HBM3 memory expected to feature 4 Gbps transfer rates and GDDR6-like bandwidth

Rambus, the company that first introduced the DDR memory modules back in 2000, is one of the few supporters of the HBM memory for graphics cards. Launched as an alternative for the GDDR memory, the HBM is currently the more energy efficient of the two standards, but its performance is relatively subpar. GDDR6 is set to be featured in the upcoming Nvidia GTX 2000 GPUs coming in early 2018, while HBM, currently at its second iteration, will probably remain an AMD Radeon exclusive. However, Rambus just announced via ComputerBase that the third generation HMB is already in development and the expected performance gains could be on par with what GDDR6 has in store.

The projected performance gains for the HBM3 include double the HBM2 transfer rate, so around 4 Gbps, and also improved bandwidth speeds, probably even better than the 768 GB/s bandwidth of the GDDR6 standard. The memory bus is still set to be a multiple of the historical 1024-bit, most likely 2048-bit. Rambus specified that the manufacturing process of the HBM3 is 7nm, so the energy requirements will be decreased even further. In the spec graph, Rambus also mentions that the memory modules will integrate “complex design architectures”, which could mean that some sort of 3D layering might be employed.

Since these are the early development stages for HBM3, the standard could be launched in 2019 at the earliest, so GDDR6 can easily get a consolidated market presence meanwhile.

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