
SK Hynix Presents Its GDDR7 Memory for Graphics Cards
The Korean manufacturer SK Hynix has officially announced its new GDDR7 memory, setting the next standard for consumer and professional graphics cards. This advancement is crucial to power future GPUs, which need to move data at unprecedented speeds to handle complex games and artificial intelligence models. 🚀
PAM-3: The Key to a Performance Leap
The core of this innovation is the adoption of PAM-3 signaling (3-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation). This method replaces the NRZ scheme used in GDDR6 and GDDR6X memories, allowing more information to be transmitted in each clock cycle. According to SK Hynix, this technology enables GDDR7 to exceed GDDR6X bandwidth by 33%, reaching data speeds of up to 40 Gbps per pin.
Main advantages of PAM-3 signaling:- Transmits more data per signal cycle compared to NRZ.
- Enables data speeds exceeding 40 Gbps.
- Forms the basis for the announced higher bandwidth.
Innovation in signaling enables GDDR7 to offer up to 33% more bandwidth than the fastest previous generation.
Higher Speed with Lower Energy Consumption
In addition to being faster, GDDR7 is designed to be more efficient. It operates at a voltage of 1.1V, which is lower than that of its predecessors. This directly reduces power consumption, a critical factor in high-performance graphics cards where memory accounts for a substantial portion of total energy expenditure. 🔋
Impact of the efficiency improvement:- Reduces the total power demand of the graphics card.
- Allows manufacturers to design more powerful GPUs without excessively increasing TDP.
- Helps better manage heat dissipation.
An Advance for Future Workloads
This development arrives at a time when performance demands continue to grow. Games with high-resolution textures and artificial intelligence applications that process large volumes of data require massive bandwidth. SK Hynix's GDDR7 memory positions itself as the essential component so that next-generation graphics hardware does not encounter bottlenecks in data transfer, allowing the GPU to exploit its full computing potential. ⚡