Micron Technology, Inc. announced the world’s fastest discrete graphics memory solution, GDDR6X, the first to power system bandwidth up to 1 terabyte per second (TB/s). Working with visual computing technology leader NVIDIA, Micron debuted GDDR6X in the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processing units (GPUs), which are tailored to support the fast speeds that immersive, high-performance gaming applications demand.
Micron’s GDDR6X serves as a powerful enabler of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards’ performance. Building on its most recent collaboration with NVIDIA for the GeForce RTX graphics card (enabled by GDDR6), Micron transforms the memory/GPU interface with GDDR6X, accelerating performance on complex graphics workloads across next-generation gaming applications.
As PC gaming evolves in sophistication, gamers today demand the highest performance for their advanced graphics cards — a requisite for smooth animation, sharp visuals, 8K resolution and real-time ray tracing, a rendering technique that results in realistic light reflections and cinematic effects. GDDR6X’s groundbreaking speed offers discerning gamers high-resolution experiences with maximum frame rates and instant rendering, allowing users to experience highly realistic and reactive effects without jarring lags. Combined with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090 and GeForce RTX 3080 GPUs, GDDR6X’s ultra-bandwidth capabilities improve real-time ray tracing and neural graphics processing to create photorealistic and immersive virtual worlds in PC games.
The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs — the second generation of the NVIDIA RTX PC gaming platform — feature new ray tracing cores, Tensor Cores and streaming multiprocessors. The results are stunning visuals, amazingly fast frame rates and artificial intelligence acceleration for games and creative applications. Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, which delivers increases of up to 1.9 times performance-per-watt over the previous generation, the RTX 30 Series effortlessly powers graphics experiences at all resolutions, even up to 8K. The series represents the greatest GPU generational leap in NVIDIA’s history.
Micron achieved GDDR6X’s breakthrough bandwidth by applying innovative signal transmission technology, four-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM4), to revolutionize how memory moves data. Since 2006, Micron’s engineers and researchers have explored applying multilevel signaling to the memory interface. Over 45 patents later, Micron is the first in the industry to implement PAM4 in memory, creating a new benchmark for future generations of graphics memory.
By using PAM4 multilevel signaling techniques, GDDR6X transfers data much faster, doubling the input/output (I/O) data rate. Until now, graphics memory was capped at 64 gigabytes per second (GB/s), transmitting one bit per cycle through the traditional binary standard, which relies on two signal levels to transmit data encoded as 1s or 0s. Instead, Micron’s novel PAM4 technique employs four distinct levels to transmit two bits of data to and from the memory at a time. As a result, Micron’s GDDR6X dramatically increases memory bandwidth to 84 GB/s for each component, translating to system bandwidth of up to 1 TB/s — rates once thought impossible.
In addition, GDDR6X delivers lower power per transaction (pJ/bit) than previous generations, making it ideal for energy-sapping workloads like gaming and other high-bandwidth graphics applications, which demand both lightning-fast and low-power memory. GDDR6X also features the ability to scale power down or up, allowing users to dial back performance to save energy.
The GeForce RTX 3080 is available for purchase starting Sept. 17, and the GeForce RTX 3090 is available starting Sept. 24 on NVIDIA’s website. Both will be available as custom boards, including stock-clocked and factory-overclocked models from top add-in card providers and in gaming systems from leading OEMs and system builders.
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