61–70 of 128 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is sort of the role that L3 cache plays already. Your proposal would be effectively an upgradable L4 cache. No idea if the economics on that are worth it vs bigger DRAM so you have less pressure on the nvme disk.
Cache is not general purpose as far as I know. I want to be able to do whatever I want with it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Resolutions for video might be good comparison. SD to HD(or 720p) is very nice jump. HD to 4k some benefit. 4k to 8k... Well I suppose there is things. The starting to point really does matter. Resolutions are actually good example of things at low end(today) scale. 1920x1080 * 24 bits = 6220800 bytes. So 6 megs. Just to store 16 million colour screen state.
4K to 8K (and for that matter 30fps to 60fps+) is REALLY noticeable in VR video. Normal video, not so much.
But yes, for resolution the angular pixel size is what matters and since VR covers more of your field of view you also need more pixels for the same results.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How so?
Going from an inflatable pool in your backyard to a community pool is world changing. Going from the Pacific Ocean to the Seven Seas is still lots of water.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How so?
It's simple, and for context I made both upgrades scenarios: 8gb -> 32gb: yeah, it feels a bit snappier, I can finally load multiple VMs and a ton of containers. Which rarely happens.. 8mb -> 32mb: Wow! I can finally play Age of Empires 2 and blue screen crashes dropped by half! The feeling isn't the same even remotely...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cache is not general purpose as far as I know. I want to be able to do whatever I want with it.
Where’s the market demand for that?
When SMP first came out we had one large customer that wanted to manually handle scheduling themselves. That didn’t last long.
I miss RAM. I feel like if you lived through that 90s RAM frenzy, you probably miss RAM too. It was crazy how quickly we move through SDRAM/DDR, prices dropped and you could make real increases in performance year over year for not much money. I'm sure some of it was the software being able to capture the hw improvements, but that certainly was my fav period in tech so far.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How so?
8GB -> 32GB doesn't really give you a whole lot more than opening more browser tabs or whatnot. Cache some more filesystem into memory I suppose. 8MB -> 32MB enabled entirely new categories of (consumer-level) software. It would be a game changer for performance as you were no longer swapping to (exceedingly slow) disk. They simply are not comparable, imo. 8MB to 32MB was night and day difference and you would drool…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am confused by this comment. You said "RAM" (contrast to "DRAM" in the article title) but I think you are talking about DRAM sticks? But those have not gone away (other than with some laptops where it's soldered on and not upgradable). Going from 8MB to 32MB in the 90s is still comparable to going from 8GB to 32GB today. One difference is just that the price isn't dropping at the same rate anymore [1], so it doesn'…
Most RAM found in consumer PC's during the 90s was still DRAM, including SDRAM, EDO, and Rambus. I believe OP is just being nostalgic over the period of time when RAM upgrades were very a exciting thing, as hardware was changing very quickly in that era and each year felt considerably more capable than the prior.
In 1994, though, an 11 year old computer would already be considered vintage. In 1983 the hot new computer was the Commodore 64. In 1994 everyone was upgrading their computers with CD-ROM drives so they could play Myst.
I miss RAM. I feel like if you lived through that 90s RAM frenzy, you probably miss RAM too. It was crazy how quickly we move through SDRAM/DDR, prices dropped and you could make real increases in performance year over year for not much money. I'm sure some of it was the software being able to capture the hw improvements, but that certainly was my fav period in tech so far.
Getting a new stick of RAM was so damn exciting in the 90s.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most RAM found in consumer PC's during the 90s was still DRAM, including SDRAM, EDO, and Rambus. I believe OP is just being nostalgic over the period of time when RAM upgrades were very a exciting thing, as hardware was changing very quickly in that era and each year felt considerably more capable than the prior.
In fact, I'd venture as far as to say that all memory in personal and/or "home" computers, starting with the earliest generation (Apple I & Co), has always been some variation of DRAM - with the possible exception of the external cache memory chips used by some CPUs (e.g. 486, Pentium IIRC).