DALLAS (January 29, 1996) -- Designers of desktop PCs, notebooks and other types of computers will be able to significantly improve the overall performance of their systems with new 16 Megabit synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) devices from Texas Instruments. These low power SDRAMs are architected specifically to increase PC performance.
This new 512K word by 16 bits wide by two bank SDRAM broadens the TI SDRAM portfolio which also consists of the x4 and x8 parts. In addition, the x16 devices feature a pipeline architecture that allows new column address entry on every cycle of the system's clock. "TI's new SDRAM provides a much larger bandwidth than asynchronous DRAMs; this additional bandwidth can be used either to improve performance of PCs and other systems or to maintain similar performance while reducing cost through the elimination of the discrete memory second level cache or of the separate graphic memory buffer," said Bob Harrison, TI's MOS memory marketing manager. "For systems such as portable PCs which have not included discrete memory cache because of space restrictions, SDRAMs will immediately improve system performance."
Unlike asynchronous DRAM memory, SDRAMs use the timing of the system's clock to simplify design and enhance performance. The burst data access rate of SDRAM is as much as four times faster than that of standard page mode DRAM. And as the speeds of microprocessors continue to increase, SDRAMs will also trend to higher speeds.
Designated as TMS626162, the 3.3-Volt SDRAM device supports a clock speed of 66 MHz, with 83 MHz versions planned later this year. Next-generation devices in development will reach 100 MHz or more. With two on-chip memory banks, the device can continually provide data through pipelined data access. While one bank is outputting data, the second bank can be precharged and begin decoding the next address. The devices are also capable of burst output with either sequential or interleaved data. Burst lengths can be programmed for one, two, four or eight words, or for a full page.
Besides desktop and portable PCs, the TMS626162 is also well suited to set-top boxes for satellite cable television networks, video conferencing, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) communication switches, video games, multimedia systems and others.
The TMS626162 SDRAM device conforms with all JEDEC standards for memory devices and will support the industry proposed specification for PC SDRAM, or also known as SDRAM-Lite, a subset of the JEDEC standard features.
To facilitate designing in the TMS626162, TI has available an I/O Buffer Information Specification (IBIS) simulation models to system designers.
The TMS626162 1Mx16 synchronous DRAMs are available in JEDEC standard 50-pin thin scale small outline packages (TSSOP) or 168-pin Dual In-line Memory Modules (DIMMs). For the first quarter of 1996, limited production quantities of the TMS626162 devices are available. Full production is scheduled for the second quarter. Suggested resale pricing in quantities of more than 100 is $65.
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