Client clock driver and DDR5 meet DDR client and server DIMM speed
Believed to be the industry’s first client clock driver available for emerging DDR5 DRAM servers and client systems, the RG5C172B0C0GBX#BC0 and RG5C172B0C0GBX#HC0 are available from Renesas Electronics, together with its third generation of registered clock drivers, the RG5R364A0C0GBY#BC0 and RG5R364A0C0GBY#HC0.
The new DDR5 RCD and DDR5 CKD ICs enable the next generation of DIMMs (dual inline memory modules) with speeds of up to 6400 and 7200 Mtransfers per second respectively, an increase from today’s 5600 Mtransfers per second speeds.
The third generation DDR5 registered clock driver (RCD) is designed for registered DIMMs (RDIMMs). The clock driver (CKD) supports speeds up to 7200 Mtransfers per second and is claimed to be the first in the industry to interface with small outline DIMMs (SODIMMs), unbuffered DIMMs (UDIMMs), high-performance gaming DIMMs and memory down applications for client platforms.
Renesas claimed to be the only provider to offer a complete portfolio of DDR5 memory interfaces for dual inline memory modules (DIMMs), motherboards and embedded applications.
The RCD driver buffers the command address (CA) bus, chip selects and clock between the host controller and DRAM modules, in addition to creating a BCOM bus to control LRDIMM (load reduced DIMM) data buffering. The new driver enhances decision-feedback equaliser (DFE) support by increasing the DFE taps from four to six to improve receiver margin. The I2C and I3C sideband bus support provides direct contact to the register access control.
The CKD buffers the clock between the host controller and DRAM, which is a new requirement for DDR5 DIMMs operating at speeds of up to 7200 Mtransfers per second for client DIMMs and memory down applications. The new clock driver also supports I2C and I3C sideband access to enable asynchronous control and provides access to internal control words for configuring device features and adapting to different SODIMM and UDIMM configurations and memory down system applications.
“Intel Xeon-based platforms are designed to support memory intensive usages like predictive analytics that use deep learning and machine learning,” explained Dr Dimitrios Ziakas, vice president of memory and I/O technologies at Intel. “Gen 3 RCD is a major milestone for the memory industry to help meet the bandwidth and scaling capacity needs of our data centre customers”, he said. “The client clock driver is a new industry initiative to further enhance the client DIMM. Renesas and Intel have been collaborating with the industry to help ensure specification and implementations of the Gen 3 RCD and client clock driver to meet the market needs.”
The RG5C172B0C0GBX#BC0 and RG5C172B0C0GBX#HC0 client clock drivers are sampling now in a 2.3 x 5.8mm 35-FCBGA package and will be available in volume in the second half of 2023.
The RG5R364A0C0GBY#BC0 and RG5R364A0C0GBY#HC0 DDR5 RCDs are sampling now in an 8.7 x 13.5mm FCCSP and will be available in volume in the first half of 2024.
