Giga-byte's iRam is a PC add-in card with four DDR DRAM

Redigieren · 13-June-05, 02:19 AM

Ok I was visiting the pdx lan website and i just saw the new toy that i will buy!
I am talking about insta boot up in xp pimps!

check it at the pdx website! http://207.189.98.105/pdxlan5/forum_...ic.php?24.7614
check it at the source! http://www.itworld.com/Comp/4063/050602boot/

"The iRam holds up to 4G bytes of DRAM in four memory slots. The card fits into a standard PCI slot, which provides power, and it uses a SATA (Serial ATA) connection for data transfer." (http://www.itworld.com/Comp/4063/050602boot/)

SpikeShot · 13-June-05, 02:30 AM

For users who are tired of sitting around and waiting for their Windows-based PCs to boot up, they can install Windows on the iRam and use that as the drive to start the system more quickly, Handley said. When the card is used in this way, starting Windows XP is a matter of seconds, rather than a minute or more, he said.

The iRam can also be used by gamers, who want to reduce the time required to access stored data, he said.

The iRam holds up to 4G bytes of DRAM in four memory slots. The card fits into a standard PCI slot, which provides power, and it uses a SATA (Serial ATA) connection for data transfer.

Unlike DRAM-based main memory, the iRam card doesn't lose data when the PC is switched off, said Thomas Chang, a product manager at Giga-byte. As long as the PC is plugged into a socket, a very small amount of current continues to run through some parts of the system, including the PCI slots. This provides enough power to make sure that no data is lost, he said.

If the PC is unplugged, the iRam has an on-board battery for emergency power that can last up to 12 hours, he said.

The iRam will be available in July and will be priced at around US$60 without DRAM.

Posting what Red. should of posted to help the readers without clicking a link!

GrandpaNoob72 · 13-June-05, 08:47 AM

Soon as I settle my account with Rob over the XMS I got from him, I still gotta get the wife an Anniversary gift... If I play my cards right, I might get her to buy me one as my Anniversary gift

... Either way, though, it's coming out of my pocket, so it's all good...

Nice find, Red

Monsignor Funkibut · 13-June-05, 10:16 AM

Ive ALWAYS wanted a solid-state storage device like this for my PC. It can make the OS fast, it can make games fast, video-edits fast.

And then when you're done, if you had a nice, neat way of backing up the device to a hard-disk [like during shutdown], it'd be a dream.

-MF

Enko · 13-June-05, 02:39 PM

nice, i'll be getting some money from the Navy so it looks like I know what my first purchase will be. thanks guys

TYCOON · 13-June-05, 04:42 PM

Man that will get expensive..I mean..to have to buy ram afterwards...so is the idea to use it as a place for swapfiles and temp files? Becuase it seems its not ment for a computer that will be shut down.

I have a 256mb stick of DDR here..

Redigieren · 13-June-05, 09:11 PM

Actually its met to act just like a hard drive. Dont think of it any different than a normal hard drive. It has power constantly going throught if your computer is plugged in. This is what I have read. And it also has a back up power for up to 12 hours if your unplugging your computer.

nev_payne · 14-June-05, 03:08 AM

yeh I put this in a Computex news thread not long ago. The maximum speed the RAM will go is DDR200....due to the bandwidth LIMITATION of SATA! Timings are uncertain....because its not directly linked to the PC, so far I havent found out any way you can find/change the timings...unless that switch on the top right of the board is somthing related.

So im for getting a few 256/512 DDR266 crucial sticks....and watching a flew files fly! I hope there's also some sort of battery monitoring LED on there...or a speaker....you dont want to loose all your data.

Nerdz · 14-June-05, 10:01 AM

DRAM? Why not use flash memory?

over all its looks cool...but 60 bucks + the price of ram...I could just get a dual A64 system that will hold up to 8 sticks of ram =/

then again...memory is getting cheap...a 512 stick is what...40 bucks if u get it cheap? so it maybe worth it..

Cpt.Planet · 14-June-05, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nerdz


	DRAM? Why not use flash memory? over all its looks cool...but 60 bucks + the price of ram...I could just get a dual A64 system that will hold up to 8 sticks of ram =/ then again...memory is getting cheap...a 512 stick is what...40 bucks if u get it cheap? so it maybe worth it..

You missed the whole point. You are using the ram as a hdd. Which means no spinup or seek times which means Windbloze boots up in a matter of seconds.

