• SK hynix and Intel co-published performance verification white paper on DDR5’s application to Intel CPUs for use in servers
• SK hynix’s DDR5 boosts server bandwidth by 70% while lowering power consumption by 14.4% compared to the product’s previous generation
• SK hynix plans to accelerate improvement in its second-half performance with its quality-certified DDR5

SK hynix announced on September 14th that it has co-published a white paper with Intel which reveals that its DDR5 server DRAM applied to Intel’s CPUs demonstrated industry-leading performance levels. This white paper was released simultaneously on the SK hynix and Intel websites.

The two companies have worked closely together since the beginning of DDR5’s development, and this white paper shows the results of performance evaluations of SK hynix’s DDR5 when applied to 4th Gen Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable processors¹ (hereinafter referred to as Xeon) that took place over the past eight months.

Released at a time when the server industry has called for low-power, high-performance semiconductors, the white paper highlights that SK hynix and Intel will usher in an era of more advanced data centers through memory and CPUs that deliver industry-leading performance and energy efficiency.

[Read the full white paper]

The white paper reveals that SK hynix’s DDR5 uses 14.4% less power than DDR4, while the 4th Gen Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable processors offer performance efficiency that is 2.9 times greater than the previous generation². In servers with Xeon, DDR5 achieved an improved performance per watt³ that was 1.22 times higher for integer computations and 1.11 times higher for floating point⁴ computations compared to DDR4.

Accordingly, the two companies expect the energy efficiency provided by DDR5 and Xeon to allow server chip customers to build more sustainable data centers. The operation of such cost-effective data centers is also expected to help customers save on the total cost of ownership (TCO)⁵.

“As revealed in the white paper, servers equipped with SK hynix’s DDR5 and Intel’s CPUs enable faster data processing speeds while consuming less power compared to the products’ previous generations. In particular, they can efficiently utilize high-density DRAMs required for processing vast amounts of data in applications such as generative AI,” said Sungsoo Ryu, head of DRAM Product Planning at SK hynix.

“We hope that our server chip customers will use the valuable information included in this white paper to drive their business forward,” he added.

Dr. Dimitrios Ziakas, Intel’s vice president of Memory and IO Technologies, said: “Intel has been collaborating with SK hynix and memory industry partners to enable high-performance DDR5 DRAM with 4th Gen Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable processors. These efforts ensure that we provide robust high-performance and energy-efficient data center system solutions to benefit our mutual customers.”

SK hynix will strengthen its offerings in the server market through collaborations, such as this latest project with Intel. By focusing on 1anm and 1bnm DDR5, the fourth and fifth generation of the 10nm process technology, respectively, SK hynix looks to increase its financial performance and presence in the server market as demand for server DRAMs is expected to rise in the second half of 2023.

[At a Glance] The Intel and SK hynix DDR5 Ecosystem White Paper (Read the full white paper)

• Bandwidth 70%↑⁶, Power Consumption 14.4%↓⁷, Integer Computations 1.59 times↑

The white paper details test data that server customers can use to guide their application of DDR5 in their servers. Highlights include the speed, performance, and power consumption that is attainable when combining DDR5 memory and Xeon.

Figure 1. Comparing the Server Bandwidth of SK hynix’s DDR4 and DDR5

Firstly, server bandwidth⁸ at the same operating speeds of 3,200 megabits per second (Mbps) increased by 20% with DDR5 compared with the previous generation, DDR4. Additionally, the server bandwidth at DDR5’s operating speed of 4,800 Mbps was 70% greater than it was at DDR4’s highest operating speed of 3,200 Mbps⁹. The overall expansion in the server bandwidth is due to the DDR5’s design improvements that minimized internal transfer latency of data and the securing of higher transfer speeds compared to DDR4.

Figure 2. Comparing Operating Speed and Power Consumption of SK hynix’s DDR4 and DDR5

Through the study, SK hynix was also able to confirm that DDR5’s power consumption was 14.4% less than DDR4 due in large part to new technologies such as High-K Metal Gate (HKMG). HKMG is a next-generation process that uses a High-K insulating film inside a DRAM transistor to prevent leakage current and improve its capacitance—the ability to store charge. Semiconductor memory products with HKMG therefore have a higher power efficiency.

Xeon’s built-in accelerators have also shown positive results in tests. Organizations can improve the average performance per watt efficiency for target workloads by up to 2.9 times utilizing the built-in accelerators compared to the previous generation of processors. The combination of these technologies enabled DDR5 and Xeon to achieve an excellent 50% increase in bandwidth and a 14.4% reduction in power usage.

The white paper also shows the computational performance of a system that combines DDR5 and Xeon. The companies used SPEC CPU 2017, a specialized benchmarking program, to compare performances.

