The powerful XDR technology developed by Rambus is twice as fast as the high-end GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate 3) memory chips. XDR will be used with the PS3's Cell processor, which will perform about 35 times faster than the processor in today's PlayStation 2s, console. Unlike GDDR3, which is based on industry-standard DRAM technology, Rambus' XDR technology is proprietary which basically means that if memory chip makers want to produce XDR chips they will have to pay royalties to Rambus.
Rambus CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Harold Hughes said this in an interview last week. “The PS3 will go on sale next year and is widely expected to set a new standard in gaming graphics. The PS3's ability to render realistic images will raise peoples' expectations of their PCs, and vendors will have to respond by boosting PC graphics performance, Hughes predicted. That's where the next generation of PCs will go,"
Kim Soo-Kyoum, program director for semiconductor research at market research company IDC is skeptical to that XDR technology will be push into the mainstream PC market. The memory industry is the toughest in the chip business he says, so extra costs like royalty payments is something most chip makers will be reluctant to do. However, IDC does think XDR will find a market niche, and global XDR DRAM shipments could exceed 800 million 256Mbit-equivalent units by 2009.
Source: ARNnet
The powerful XDR technology developed by Rambus is twice as fast as the high-end GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate 3) memory chips. XDR will be used with the PS3's Cell processor, which will perform about 35 times faster than the processor in today's PlayStation 2s, console. Unlike GDDR3, which is based on industry-standard DRAM technology, Rambus' XDR technology is proprietary which basically means that if memory chip makers want to produce XDR chips they will have to pay royalties to Rambus. 
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