Micron samples beefed-up 32Gbps GDDR7 for next-gen GPUs: over 1.5TB/sec memory bandwidth

Micron has announced that it is now sampling its next-generation GDDR7 graphics memory, with the industry's highest bit density.

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Micron is using its new 1β (1-beta) DRAM technology and innovative architecture to build its new GDDR7 delivering 32Gbps of speed in a power-optimized design. We're looking at over a blistering 1.5TB/sec of memory bandwidth, an incredible 60% leap in bandwidth over current-gen GDDR6 memory, and four independent channels to optimize workloads.

This culminates in Micron's next-gen GDDR7 memory providing faster response times, smoother gameplay, and reduced processing times. On top of that, GDDR7 has a 50% power efficiency gain over GDDR6, enabling improved thermals and longer battery life inside of portable devices (laptops, etc) while the new sleep mode reduces standby power by up to an incredible 70%.

Micron says its next-gen GDDR7 memory offers high performance that boosts throughput by up to 33% and reduces response time by up to 20% for generative AI workloads including text and image creation. The company expects next-gen graphics cards with GDDR7 memory to provide over 30% more FPS for ray tracing and rasterization over current GDDR6 and GDDR6X memory across 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions.

• Read more: Micron teases GDDR7 at 32Gbps memory for 2024, GDDR7 at 36Gbps in 2026
• Read more: NVIDIA is the only one buying large amounts of GDDR7, AMD with 20Gbps GDDR6
• Read more: Micron announces that its GDDR7 memory for GPUs is on track for the first half of 2024

Micron's industry-leading product portfolio for edge AI inference applications on CPU, NPU and GPU components with DDR, LPDDR and GDDR memory options. For gaming applications, Micron GDDR7 memory enables AI-enhanced gameplay with adaptable landscapes, players and storylines through performance and frame buffer scaling.

Praveen Vaidyanathan, vice president and general manager of the Compute Products Group at Micron said: "Micron is once again at the forefront of memory innovation, developing the highest bandwidth solutions available, built with advanced process and interface technology to enable continued graphics performance leadership. The best-in-class capabilities of Micron GDDR7 memory help bring new levels of realism and performance to the most demanding applications".

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Joe Macri, senior vice president and corporate fellow at AMD said: "At AMD we are committed to creating the most immersive gaming experiences. Our work with Micron on GDDR7 advances our shared goal. We are excited about Micron's launch of GDDR7, and we look forward to leveraging this technology to make gaming even more responsive and lifelike".

Boyd Phelps, senior vice president and general manager of the Silicon Solutions Group at Cadence said: "Cadence has a strong history of collaboration with Micron to develop industry-leading memory IP subsystem solutions for GDDR, HBM, DDR and LPDDR. We are using samples of Micron's leading 1β DRAM technology-based GDDR7 to test and validate GDDR7 PHY IP operating at speeds up to 36 Gb/s".