Samsung starts production gddr6-vram with bandwidth of 18Gbit/s

Samsung has started production of gddr6 for video cards with a capacity of 16Gbit and a bandwidth of 18Gbit/s per pin. That’s good for a throughput of 72GB/s. Samsung makes the chips using its 10nm class process.

The gddr6 memory chips have doubled the data density compared to the gddr5 variants made at 20nm, Samsung says. The 10nm class process is Samsung’s designation for chips with a node between 10nm and 19nm.

According to Samsung, the gddr6 chips will find their way to the next generation of high-end video cards and will consume less than gddr5, because the chips operate at 1.35V. The slower gddr5 chips operate at 1.5V.

In a recent advance announcement of the gddr6 memory, Samsung talked about a speed of 16 Gbit/s. Even when Samsung first gave details about its gddr6 memory in 2016, the speed was estimated to be lower and Samsung did not expect to achieve the highest speeds until 2020.

Competitor Micron produced its first gddr6 memory chips at the end of last year with bandwidths of 12 and 14Gbit/s and wants to come later with 16Gbit/s chips. SK Hynix already had gddr6 chips with a capacity of 8Gbit ready, with speeds from 10 to 14Gbit/s.

Video card manufacturers have not yet announced models with gddr6, but that will probably change soon. Nvidia will probably use the memory on consumer video cards and the hbm2 will remain reserved for absolute top models such as the Titan V.