FB-DIMM : Performance barriers for traditional DIMM

TIM

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Performance barriers for traditional DIMM

Traditional DIMM architectures use a stub-bus topology with parallel branches (stubs) that connect to a shared memory bus (Figure 1). The memory bus consists of the command/address (C/A) bus and the data bus. The C/A bus consists of 21 data traces that transport command and address signals to the DIMMs. The data bus consists of 72 traces, each carrying one bit at a time (a total of 64 data bits and 8 ECC bits). Each DIMM connects to the data bus using a set of pin connectors. In order for the electrical signals from the memory controller to reach the DIMM bus-pin connections at the same time, all the traces have to be the same length. This often results in circuitous traces on the motherboard between the memory controller and memory slots. Both the latency (delay) resulting from complex routing of traces and signal degradation at the bus-pin connections cause the error rate to increase as the bus speed increases.

Each stub-bus connection creates an impedance discontinuity that negatively affects signal integrity. In addition, each DIMM creates an electrical load on the bus. The electrical load accumulates as DIMMs are added. These factors decrease the number DIMMs per channel that can be supported as the bus speed increases. For example, Figure 2 shows the number of loads supported per channel at data rates ranging from PC 100 to DDR-3 1600. Note that the number of supported loads drops from eight to two as data rates increase to DDR2 800.

Increasing the number of channels to compensate for the drop in capacity per channel was not a viable option due to increased cost and board complexity. System designers had two options: limit memory capacity so that fewer errors occur at higher speeds, or use slower bus speeds and increase the DRAM density. For future generations of high-performance servers, neither option was acceptable.

Future generations of servers require an improved memory architecture to achieve higher memory bandwidth and capacity. Consequently, JEDEC developed the Fully-Buffered DIMM specification, a serial interface that eliminates the parallel stub-bus topology and allows higher memory bandwidth while maintaining or increasing memory capacity.

Information provided by Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.