Put em in raid

carbongraphite · 14-June-05, 03:39 PM

about useing flash 1 gig of compact flash is about $80 (less if its a rebate day) and a stick of 1 gig DDR is also about $80. ram would be faster though and the card holds 4 sticks unless you want to run 4 compact flash to IDE adapters in raid.
its now cheap enough to play with! infact im going to look for a compact flash adapter now. to Frys i go!

Dex · 14-June-05, 03:56 PM

I know whats top on my Christmas list this year

Its a wonder nobodies done this sooner, what kinda impact do you think this will have on the new Instant On! technology Mico$soft, IBM and others have been developing as of late?

nev_payne · 14-June-05, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dex


	I know whats top on my Christmas list this year Its a wonder nobodies done this sooner, what kinda impact do you think this will have on the new Instant On! technology Mico$soft, IBM and others have been developing as of late?

People have done it. COmpanys have made small profits in the solid state memory sector for a few years now - some have 3.5" hard drive looking comonents which are actually tightly packed SSM in a hard drive "box". They also have the battery life solutions aswell...some I've seen plug directly into the Molex at the back. Still, because of the neice market, the prices are astronomical...but now GB has this litle number out, expect prices to fall.

http://www.superssd.com/products/ramsan-120/index.htm (8GB - 70000 random I/O's /sec)
http://www.superssd.com/products/tera-ramsan/ (1TB - 70000 " " ")

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/May/1146781.htm - Samsungs' 16GB solid state hard disk for laptops.

Dex · 14-June-05, 04:58 PM

Well ive never seen anything like it, guess thats because ive never looked for something like it or knew anything like it existed.

Do any other manufacturers have plans for this kinda hardware, id like to see prices fall even further because of some nice friendly competition from other big companies.

tim_programmer · 17-June-05, 09:13 AM

well i'm certainly intrigued by this product...the only things i would like answered are a) ram timings ..is there a way of setting these up...we may be stuck with ddr200 speed atm but a littl tweaing here and there

. b) is it sata or sata2 ....this then leads me onto the next big thought i had which was...i believe the main bulk of the hardware interface is contained in an fpga (its a chip that can be reconfigured for a particular job ....do a google) now to me itd make sense for gigabyte to allow these to be rewritten so they can do updates...if this is the case it wouldnt surprise me if we can reprogram the fpga to give the device sata2 support or make it support more than 4 gigs!

so ill be intrested to see what modding we can perform once they are released

Coelacanth · 17-June-05, 11:13 AM

Hmm, my Win XP Pro system boots up quite fast (I'll have to stopwatch it to test) and I only have 512M of RAM. It's more a matter of managing your startup apps and disabling Services you don't require than it is, throwing gigs of RAM at it. However, loading times for games and multitasking should definitely be improved...

EDIT: I just shut down and started up my computer, it boots in ~35 seconds to the desktop after typing in my login password as fast as I could. I don't see how slapping in 4 gigs of RAM will make it boot much faster. My XP would boot maybe 5 seconds faster if I configured it to login automatically without a password.

EDIT 2: Attached some screenshots of all my running startup apps and processes. GrabClipSave.exe is a utility to take screenshots in any game. The only things running now are Firefox and my DSL 'net connection.

Cpt.Planet · 17-June-05, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coelacanth


	Hmm, my Win XP Pro system boots up quite fast (I'll have to stopwatch it to test) and I only have 512M of RAM. It's more a matter of managing your startup apps and disabling Services you don't require than it is, throwing gigs of RAM at it. However, loading times for games and multitasking should definitely be improved... EDIT: I just shut down and started up my computer, it boots in ~35 seconds to the desktop after typing in my login password as fast as I could. I don't see how slapping in 4 gigs of RAM will make it boot much faster. My XP would boot maybe 5 seconds faster if I configured it to login automatically without a password. EDIT 2: Attached some screenshots of all my running startup apps and processes. GrabClipSave.exe is a utility to take screenshots in any game. The only things running now are Firefox and my DSL 'net connection.

'

Your all not getting it. This isnt being use as ram its being used as a harddrive. It is going to be super fast because there are no seek or access times which means windows should boot in seconds. Its kind of like a pda or pocket pc. They boot into their oses fast because its on flash memory and there is no seek time.

