Laptop configurations packing LPDDR RAM have been in a weird place for some time. On the one hand, the user cannot upgrade the RAM capacity, as LPDDR is traditionally soldered to the motherboard, yet the LPDDR5 RAM speeds are considerably faster than the conventional replaceable DDR SO-DIMMs, which is a nice bonus for thin and light ultrabooks that need to conform to certain CPU TDPs. Samsung is now looking to solve the upgradeability issues of the LPDDR RAM with a new standard called LPCAMM while keeping high speeds and also reducing the module size by 60% compared to SO-DIMMs.
LPCAMM stands for “Low Power Compression Attached Memory Module” and it is Samsung’s newest RAM form-factor that targets not only laptops, but desktop PCs and even data centers. This standard can offer enhanced flexibility for laptop and PC OEMs, as the new LPCAMM modules are typically 60% smaller than SO-DIMMs, allowing for additional hardware space inside the case. Samsung also cites performance gains of up to 50% with LPDDR5X-7500 speed rates, as well as power efficiency improvements of over 70%.
Servers and data centers may benefit from the new LPCAMM modules as well, since the power-saving features could potentially reduce total costs of operation significantly and keep the upgrade costs low by replacing motherboard setups less often. Yongcheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics stated that LPCAMM applications could eventually expand to other markets.
Samsung has completed system verification through Intel’s platform for the new standard, and, later this year, LPCAMM modules will be tested with next gen systems from various integrators. Adata is among the first RAM module makers to recently preview a laptop LPCAMM LPDDR5-6400 product. However, commercial availability is not expected before 2024.
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Source(s)
Samsung (via Videocardz)