Samsung will soon begin mass production of its 256Mb graphics-oriented DDR II memory chip, the company said yesterday.

The GDDR2 part uses a number of technical tricks to offer 50 per cent more memory performance than GDDR chips, including on-die termination, off-chip calibration and a reduced CAS latency. Samsung says the part delivers a data throughput of 1.6Gbps per pin and an aggregate bandwidth of 6.4GBps.

The density of the chip, meanwhile, will allow graphics card makers to increase the on-board memory they offer to 512MB, simply by replacing existing 128Mb GDDR2 chips with the new size, Samsung claimed. The chip uses a JEDEC-standard 144-ball FGA package. Graphics card companies have already received sample parts. ®