Micron recently revealed performance figures for its upcoming GDDR7 graphics memory, showing promising improvements that could benefit future graphics cards significantly.
The company claims that its GDDR7 VRAM will deliver up to a 30% performance boost in gaming scenarios, whether for ray tracing-heavy games or pure rasterization. This raises questions about the potential impact on Nvidia’s RTX 50-series, rumored to feature GDDR7 memory. Could this upgrade be even more impactful than anticipated?
In a comparative analysis shared by harukaze5719 on X (formerly Twitter), Micron’s new GDDR7 32Gb/s modules outperform the previous GDDR6 VRAM that maxed out at 20GB/s. With GDDR7 starting at 28Gb/s, the improvement is substantial, especially given that GDDR6X memory reaches up to 24GB/s per pin.
Micron highlights key benefits of its GDDR7 technology, including a 60% increase in bandwidth compared to top-tier GDDR6 modules, enabling GDDR7 to achieve over 1.5TB/s in system bandwidth. Additionally, GDDR7 boasts up to 50% higher power efficiency and introduces new sleep modes to significantly reduce standby power consumption by up to 70%. Micron also managed to reduce response times by up to 20%, catering to generative AI workloads.
Get your weekly breakdown of the technology behind PC gaming
The validation of these benchmarks is essential, as some numbers are indisputable. While the universal applicability of the 30% FPS improvement remains uncertain, the enhanced memory bandwidth of the fastest GDDR7 memory is undeniably significant.
By comparing a setup with 12 GDDR7 ICs and a 384-bit memory interface to the previous generation, Micron pushes the bandwidth over 1.5TB/s, surpassing the RTX 4090 with faster GDDR6X modules maxing out at around 1TB/s. This hints at substantial gains for Nvidia, potentially offsetting lackluster rumors about the RTX 50-series specs.
Micron’s advancements in memory modules present a compelling prospect for Nvidia’s upcoming graphics cards, potentially giving them an edge over competitors like AMD, who are reportedly sticking with GDDR6 in RDNA 4.
micron, 30% FPS improve
28Gbps: https://t.co/hj9RtqyraN
32Gbps: https://t.co/sWJAe1oDnG pic.twitter.com/lsToW4nwr9— 포시포시 (@harukaze5719) June 29, 2024
While the 30% FPS boost may not apply universally, GPUs like the RTX 5090 stand to benefit the most from the improved GDDR7 memory, elevating their performance significantly. Micron’s innovation could reshape the landscape of upcoming graphics cards, potentially giving Nvidia a competitive advantage.
