Na een delay van 2 maand werd deze week eindelijk een gecastreerde i820 chipset gereleased. Ondertussen blijkt Intel nog geen enkele progressie geboekt te hebben bij de oplossing van het 3*RIMM probleem. Intel twijfelt zelfs of het uberhaupt een gefixte versie van de i820 uit zal brengen, zo schrijft Semiconductor Business News:
Intel has not completed validation testing of three-RIMM motherboard configurations, according to a company spokesman today. Intel has not decided if it will rework the 820 design or change system specifications for motherboards using three RIMMs.The inability to use three RIMMs instead of two memory modules will reduce some of the flexibility in systems but it will not limit the maximum use of Direct Rambus DRAMs in desktop PCs, said the Intel spokesman. The 820 chip set handles up to 32 memory devices, which can be placed on two RIMMs. With the 128-megabit DRDRAMs, two RIMMs can provide the maximum memory for the 820 chip set at 512 megabytes. In the first quarter of next year, 256-Mbit DRDRAMs are expected to become available for 1-gigabyte on two RIMMs, the Intel spokesman said.
The loss of the third RIMM will limit the mixture of memory devices with by-4-, by-8- and by-16-bit configurations. "This could cause the loss of a little bit of flexibility, but it is not limiting the amount of memory on the motherboards," the Intel spokesman explained.
