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MRAM: A Blockbuster Slated for 2015 Release
Posted by Mark Wilson at 11:15 PM on June 11, 2008
The Good News: Toshiba and Hitachi are both flaunting new technologies to make MRAM (the successor to DRAM) more plausible for public consumption. Plus, the United States and Korea both have begun national-level projects to develop the tech.
Why We Care: MRAM uses just 10% of the power of DRAM and offers instant-on computer booting. Plus we're sick of typing "DRAM."
Why It's Too Good To Be True: Engineers still needs to get their MRAM failure rates down to 1% over a decade before the technology will be deemed acceptable. Everyone thinks that this can happen by 2015 (which is a lot further off than, say, tomorrow). [NikkeiNet via techradar]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
x23
Posted 11:52 PM 11/6/08
i've been hearing about MRAM or other non-volatile RAM for *ages* now it seems.
i'm starting to think it is similar to the mythical 100MPG carburetor the oil giants killed in the '70s.
x23
reddingofish
Posted 11:50 PM 11/6/08
2015 wow by that time they will have perfected those little quatum cube thingys that will make bianary obsolete. Then what type of RAM will we need, QRAM?
BTW Where's my flying car!!?
reddingofish
Mark Wilson
Posted 11:39 PM 11/6/08
@AllThingsWireless: Yeah, the last time Giz posted on it was 2003.
Mark Wilson
Joseph
Posted 11:38 PM 11/6/08
iPhone 15G?
Joseph
Metkis
Posted 11:32 PM 11/6/08
Eh, you forgot the con where they can start hawking it as an amazing feature and increase prices of anything that contains it dramatically. Of course with the rate things are going, the price of gas by then will probably be as much as whatever uses MRAM anyways.
Metkis
rebelj12a
Posted 11:26 PM 11/6/08
ok so... so longer battery life... instant on? i always keep my laptop in sleep mode quick start anyways
rebelj12a
AllThingsWireless
Posted 11:25 PM 11/6/08
2015? Shit, they have been talking about MRAM for ages. I'll believe it when I see it. ::cough:: vapor-ware ::cough::
AllThingsWireless
itchytooth
Posted 12:03 AM 12/6/08
Will it be compatible with DNA processors?
itchytooth
Log1c
Posted 12:47 AM 12/6/08
By the time we get MRAM, we'll have moved on to Optical RAM ORAM! (ORLY?!)
Log1c
MagnoliaBoy
Posted 12:36 AM 12/6/08
Still just want some DDR3 on the mobo...
MagnoliaBoy
FredicvsMaximvs
Posted 2:22 AM 12/6/08
Plus, it sounds kinda like the noise a formula 1 racecar makes. Mramm mraaaaammm, mmmrraaAAAAaammmmm, mmrraaaammmmmmm...
Anyone? Anyone?
FredicvsMaximvs
JChristopher
Posted 2:19 AM 12/6/08
Might be nice to get more than 4 MB chips or whatever they are making now. Somehow I think they are a long way from 4-16 Gb densities.
JChristopher
soggy_cheerio
Posted 2:50 AM 12/6/08
@FredicvsMaximvs: No, that would be.. this.
Yes, it still elicits a chuckle.
soggy_cheerio
ChootinDaChit
Posted 3:46 AM 12/6/08
With the recently revealed exploits for retrieving encryption private keys from the latent signals in DRAM after power loss, I'm not sure I actually want a RAM technology that holds its data when power is removed. There's something to be said for cleaning up after yourself!
ChootinDaChit
ninjamurf
Posted 4:08 AM 12/6/08
@soggy_cheerio: Awesome! Where's the one with the purple frog like cartoon character with the goggles and helmet?!
ninjamurf
aec007
Posted 3:59 AM 12/6/08
2015 is too long of a shot to be realistic.
Look at it this way:
By the time you were able to "afford" enough ram in your PC that was fast enough, the next CPU came out and smoked your performance with HALF the ram you just bought...
It happens that way always... specially now with multicore architecture.
MRAM might be nice, but I get the feeling that by the time it's here, processors will be faster, use minute power (Atom?), Flash or SSD might be incredibly fast and cheap, that nobody will care...
aec007
Brock
Posted 4:28 AM 12/6/08
My rule of thumb is that whenever someone says a particular technology is 3-5 years away (or more) I interpret that to mean "We have NO idea when this is ever going to work."
Brock
deciBels
Posted 8:47 AM 12/6/08
Offhand, does the M in MRAM have relation to memristors at all? Wiki doesn't indicate so, but the explanations seems pretty similar.
deciBels
Dynastius
Posted 11:20 AM 12/6/08
The "M" in MRAM stands for magnetic. Not related to memristors.
Dynastius
Valicious
Posted 3:27 PM 12/6/08
@Dynastius: M stands that it needs to mature before it can see itself naked.
Valicious