SDRAM, PC100, PC133, and DDR

PC-100
We all know that, when it comes to memory, that SDRAM is the way to go. It is faster than EDO RAM,
and supports higher bus speeds. EDO RAM is moving into the older systems, mainly, while even
the bargain PC's make the move to SDRAM.

But, the world of SDRAM is not cut and dry. Standard SDRAM is great for "older" boards. Now,
with the release of BX motherboards, and the Super 7 boards, standard SDRAM begins to cause
problems. Why? Because even though it was originally said that SDRAM could go up to 100MHz,
it really couldn't. In fact, some SDRAM even got unstable at the 83MHz bus speed.
Enter PC100. Basically, PC100 is SDRAM which meets a certain specification to work with stability
at 100MHz. This SDRAM usually operates at 10ns, although some is created that is faster. Since the
only qualification for PC100 is the ability to operate at 100MHz, there is no rule as to the access
time. 10ns is the minimum speed for stability at 100MHz. some companies advertise PC100 faster
than this, say 6ns, but, a lot of times you will find this to be inaccurate.
All PC100 is not equal. While it all operates at 100MHz, when you get into higher bus speeds than
that, the high-quality stuff starts to stand out. The reason is that the latency rating of the higher
quality stuff is lower. The latency is a measurement of how long it takes for other hardware to return
data to the RAM. The lower the latency rating, the better the chip, and the faster it will operate.
The most common, and cheaper, type of SDRAM chip uses GL or G8 chips. The "GL" or "G8" will
be seen on the actual SDRAM chips on the memory circuit board, so you will know what you're
looking at. The GL's use a CAS latency of 3, which is pretty standard. The better stuff uses "GH"
chips, which uses a CAS latency of 2.
To operate at 100MHz or 112MHz bus speeds, almost any of this PC100 will work. But, bump it up
to 133MHz, and you'll need to get the better GH SDRAM with a CAS latency of 2. Only with this
will you get stable operation at such high front side bus speeds.
Along with high quality PC100, one must take notice of the printed circuit board on which the chips
are mounted. The quality of these boards, for the most part, is measured in the amount of layers.
You can equate this to thickness. Obviously, the thicker the material of the board, the less chance
you have of damaging it, the longer it will last, and the less electrical noise you will get. so, the
more layers the better. Run-of-the-mill, cheap SDRAM often used good quality chips, but the
manufacturer would cut corners by using lower quality PCB's(Printed Circuit Boards). Often they
would use 4-layer PCB's. Well, part of the PC100 spec is a minimum of 6-layer PCB. this ensures a
higher level of quality. But, some manufacturers use even better PCB's, such as 8-layer. Pay
attention to this. The more layers the better.
So, if you find yourself buying a Super 7 or BX motherboard, you should pick up some PC100
SDRAM with it. The older stuff will work, but, without PC100, you are stuck with your new board's
slower bus speeds.

PC-133
Basically, PC133 SDRAM is another implementation of the same old SDRAM. It's basically the
same SDRAM from the days of the LX Chipset, the Pentium II 333MHz processor, and the 66MHz
bus. The only difference between PC133 SDRAM and the others, is that the PC133 has a lower
latency than PC100 and PC66 SDRAM, which means it can run on a faster bus.
If you don't already know, PC133 SDRAM can run stably on a 133MHz bus, just as PC100 ran
stable on the 100MHz bus, and PC66 ran stable on the 66MHz bus. PC133 SDRAM increases the
total bandwidth available to the processor from the memory, because it runs faster. That is because
it raises the speed limit, so to speak, on the road between the Processor and the RAM.
Sometimes it easy to think of the lines data moves between two computer components as roads.
The road between the SDRAM and a current processor, like the Pentium III, is 64bit, which can be
thought of as a 64 lane highway. With older PC100 SDRAM, the speed limit on that road was
100MHz, which means that during a second, 100 million bits moved though each lane on the
highway. That's 6.4 Billion bits, and as we all know, 8 bits = 1 byte. That means, that with older
PC100 SDRAM, the processor could get a maximum of 800MB per second. With PC133 SDRAM,
the speed of that road is increased to 133.33 million bits on each lane per second. That translates
into 8.533 bill bits. Using the same math above, that means the processor could get a maximum of
1060 MB per second (1.06GB) from the SDRAM.
More data, of course, means better performance. Your games will run faster, business applications
load faster, and even Windows boots faster. Only problem is that the performance increase isn't all
that much, and most of the time it's hardly noticeable. Possibly with new types of SDRAM which
are trying to compete with RamBus RAM, users will see a much higher performance increase.
Double Data Rate
Well, there really is not much to say on this topic, because the topic is rather cut and dried. DDR
RAM is Normal SDRAM that sends data both on the rising of the clock cycle, and the falling of the
clock cycle.
Twice the sending of the data, twice the data sent. Where standard 100 MHz SDRAM has an
estimated 800 MB/sec data transfer rate for a theoretical maximum, DDR is, not surprisingly, twice
that. No, we don’t actually see that much bandwidth, but that is their theoretical maximum (64 bit X
100 MHz = 800 MB/s). DDR SDRAM would be 1600 MB/s. Its just faster, and it will be cheaper
than Rambus RAM, and its currently supported by quite a few motherboard manufacturers.