CAMM: The future of laptop memory has arrived

Goodbye, SO-DIMM: Memory overseer JEDEC will formally undertake the “CAMM Common Spec” as the following RAM module commonplace for laptops.

JEDEC, the memory group that homologates RAM requirements, is within the course of of hammering out the brand new spec to interchange the fundamental SO-DIMMs which have been in use for 25 years, in line with JEDEC committee member, and Dell Senior Distinguished Engineer Tom Schnell.

Schnell really created the unique CAMM—or Compression Attached Memory Module—design for Dell final 12 months. JEDEC’s CAMM commonplace shall be based mostly on that CAMM design however is prone to be considerably totally different as corporations hammer it out.

While the adoption of new {hardware} requirements will be fraught, with hand-wringing, foot-dragging, and all of the friction of a negotiation amongst co-workers over the place to get lunch, JEDEC appears to have managed it pretty simply.

Dell

In truth, Schnell stated, the acceptance went over fairly nicely with the 20 corporations or so within the job group voting for it.

“We have unanimous approval of the 0.5 spec,” Schnell advised PCWorld. Schnell stated JEDEC is concentrating on the second half of the 2023 to finalize the 1.0 spec, with CAMM-based programs out by subsequent 12 months.

Who are the businesses that voted for it? Schnell can’t say, as that’s as much as every member to disclose, however group covers the vary of suppliers, from SoC, to connectors, to OEMs, and all unanimously voted to undertake the CAMM Common Spec, with no dissenters. There are at present 332 corporations listed in JEDEC, from Apple to ZTE, every concerned in several features of memory in several industries.

For those that haven’t adopted it, Dell launched its CAMM design in April 2022 with the intention of changing the many years previous SO-DIMM design that has been utilized in most gaming and workstation laptops to date. CAMM’s predominant enchantment is that it permits increased memory density whereas additionally scaling to ever increased clock speeds.

Some of the motivation for expediency seemingly comes from the fast-approaching “brick wall” going through laptops when SO-DIMMs hit at DDR5/6400.

Schnell stated the CAMM spec is way from finalized, however the first JEDEC CAMM modules ought to take over proper the place SO-DIMM ends at 6400.

Dell

CAMM just isn’t proprietary

When Dell first launched CAMM, it was considerably misunderstood as a proprietary spec that might “lock customers” right into a design. Dell has stated that’s by no means been its intention and the quick approval appears to vindicate that. Schnell addressed that preliminary concern, with the adoption underway.

“Dell is a huge company, we don’t keep the lights on because we get royalties for a patent,” he stated. “We basically want to recover the cost of inventing it, and implementing it.”

Besides, going it alone is just not how the PC world works.

“We’re part of the PC industry and the PC industry is built out of an ecosystem of partners, suppliers all feeding in,” Schnell stated. “Yes, Dell does great innovation of our own in our systems, but we also integrate a lot of innovations from a lot of people.”

The future of CAMM

With CAMM being hammered out now, Schnell did lay out some doable paths for CAMM because it replaces SO-DIMM. DDR6 is an apparent street, he stated, however CAMM even permits the likelihood of LPDDR6 on a replaceable module. LPDDR, or low-power DDR RAM, has lengthy been most well-liked for smaller and thinner laptops in addition to telephones for energy financial savings. It’s additionally lengthy been carried out solely as soldered-on.

Schnell foresees a model of CAMM enabling the efficiency and energy advantages of LPDDR, however in a replaceable and upgradeable module. With JEDEC adopting CAMM now, that future will get nearer.