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Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

venturebeat.com

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Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#61

Post by ajuc »

rorrr2 wrote: post #53
RyanZAG wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not strictly true. Most algorithm choices in gaming can make trade offs between CPU and RAM. If you increase available RAM, you can usually use algorithms that are more RAM hungry and less CPU hungry for large speed benefits.

If we're talking about game logic, I agree. If we're talking about rendering beautiful complex worlds with post-processed special effects, I disagree.

In 1 TB of RAM you can keep without any compression 3d array 1000m * 1000m * 64m of voxels with 1 voxel being a cube 2 cm * 2 cm * 2 cm. And you can lookup it randomly with negligible latency and do real time raytracing on it.

If that won't change games I don't know what can.

Besides GPUs will obviously also use this technology if it really works.

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#62

Post by gr3yh47 »

" It could also perform its storage functions at 20 times lower power, extending the battery life of devices using it to weeks, months, or years. "

no, reducing RAM power 20x does not extend battery life of devices to weeks. Anything with a screen or active antenna will likely not see much of a difference

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#63

Post by Alex3917 »

wikiburner wrote: post #36
standel wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Memristor does not seem to be normal neither. Is there any on the market?

No, but they've been expected to be on the market any day now for the past year or two. HP's been doing tons of research and prep work in commercializing them: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/hp-labs-teams-up-with-hyn... http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/07/hp-memristors/

"They've been expected to be on the market any day now for the past year or two."

The last I heard was second quarter 2014 by HP, that's been the release date for the last year or so. Supposedly they could release them now, but they are trying to time the market for business reasons.

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#64

Post by megablast »

gr3yh47 wrote: post #62

" It could also perform its storage functions at 20 times lower power, extending the battery life of devices using it to weeks, months, or years. " no, reducing RAM power 20x does not extend battery life of devices to weeks. Anything with a screen or active antenna will likely not see much of a difference

I used to think the same, but with the new Intel chip, you can now get about 12 hours out of a macbook air.

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#65

Post by [deleted] »

gr3yh47 wrote: post #62

" It could also perform its storage functions at 20 times lower power, extending the battery life of devices using it to weeks, months, or years. " no, reducing RAM power 20x does not extend battery life of devices to weeks. Anything with a screen or active antenna will likely not see much of a difference

[deleted]

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#66

Post by pfraze »

Tuna-Fish wrote: post #51
pfraze wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it, one of the (more interesting) characteristics of memristors is that they can do computation. They don't mention anything like that here, so I doubt it.

A memristor can be set up as a logic element that does computation, or as a memory storage element, just like a transistor (only persistent). For some strange reason, the tech press took this to mean that a memristor array can be dynamically reconfigured to act as logic or ram in the same device. This is mostly false -- while yes, this kind of devices can be built (with transistors, they are typically called field-pr…

Thanks for clearing that up.

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#67

Post by seanv »

ajuc wrote: post #61
rorrr2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're talking about game logic, I agree. If we're talking about rendering beautiful complex worlds with post-processed special effects, I disagree.

In 1 TB of RAM you can keep without any compression 3d array 1000m * 1000m * 64m of voxels with 1 voxel being a cube 2 cm * 2 cm * 2 cm. And you can lookup it randomly with negligible latency and do real time raytracing on it. If that won't change games I don't know what can. Besides GPUs will obviously also use this technology if it really works.

this needs to be higher up.. that's awesome to know! ... we might actually be able to emulate the Ps3 on the computer! hah

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#68

Post by DennisP »

31reasons wrote: post #6
pfraze wrote: post #4

> It can access that data 20 times faster than the best breed of flash memory > could also perform its storage functions at 20 times lower power > non-volatile > 10 times the endurance of NAND flash chips that it could replace If this is true, wow, but I have a hard time believing it.

They haven't mentioned the price or may be I missed it. That may be the important factor.

From another article:

"[Crossbar's CEO] could not estimate the price of a 1TB RRAM module, but said it will cheaper than NAND flash partly because RRAM is less expensive to manufacture."

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2045926/startup-crossbar-pits...

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#69

Post by rorrr2 »

ajuc wrote: post #61
rorrr2 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're talking about game logic, I agree. If we're talking about rendering beautiful complex worlds with post-processed special effects, I disagree.

In 1 TB of RAM you can keep without any compression 3d array 1000m * 1000m * 64m of voxels with 1 voxel being a cube 2 cm * 2 cm * 2 cm. And you can lookup it randomly with negligible latency and do real time raytracing on it. If that won't change games I don't know what can. Besides GPUs will obviously also use this technology if it really works.

Even if you can look them up fast, doesn't mean you can run the raycasting logic fast enough on that amount of detail.

Re: Crossbar Resistive RAM stores a terabyte on a chip

#70

Post by angersock »

acqq wrote: post #37
guelo wrote: post #15

According to the wikipedia article on RRAM there are several companies working to bring this tech to market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistive_random-access_memory

And according to this article, the companies that name their memristor variant as something else do so because of the patents: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1262578

Aha! So, this is memristor arrays?
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