All processors are limited in some way by the speed of memory, and DRAM manufacturers are advancing the development of next-generation RAM after DDR6, DDR5. According to Synopsys details, the technology could reach data speeds of up to 17,600 MT/s and 21,000 MT/s or DDR6-21000, with the goal of a final decision next year.

News of progress and information about the basic changes in DDR5 compared to DDR6 were provided through the presentation of Synopsys, which manufactures RAM controllers and interfaces. This was shared/leaked by Twitter user Darkmont, but it is also backed up by a JEDEC presentation on Lpddr6 (via Videocardz), and both documents provide a lot of detail about the upcoming RAM technology.

At the moment, DDR5 tops at about 8,400MT/s (aka DDR5-8400), while Lpddr5X is a faster smidgen at 8,533. You'll see some very expensive DDR5 kits that will work faster than this at some point in the future, but breaking the barrier of 10,000 MT/s at an affordable price with DDR5

According to JEDEC and Synopsys, DDR6 will be launched at 8 p.m.It will reach 8Gbps and eventually reach 17,600MT/s, with a dizzying 21,000MT/s potentially achievable. At the moment, JEDEC and its affiliates are undecided on which signal mode (PAM or NRZ) to use, so the target date for the launch is not until late 2025. LPDDR6 is not expected to be that fast, but it can't eavesdrop on the 14.4Gbps peak.

Internally, DDR6 memory chips are quite different from DDR5 in that they do not use dual 16-bit data channels per module, but instead use dual 12-bit channels. Faster data transfer rates offset narrow data channels, so a single DDR6-17600 module has an effective bandwidth of only 47GB/s

It is very right Therefore the formula for calculating the effective bandwidth is 17000x(256/288)x(12/8)x2. The fastest DDR5 you can buy is 33.6GB/s per module, so the bandwidth is increased by about 40%.

Compared to the peak bandwidth of GDDR6 and GDDR6X, it may not seem that much, but for system RAM, it's a much-needed boost. This is especially true for laptops and portable gaming PCs, many of which currently use lpddr5X to reduce power consumption, but still have decent performance

Intel's mobile-focused Lunar Lake chip has a RAM chip in its package, just as Apple does with its M-Series processors. You can't upgrade your RAM faster than the one that already comes with it because it's embedded directly into your system. Since the DDR6 specification has not yet been finalized, it is not likely that Intel has created a Lunar Lake DDR6 compliant memory controller, but I think its successor will certainly be.

So when will AMD be able to see desktop Cpus that support DDR6?AMD may choose not to for the lifetime of the AM5 platform and stick to increasing base DDR5 support, which is currently only 5.2Gbps. Intel changes the platform more often than AMD, but it's also likely to stick with Arrow Lake and Panther Lake's DDR5.

In other words, the specification may be ready for production next year, but don't expect it to be used on gaming PCs for another 1-2 years after that.