Samsung reveals more details about its GDDR7 DRAM chips for next-gen GPUs

In June 2022, Samsung announced that it would bring GDDR7 DRAM chips with 50% higher performance compared to the current-generation GDDR6X DRAM used in the latest GPUs from Nvidia. Now, the company has revealed more details regarding its GDDR7 DRAM chips.

Speaking at the IEDM 2022 conference, which started on December 3, Samsung revealed in a slide that it is working on GDDR7 DRAM chips for next-generation GPUs and servers. The company’s upcoming technology will use PAM3 (Pulse-Amplitude Modulation) IO signaling for improved performance compared to GDDR6X DRAM used in recently launched GPUs. PAM3 IO signaling transmits data via digital signals through three levels: -1, 0, and 1. In comparison, NRZ IO signaling uses only two levels: 0 and 1.

According to Samsung’s estimates, GDDR7 will offer 25% better performance than NRZ (Non-Return-To-Zero) signaling used in GDDR6 DRAM. Moreover, the South Korean firm is projecting up to 36Gbps data bandwidth, 2x faster than GDDR6X DRAM used in GPUs like the Nvidia RTX 4090.

While Samsung hasn’t announced exactly when we can expect products that use its GDDR7 chips, they are probably not coming out anytime soon as both AMD and Nvidia recently announced new consumer-grade GPUs. These DRAM chips will likely debut first in enterprise-grade systems.