Memory Bus Speed and Required DRAM Speed

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[ The PC Guide | Systems and Components Reference Guide | System Memory | Memory Speed, Access and Timing ]

Memory Bus Speed and Required DRAM Speed

Most modern systems generally require the DRAMs they use to be a certain minimum speed. The speed required is normally a function of the speed of the memory bus. Faster memory buses require faster speed DRAMs and in some cases, faster technologies. While it is not always cut-and-dried what speed is necessary, the table below is a guideline. It is usually possible to use slower memory in any system if you slow down the memory timing, but of course we're trying to make our systems run as fast as we can.

Processor Generation	Memory Bus Speed	Usual DRAM Technology	Usual Required DRAM Speed (ns)
First, Second	4.77-20	Conventional	100-120
Third, Fourth	16-40	Conventional, Page Mode, FPM, EDO	70-100
Fifth, Sixth	50-100	FPM, EDO, BEDO, SDRAM	8-10 (SDRAM) 50-70 (Asynchronous)
Future	125+	SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DRDRAM, SLDRAM, Other?	?

Next: System Timing and Wait States

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