernel to be loaded into a reserved area of SDRAM.
This excellent article by Ed gives more details of NAND memory and why it's use in certain PPCs (notable low end iPAQs) means that not all installed memory is available to users. For more bedtime reading about the Flash memory in your Pocket PC you may wish to consult this comprehensive article by Electronic Design, giving a lot more detail. Everything you wanted to know about PPC memory but were afraid to ask. :wink:
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04-19-2004, 04:12 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,055
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Wow, we're seeing a huge shift in the memory industry's focus..
Flash memory is very popular, but RAM will always be popular as long as PCs are in existence. I can only see this recent shift in manufacturing as a temporary stopgap measure. I'm sure we'll see prices drop again in 6 months or so as manufacturers open up new facilities.
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04-19-2004, 07:59 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 251
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> Flash chips allow mobile phones and handheld computers to switch on
> instantly without "booting up," as in the case of a PC using DRAM
That's just plain wrong. Or at least it gives a biased opinion on the usefulness of flash vs. dram.
A pda or phone does have to "boot up" from a cold start (no battery/power present), its just that the simpler the device, the faster the boot so people don't correlate that short delay when first turning on a phone/pda to "booting". Also, a PC (meaning a device that does not generally use flash chips) can do instant on, if it chose to refresh its DRAM even when "off" (which just really means that it isn't completely off). PocketPC instant on has nothing to do with the fact that its non volatile storage happens to be typically stored in flash. The same is probably true for most phones as well.
m.
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04-19-2004, 09:45 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by mmidgley
> Flash chips allow mobile phones and handheld computers to switch on
> instantly without "booting up," as in the case of a PC using DRAM
That's just plain wrong. Or at least it gives a biased opinion on the usefulness of flash vs. dram.
A pda or phone does have to "boot up" from a cold start (no battery/power present), its just that the simpler the device, the faster the boot so people don't correlate that short delay when first turning on a phone/pda to "booting". Also, a PC (meaning a device that does not generally use flash chips) can do instant on, if it chose to refresh its DRAM even when "off" (which just really means that it isn't completely off). PocketPC instant on has nothing to do with the fact that its non volatile storage happens to be typically stored in flash. The same is probably true for most phones as well.
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Fair point. I was hesitant to use that part of the quote - but that's the way ZDNet see it anyway. :? A PPC Kernel of 16 Mb isn't exactly going to take long to load - as you said.
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04-19-2004, 11:05 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jonathon Watkins
A PPC Kernel of 16 Mb isn't exactly going to take long to load - as you said.
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<cough> Have you guys seen how slow Smartphones are to load from a powered off state? We're talking 30+ seconds here...it's painful. :cry:
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04-19-2004, 11:15 PM
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Swami
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,303
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jonathon Watkins
A PPC Kernel of 16 Mb isn't exactly going to take long to load - as you said.
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<cough> Have you guys seen how slow Smartphones are to load from a powered off state? We're talking 30+ seconds here...it's painful. :cry: |
8O No, I've not seen that (as I don;t have a smarphone). Surely that is due to the wireless syncing required with the carrier, rather than the Kernel load time?
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04-19-2004, 11:18 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jonathon Watkins
Surely that is due to the wireless syncing required with the carrier, rather than the Kernel load time?
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Nope. It's load time off Flash. Trust me, it's slooooooow. :evil:
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04-20-2004, 02:03 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 13
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Actually prices started to rise more than 6 months ago.
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04-20-2004, 05:33 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Kiki
Actually prices started to rise more than 6 months ago.
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I guess I just haven't bought RAM in a while. ;-)
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