14 DAY TRIAL // I'M Intelligent Memory has released on the market the first 16GB DDR3L SO-DIMM memory module for laptops and NUCs.
When buying a laptop, people usually don't expect much on module performance except maybe the CPU. Considering that today's mobile platforms only come with limited 8GB RAM modules for instance, there's little to hope in breaking the 16GB RAM performance wall.
However, I'M Intelligent Memory has now launched its new 16GB RAM modules that will go hand in hand with your Broadwell U-based laptop or mini-NUC style PCs pushing or even passing Intel's recommended settings.
What is really impressive is that Intel's 5th Generation Broadwell CPUs have a limited 16GB RAM capability, to surpass that I'M cheated the rules imposed by JEDEC of 16 chips per module, by stacking 4-Gigabit chips in order to make one memory chip, multiply that by four and you've got a 16GB memory module. By stacking these memory chips, I'M Intelligent Memory broke the 8GB limitations while the rest of the market remains stuck at 8GB.
However, Intel considers that consumers are doing it at their own risk, as even though it's technically possible, platform issues with its chipsets might occur, and so it refused to validate the new technical breakthrough.
A bright future for DIMMs
The specs of this new SO-DIMM suggest a clock speed of 1333MHz, latency 9-9-9, with an operating voltage of 1.35V. It comes with 240 unbuffered pins and all of them have an ECC error correction with 72-bit width. And as we noticed during our last year's announcement, they will come with Cavium, Freescale, Tilera, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and other companies' microcontroller have been found fully compatible with the 8 Gb chips.
With a retail price of a whopping $325, it should be also remembered that only Broadwell CPUs will work with the new I'M modules as it won't have any controllers compatible with the new 16GB modules.
This way, allowing 32GB of RAM memory to Broadwell CPU, I'M has truly pushed the boundaries against its competition in memory modules for laptops and NUCs. If you decide to buy, irresponsibly, a laptop with soldered-down RAM modules, find out that not far away in the future I'M will probably do the same thing to DDR4 modules, having by the end of the year laptops carrying 64GB RAM and four slots carrying 128GB. Put that to desktops with eight slots and you end up with monsters carrying 256GB!