[LoverboySimer]

Not too long after Sony announced the PlayStation 4 and that it will come packed with 8GB of super fast GDDR5 RAM, many gamers seem to totally forget a "G" is present and began to call the thing DDR5. Well, there is no such thing as DDR5; it does not yet exist in any shape or form.


Quite a few times I confronted some of these guys who kept calling it DDR5; I acknowledged their mistakes and tried to place them on the correct path. However, it doesn't always work out well.Several times I was called a fool, and they even stated how GDDR5 is the same thing as DDR5 — it's like communicating with a massive brick wall where all outside information simply just bounces off.

Knowing there are many folks out there referring to GDDR5 as DDR5, I choose now to set the record straight. Not everyone is to blame, you know, some people have no idea what is going on, so when they hear someone claim the PlayStation 4 has 8GB of DDR5 memory, they will believe it. Always be careful of the things we say online.

Readers, there are two types of memory, DDR, and GDDR. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, and GDDR stands for Graphics Double Data Rate. Both RAM types were designed for video memory; however, GDDR is better, as it offers a number of improvements over DDR, and it's mainly used with high-end video cards: the ones you might not be able to afford.

Typically, GDDR functions at a lower voltage when compared to DDR memory. This is good, because it addresses heat issues usually associated with video cards, especially the ones that are able to run Crysis 3 on max settings.

Here is something you definitely need to know. There are five types of GDDR specifications, and four types of DDR.

GDDR Specification Types:

GDDR

GDDR2

GDDR3

GDDR4

GDDR5 (PlayStation 4)

DDR Specification Types:

DDR

DDR2

DDR3 (Next generation Xbox. So far, this s a rumor)

DDR4 (2014 release date)

As you can see, there is no such thing as DDR5. Heck, DDR4 is a year away from being available to the public. If it is not too much to ask, please stop referring to GDDR5 as DDR5. It makes you look bad and it makes the others who follow you look just as bad.

On a side note, you might be wondering which is better for a game console. Personally, I have no idea, as I lack the expertise in this field. However, it does appear as if GDDR5 could be expensive compared to the already commercialized DDR3. We should brace ourselves for a cheaper next generation Xbox compared to the Sony PlayStation 4.

Bonus : The article clearly states how important is G Spot whether its P***y or ps4 memory..
The world is all about finding the sweet 'G' Spot

[OoZic]

Question is: will there be system RAM also or will the processor also use this GDDR5 RAM?

The PS4 can't be an ordinary PC in a small box, that is to easy for emulation and hacking. So they will make a computer that uses PC architecture but they will add custom chips that can't be emulated. Maybe $ony is able to let the processor use the GDDR5 RAM also with a custom controller chip?

[Theeze]

my Graphics card Gtx 670 has GDDR5, Most graphics cards has had that type of memory for awhile. What they're going to do is add an insane amount of gddr5 memory and split the way the memory works on the gpu and the system itself.

It's not DDR5, DDR4 will take a few years to make it to the market.

[stevorkz]

You just brought back memories of my old lecturer teaching us about RAM

The technology behind GDDR is the future with RAM in my opinion. Its just too expensive to be commercialised into sticks at the moment thats why you only find it in graphics cards

[CaptainCPS-X]

Here you have a quote from zanzabar at "http://www.xtremesystems.org" that explain in short words the differences between GDDR3 / 4 and GDDR5, for those interested.

Originally Posted by zanzabar gddr3 and 4 are basically the same thing, 4 is lower voltage and high clocked by a little but they are the same kind of thing. gddr5 is actually qdr (4x speed for effective rate instead of 2) and is much quicker than 3 or 4. one of the things you have to look out for is nvidia based cards that get rated with gddr5 as ddr and giving the non effective clock speed of half the effective, this is wrong be on the look out for it if it seems to fast in the specs. so if you have 1ghz 3 or 4 on a 128bit buss that gives you 34GB/s, but with 1ghz gddr5 it gives you 68GB/s. [(1ghz)(1024/1000)^3(128bit/8)(data rate)] the data rate is 2 for ddr and 4 for qdr (like gddr5 or rambus stuff)

source: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post5158601

Now regarding differences of DDR and GDDR, here you have another nice quote from largon at "http://techpowerup.com" forum:

Originally Posted by largon DDR1 and GDDR1 are pretty much the same except that system memory DDR1 has 8bits wide I/O and GDDR1 has 16bit width. Basically GDDR1 just allows slightly higher bandwidth than DDR1. But, on the other hand: DDR2 vs. GDDR2 DDR3 vs. GDDR3/GDDR4 The difference? Basically they all are completely different DRAM architectures. GDDR2 has nothing to do with DDR2. DDR2 is a bit like half-breed of GDDR1 and DDR2, it has features from both. The real GDDR2 hasn't been used on video cards for several years anymore, the "GDDR2" you see these days is merely standard DDR2 we all love. GDDR3 is an sort of an enhanced DDR2 - it certainly isn't anything like DDR3. And GDDR4 is just a tweaked GDDR3. You ask why don't we see GDDR3 used as system memory since they're clearly superior to DDR2 for what comes to bandwidth? That's because GDDR3 is quite a complex chip with a nasty I/O architecture: GDDR3/4 are 32bits wide and DDR2 is 8bits wide. This is a problem since the amount of signal traces that can sensibly be built into desktop motherboards are very limited - by cost that is. 128bits is complex (expensive) enough for desktop pricerange motherboards. So when you have a motherboard with just 128bit bus you could only access 4 GDDR3/4 chips (128bit/32bit) at a time. This would seriously limit the RAM capacity of the system as GDDR3 densities are what they are - 256MB/chip, tops. Usually it's just 128BM/chip. This could be countered with making boards with a huge array of DIMM slots, but that would be even more expensive.

source: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...720#post721720

Basically GDDR5 seems to be the best option out there, so Sony did a good selection when adding GDDR5 to the PS4.

Oh and here you have an old article talking about DDR and GDDR as well (note that this is from 2005):

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...R-Memories/168

SeeYa!

[Sublyminal]

The G in front of DDR5 usually means graphic right? Or so I was told. But yea, it is kind of annoying seeing it called just DDR5.

[DEFAULTDNB]

Originally Posted by Sublyminal The G in front of DDR5 usually means graphic right? Or so I was told. But yea, it is kind of annoying seeing it called just DDR5.

Originally Posted by LoverboySimer Readers, there are two types of memory, DDR, and GDDR. DDR stands for Double Data Rate, and GDDR stands for Graphics Double Data Rate. Both RAM types were designed for video memory; however, GDDR is better, as it offers a number of improvements over DDR, and it's mainly used with high-end video cards: the ones you might not be able to afford.