M.D.K. · 17-June-05, 12:13 PM

Most of the games I play are more than 4GB anyway. UT2K4? 8GB. HL2? at LEAST 5. As for booting windows on it... I only turn my computer off every once in a while. It's not like you have to restart the computer everytime you load a new app.

tim_programmer · 17-June-05, 12:17 PM

a 'here here' capt planet.

guys the idea of this is NOT to extend the available system ram..
its to use general DDR RAM chips as a cheap solid state hard disk!
it connects to sata and is seen as a 4gb (or whatever) hard disk drive. because it is solid state the access time is much quicker than a hd

tim_programmer · 17-June-05, 12:22 PM

mdk.. if windows were installled on it then there is more benifits than just boot speed... games wise 4 gig i agree isnt great...however you could mount the hd as a folder in a games dir so that the key games files are on the 4 gig and the less key are left on a normal hd...thus still benifits...i think its one of those 'wait and see' cases (but hey if modding the fpga would allow us more mem then def a plus)

13-June-05, 02:19 AM		#1 (permalink)
Redigieren Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Giga-byte's iRam is a PC add-in card with four DDR DRAM Ok I was visiting the pdx lan website and i just saw the new toy that i will buy! I am talking about insta boot up in xp pimps! check it at the pdx website! http://207.189.98.105/pdxlan5/forum_...ic.php?24.7614 check it at the source! http://www.itworld.com/Comp/4063/050602boot/ "The iRam holds up to 4G bytes of DRAM in four memory slots. The card fits into a standard PCI slot, which provides power, and it uses a SATA (Serial ATA) connection for data transfer." (http://www.itworld.com/Comp/4063/050602boot/)

13-June-05, 10:16 AM		#4 (permalink)
Monsignor Funkibut Master VB Pr'hoe'grammer	Solid-state Ive ALWAYS wanted a solid-state storage device like this for my PC. It can make the OS fast, it can make games fast, video-edits fast. And then when you're done, if you had a nice, neat way of backing up the device to a hard-disk [like during shutdown], it'd be a dream. -MF

17-June-05, 11:13 AM		#16 (permalink)
Coelacanth Apex Tech God	Hmm, my Win XP Pro system boots up quite fast (I'll have to stopwatch it to test) and I only have 512M of RAM. It's more a matter of managing your startup apps and disabling Services you don't require than it is, throwing gigs of RAM at it. However, loading times for games and multitasking should definitely be improved... EDIT: I just shut down and started up my computer, it boots in ~35 seconds to the desktop after typing in my login password as fast as I could. I don't see how slapping in 4 gigs of RAM will make it boot much faster. My XP would boot maybe 5 seconds faster if I configured it to login automatically without a password. EDIT 2: Attached some screenshots of all my running startup apps and processes. GrabClipSave.exe is a utility to take screenshots in any game. The only things running now are Firefox and my DSL 'net connection. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Coelacanth; 17-June-05 at 11:32 AM..

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13-June-05, 02:30 AM		#2 (permalink)
SpikeShot Probationary User	For users who are tired of sitting around and waiting for their Windows-based PCs to boot up, they can install Windows on the iRam and use that as the drive to start the system more quickly, Handley said. When the card is used in this way, starting Windows XP is a matter of seconds, rather than a minute or more, he said. The iRam can also be used by gamers, who want to reduce the time required to access stored data, he said. The iRam holds up to 4G bytes of DRAM in four memory slots. The card fits into a standard PCI slot, which provides power, and it uses a SATA (Serial ATA) connection for data transfer. Unlike DRAM-based main memory, the iRam card doesn't lose data when the PC is switched off, said Thomas Chang, a product manager at Giga-byte. As long as the PC is plugged into a socket, a very small amount of current continues to run through some parts of the system, including the PCI slots. This provides enough power to make sure that no data is lost, he said. If the PC is unplugged, the iRam has an on-board battery for emergency power that can last up to 12 hours, he said. The iRam will be available in July and will be priced at around US$60 without DRAM. Posting what Red. should of posted to help the readers without clicking a link!

13-June-05, 08:47 AM		#3 (permalink)
GrandpaNoob72 Eleven-Bravo Sitrep Writer	Soon as I settle my account with Rob over the XMS I got from him, I still gotta get the wife an Anniversary gift... If I play my cards right, I might get her to buy me one as my Anniversary gift ... Either way, though, it's coming out of my pocket, so it's all good... Nice find, Red

13-June-05, 02:39 PM		#5 (permalink)
Enko Apex Tech God	nice, i'll be getting some money from the Navy so it looks like I know what my first purchase will be. thanks guys

13-June-05, 04:42 PM		#6 (permalink)
TYCOON Apex Tech God	Man that will get expensive..I mean..to have to buy ram afterwards...so is the idea to use it as a place for swapfiles and temp files? Becuase it seems its not ment for a computer that will be shut down. I have a 256mb stick of DDR here..

