Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/12/06/seven_dramurai_dwindle_as_pc133/

Seven Dramurai dwindle as PC-133 hopes kindle

Maybe the RIMMs will have it if the price is right

By Mike Magee

Posted in On-Prem, 6th December 1999 11:48 GMT

A quick look at the Rambus home page shows that the firm is claiming that its memory provides three times the performance of PC-100 synchronous DRAM. That is highly debatable, given a PC platform like the i820, and given comparisons we've seen and written about on the world wide web. And even if it is true, a RIMM is currently over seven times the price of equivalent synchronous DRAM. Last week, a 64MB PC-100 piece cost around $70, a PC-133 piece about $88 and a PC-800 RIMM $490. A 128MB piece cost around $150, a PC-133 piece about $170, and a PC-800 RIMM $999. These prices may, almost definitely have, changed, but you can bet your bottom buck that the ratio hasn't. A RIMM also seems to be at least seven times as scarce as PC-100 and PC-133 memory and that brings us neatly to the tale of the Seven Dramurai. Hyundai, Infineon, Micron, NEC, Samsung and Toshiba lined up with Intel and Rambus itself to promote direct RDRAM. What has happened to the Seven Dramurai in the wake of Intel's well-documented problems with its i820 chipset? Hyundai is not, apparently, interested any more in Rambus. We understand that Toshiba now says that it will produce Rambus, but not for the PC market. Samsung, which ceased production after Caminogate, will not be able to supply volume until January next year. Hitachi and NEC are reducing Rambus production to one million parts a month, "depending on demand". But, one memory distributor pointed out to us, quite a few of the manufacturers still have stock from those halcyon days when they thought the big launch would be in September. Dataquest, a few weeks ago, estimated that Rambus will dominate the market by the end of next year. We feel it had better get its skates on, and quick. See also Seven Dramurai ride two memory standards at once Seven Dramurai say they will make Rambus cheaper