Samsung begins massproducing HBM2

Samsung just announced HBM2 has entered mass production. Initially 4 GB, later 8 GB:
https://news.samsung.com/global/sam...on-newest-high-bandwidth-memory-hbm-interface

 

Yay! Hynix started last year (Q4). Come on HBM2, we all want you.

The first shipment should be ready by June.

 

Lol 6 months? No wonder this is taking ages to roll out..

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

well, i guess this near-eliminates the speed of light issue since it's on the same chip as the processor plus more space for other stuff on a board...great for gaming notebooks of course. a GPU with HBM on an MXM would be a nice to have!

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9883/gddr5x-standard-jedec-new-gpu-memory-14-gbps

"In Q4 2015, JEDEC (a major semiconductor engineering trade organization that sets standards for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM) finalized the GDDR5X specification , with accompianing white papers. This is the memory specification which is expected to be used for next-generation graphics cards and other devices. The new technology is designed to improve bandwidth available to high-performance graphics processing units without fundamentally changing the memory architecture of graphics cards or memory technology itself, similar to other generations of GDDR, although these new specifications are arguably pushing the phyiscal limits of the technology and hardware in its current form."

With this announcement, is it even possible to have HBM memory for the current gen laptops that will be release this year?

 

this would also be good for consoles as then they would have even slimmer versions....and maybe the XBOX ONE can have the PSU inside the console for once...like the original xbox!

 

Here's an apparent confirmation that AMD will be supplying hardware for new consoles:
http://wccftech.com/exclusive-next-generation-consoles-expected-2018-amd/

The consoles are slated for 2018, meaning that ZEN APU with what will most likely be HBM 3 (or possibly HBM 4) will be included.
I find it unlikely that GDDR5X will be used in consoles, since by that point, the technology will effectively be outdated when compared to hardware and what HBM offers (not to mention that HBM will be quite mature on a mass production level and offers exponential increase in bandwidth - so I doubt that 5x more performance per watt for newest consoles will be accurate... it could end up much higher than that since we don't know what's exactly going to happen).

As for HBM use in current generation of laptops... it is a possibility, but right now we know nothing on this.
We only know that HBM 2 will be used in high-end solutions for (most likely) desktops.
AMD would definitely be smart to implement HBM 2 in at least high-end mobile solutions, while leaving GDDR5 and/or GDDR5X for mid-range and entry level (like it was done on the desktops in 2015).

 

HBM is great for consoles because 360, xbox one, and the PS4 are now all shared memory solutions. that means no RAM chips on the board, which means smaller motherboards and less power used with less heat produced due to the process they're using. it might not happen now but i it'll happen for the next gen and HBM will be more refined by then.