13-June-05, 09:11 PM		#7 (permalink)
Redigieren Apex Master Tech Apprentice	Actually its met to act just like a hard drive. Dont think of it any different than a normal hard drive. It has power constantly going throught if your computer is plugged in. This is what I have read. And it also has a back up power for up to 12 hours if your unplugging your computer.

14-June-05, 03:08 AM		#8 (permalink)
nev_payne Apex Tech God	yeh I put this in a Computex news thread not long ago. The maximum speed the RAM will go is DDR200....due to the bandwidth LIMITATION of SATA! Timings are uncertain....because its not directly linked to the PC, so far I havent found out any way you can find/change the timings...unless that switch on the top right of the board is somthing related. So im for getting a few 256/512 DDR266 crucial sticks....and watching a flew files fly! I hope there's also some sort of battery monitoring LED on there...or a speaker....you dont want to loose all your data.

14-June-05, 10:01 AM		#9 (permalink)
Nerdz Sir Knight of Spamalot	DRAM? Why not use flash memory? over all its looks cool...but 60 bucks + the price of ram...I could just get a dual A64 system that will hold up to 8 sticks of ram =/ then again...memory is getting cheap...a 512 stick is what...40 bucks if u get it cheap? so it maybe worth it..

14-June-05, 03:39 PM		#11 (permalink)
carbongraphite Pow - Hoe playa	about useing flash 1 gig of compact flash is about $80 (less if its a rebate day) and a stick of 1 gig DDR is also about $80. ram would be faster though and the card holds 4 sticks unless you want to run 4 compact flash to IDE adapters in raid. its now cheap enough to play with! infact im going to look for a compact flash adapter now. to Frys i go!

14-June-05, 03:56 PM		#12 (permalink)
Dex Retr-hoe Reviewer	I know whats top on my Christmas list this year Its a wonder nobodies done this sooner, what kinda impact do you think this will have on the new Instant On! technology Mico$soft, IBM and others have been developing as of late?

14-June-05, 04:58 PM		#14 (permalink)
Dex Retr-hoe Reviewer	Well ive never seen anything like it, guess thats because ive never looked for something like it or knew anything like it existed. Do any other manufacturers have plans for this kinda hardware, id like to see prices fall even further because of some nice friendly competition from other big companies.

17-June-05, 09:13 AM		#15 (permalink)
tim_programmer Apex Advanced Techie	well i'm certainly intrigued by this product...the only things i would like answered are a) ram timings ..is there a way of setting these up...we may be stuck with ddr200 speed atm but a littl tweaing here and there . b) is it sata or sata2 ....this then leads me onto the next big thought i had which was...i believe the main bulk of the hardware interface is contained in an fpga (its a chip that can be reconfigured for a particular job ....do a google) now to me itd make sense for gigabyte to allow these to be rewritten so they can do updates...if this is the case it wouldnt surprise me if we can reprogram the fpga to give the device sata2 support or make it support more than 4 gigs! so ill be intrested to see what modding we can perform once they are released

17-June-05, 12:13 PM		#18 (permalink)
M.D.K. Apex Tech Maniac Supreme	Most of the games I play are more than 4GB anyway. UT2K4? 8GB. HL2? at LEAST 5. As for booting windows on it... I only turn my computer off every once in a while. It's not like you have to restart the computer everytime you load a new app.

17-June-05, 12:17 PM		#19 (permalink)
tim_programmer Apex Advanced Techie	a 'here here' capt planet. guys the idea of this is NOT to extend the available system ram.. its to use general DDR RAM chips as a cheap solid state hard disk! it connects to sata and is seen as a 4gb (or whatever) hard disk drive. because it is solid state the access time is much quicker than a hd

17-June-05, 12:22 PM		#20 (permalink)
tim_programmer Apex Advanced Techie	mdk.. if windows were installled on it then there is more benifits than just boot speed... games wise 4 gig i agree isnt great...however you could mount the hd as a folder in a games dir so that the key games files are on the 4 gig and the less key are left on a normal hd...thus still benifits...i think its one of those 'wait and see' cases (but hey if modding the fpga would allow us more mem then def a plus)