Memory: Rising prices, RDRAM on the way, and a new toy

RDRAM - 800MHz of crap?

I'm sure you've read all about the benchmarks on RDRAM and how the i820 (Camino) is inferior in every single way to the BX chipset and the usual rants and raves.  I'm here to tell you that not all of these benchmarks are unfounded, in fact, there is quite a bit of truth to the current performance of RDRAM on the 820. 

On the one hand, Intel is claiming that RDRAM's greater bandwidth allows it to perform much better than SDRAM, and on the other VIA (and family) is claiming that SDRAM's lower latency allows it to outperform the more expensive RDRAM technology.  I'm not here to answer that question (as that would involve publishing benchmark results which I'm not yet ready to do, however I will say that after quite a few weeks of toying with the 820 and RDRAM, you will see a nice comparison of technologies on the 27th of September here on AnandTech), however I will offer you some words of advice (and some pictures of RDRAM as well) as you're looking at all of these documents either supporting or denouncing RDRAM as a memory solution be sure to pay attention to who is publishing the benchmarks. 

Of course Intel is going to be making sure that their benchmarks represent RDRAM's strengths, and of course VIA is going to be boasting about PC133 over RDRAM, it is up to you, the consumer, to make sure that you understand this and take a look at independent benchmark results.  The ideal comparison (in my mind) would be an Intel BX based motherboard and SDRAM running a Pentium III 600 (100MHz FSB) versus an Intel 820 based motherboard and RDRAM running a Pentium III 600 (100MHz FSB), then the same comparison using the 133MHz FSB.  And guess what I have running on two separate test beds in the lab? :)

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Here we have a Samsung RDRAM RIMM, notice the blue heatsink.  I bet you never thought RAM would come with heatsinks now did you? 

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And here we have a CRIMM module, which is essentially a terminator for any unoccupied RIMM slots on the motherboard.  Motherboards will ship with at least two of these CRIMM modules (depending on how many RIMM slots are present on the motherboard).