The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the people who develop the memory standards everyone is supposed to adhere to, is reported to be formally working on a new DDR-II specification for graphics cards. While the standard could be released as early as the end of this year, sources believe we should expect it early next year. Following the typical trend, we can expect to see unofficial releases of the technology by ATI and nVidia within the next few months.

Although JEDEC deliberations are confidential, sources from the standards body said the quarterly meeting this month heard presentations for a proposed graphics version of its basic DDR-II standard for PC main memory.

 

ATI Technology and Nvidia Corp. are expected to introduce graphics cards with DDR-II memory chips even before a new JEDEC standard is approved. Since graphics card memory is point-to-point mounted directly on the board, vendors can validate chips and work out interfaces themselves. The JEDEC graphics standard would be an added benefit by eliminating any of the small proprietary twists memory suppliers now try to add to their DDR-II chips to lock in customers.