Micron will start production of the video memory GDDR5X this summer

The next generation of flagships from AMD and Nvidia will use the fresh memory standard HBM2, but for graphics circuits in lower price segments, a heated version of well-established GDDR5 applies instead. Micron now announces that the first working copies of GDDR5X have been manufactured.

In a blog post, the memory maker says that the first GDDR5X circuits reach speeds above 13 Gbps, which is just below the up to 14 Gbps previously mentioned. Micron emphasizes, however, that the speed is “surprising” considering that these are early copies and that they see good potential to eventually exceed 14 Gbps with the technology.

Furthermore, Micron reveals that the first generation GDDR5X memory capsules will be manufactured on a 20-nanometer technology and have a capacity of 1 GB (8 Gb). These can then be connected over either a 16- or 32-bit memory channel, which means that a mid-range graphics circuit with GDDR5X and 256-bit memory bus will likely be equipped with 8 GB of video memory.

The first to use GDDR5X will be the Polaris and Pascal architectures from AMD and Nvidia, respectively, during the second half of the year.