According to Digitimes, Intel could drop the exclusive support for the FB-DIMM with its next generation of chipsets dedicated to servers, the same type of chipset Apple is currently using in Mac Pro and Xserve. The upcoming Intel 5100 chipset (San Clemente) is expected to support only RDIMM (registered DIMM) memory modules instead of FB-DIMM (fully buffered DIMM). The price of FB-DIMM did not really drop overtime, remaining several folds higher than registered memory modules. In addition RDIMM modules are currently available with higher capacity.
What would be the impact of such move?
- Intel will then install a memory controller directly in the processor, as AMD does it.
- RDIMM modules will be faster than FB-DIMM which was slow down by its poor latency
- RDIMM modules are and will be cheaper than FB-DIMM
FB-DIMM will enter memory modules history with one of the shortest life cycle, something similar to the RAM
