Even the PC gaming world is slowly shifting in a low-power, AI-centric direction. Gaming handhelds with better battery life and low-power laptops (including those now built on the Arm architecture with Snapdragon X chips) are all the rage, but frankly, I don't care. That's why I'm always excited when I hear news like this about fast, low-power memory made even thinner.

Samsung has started mass production of the "industry's thinnest" 12nm 12GB/16GB LPDDR5X package.

At 0.65mm, these new DRAM chips are 0.06mm thinner than regular LPDDR5X, which may not sound like a significant reduction, but could make a big difference in many use cases. We are talking less than a millimeter in overall thickness here.

So far, most of the talk has been about how this thinner DRAM will benefit cell phones. But we are PC gamers, and thin LPDDR5X memory is not unrelated to PC gaming.

First, let me explain what this does not affect. Our most valued gaming PCs do not use LPDDR RAM and instead use regular DDR memory, so obviously this does not affect them. It also probably does not affect ordinary gaming laptops that use slottable RAM sticks. This is because these notebooks are more about ease of upgrade and lower cost than thinness.

What might be affected, however, are low-power (obviously) and slim devices such as thin gaming laptops and handheld gaming PCs. And given that this is the general direction of gaming technology, a new record for the world's thinnest LPDDR5X RAM is very exciting.

JEDEC announced the LPDDR5X specification in 2021, and since then Samsung and other chipmakers have been pushing faster memory into the low-power market. It is as fast as regular DDR5 memory and is now found in the best thin gaming laptops, such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024).

Non-upgradable soldered memory makes it ideal for gaming devices that want to be thin and light. If you are soldering memory to save space and satisfy gamers at the same time, you will want that memory to be on the cutting edge of low power speed.

LPDDR5X memory is state-of-the-art in this regard. As such, it has the potential to enter the portable gaming PC market. The Asus ROG Ally X, currently the best portable gaming PC available, has LPDDR5X-7500 memory. This is because the portable gaming market is currently very competitive and manufacturers are looking to improve performance and efficiency as much as possible. We are already witnessing the glorious effects of this competition with AMD's Ryzen AI 300 series chips.

What does thinner LPDDR5X memory mean for portable gaming PCs and thin gaming laptops: either more headroom for cooling or space savings for thinner devices. As Samsung points out, this should mean that "additional space is created within the mobile device, promoting better airflow."

And while LPDDR6 will be around soon, it won't replace LPDDR5 or LPDDR5X for some time.

Of course, a few mm shaved off may not allow manufacturers to do a phenomenal job, but every little bit certainly helps. One can only hope that portable gaming PCs will become a little thinner, lighter, and cooler in the future.