Results from the comparison showed that integer computations were 1.59 times faster and floating point computations 1.43 times faster than the previous generation’s system. The performance per watt also saw its efficiency rise 1.22 times for integer computations and 1.11 times for floating point computations compared to the system’s predecessor.

The advanced system also performed well in the Intel Memory Latency Checker (MLC) test, a program that measures memory latency and speed. Compared to the previous generation, the read speed increased by 1.4 times and the read/write speed rose by 1.51 times.

Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

¹4th Gen Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable processors: These processors are Intel’s next generation of server CPUs that support PCIe Gen5 and next-generation DDR5 DRAM.

²2.9x average performance per watt efficiency improvement for targeted workloads utilizing built-in accelerators compared to the previous generation.
New Configuration: 1-node, 2x pre-production 4th Gen Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable Processor (60 cores) with integrated Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (Intel IAA), on pre-production Intel platform and software, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 1024GB (16x64GB DDR5 4800), microcode 0x2b0000a1, 1×3.84TB P5510 NVMe, Intel^® Ethernet Controller X540-AT2, Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS, 5.18.12-051812-generic, QPL v0.2.1,accel-config-v3.4.6.4, ZSTD v1.5.2, RocksDB v6.4.6 (db_​bench), tested by Intel November 2022. Baseline: 1-node, 2x production 3rd Gen Intel^® Xeon^® Scalable Processors (40 cores) on SuperMicro SYS-220U-TNR, HT On, Turbo On, SNC Off, Total Memory 1024GB (16x64GB DDR4 3200), microcode 0xd000375, 1×3.84TB P5510 NVMe, Intel^® Ethernet Controller X540-AT2, Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS, 5.18.12-051812-generic, ZSTD v1.5.2, RocksDB v6.4.6 (db_​bench), tested by Intel November 2022.

³Performance per watt: An indicator of how much computation is performed per watt of power consumed.

⁴Floating point: A concept about real numbers where integers and decimals are represented separately by changing the position of the decimal point to facilitate computation, as opposed to a fixed point where the decimal point is fixed in its original position. For example, if the original real number is 123.485, it can be written in floating points as 1.23485X 10^2, or 0.00123485X10^5.

⁵Total cost of ownership (TCO): The total costs of an asset that includes such as the initial investment, power, facility operations, and maintenance.

⁶Result obtained during simulations by SK hynix performed in December 2022.

⁷Power consumption comparison of DDR4 and DDR5 based on simulations by SK hynix’s power calculator.

⁸Server Bandwidth: The pathway through which data travels. An increase in bandwidth enables more data to be processed more efficiently at once.

⁹Bandwidth comparison based on increase from DDR4’s 3,200 Mbps operating speed to DDR5’s 3,200 Mbps and 4,800 Mbps speeds.

The post SK hynix’s DDR5 Key to Enabling Industry-Leading Performing Data Centers, White Paper Reveals first appeared on SK hynix Newsroom.

SK hynix Inc. (or “the company”, www.skhynix.com) announced today that its DDR5 product for servers using 1anm, the fourth generation of the 10nm process technology, has been validated on the 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor (formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids) for the first time in the industry’s history.

“The validation of the 1anm DDR5 compatibility by Intel for its newest processor that supports DDR5 for the first time is monumental,” SK hynix said. “We will seek a fast turnaround in the semiconductor memory industry by actively responding to the growing server market through DDR5, which is already in mass production.”

The validation of the company’s 1anm DDR5 product, which adopts 1anm technology using the EUV lithography process, is for 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, Intel’s latest server CPU launched on January 10th.

The 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor has been cited as a key to a turnaround in the industry, given that the launch of a next-generation server CPU requires server replacement and thus, results in a rapid increase in demand for high-performance memory chips. Experts predict that DDR5, expected to meet customers’ such needs, will soon become the flagship product in the server DRAM market.

SK hynix’s DDR5 delivers an outstanding performance per watt^* and carbon emissions reduction effect to server customers as it reduces power consumption by up to 20% compared to DDR4, while boosting performance by 70% or more.

^*Performance per watt: an indicator of how much computation is performed per watt of power consumed.

SK hynix also announced that its 1ynm DDR5, the second generation of the 10nm process technology, has also successfully completed the validation of memory compatibility with Intel. SK hynix expects provision of various DDR5 products including 16Gb and 24Gb storage capacities to boost sales of server DRAM.

“The company is in close cooperation with a number of customers for wider adoption of DDR5 following the launch of the 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor and will strengthen its leadership in the ever-growing server market,” said Sungsoo Ryu, Head of DRAM Product Planning at SK hynix.

“Intel has been working diligently with SK hynix, JEDEC and the industry to bring DDR5 to life from initial inception to the scalable, reliable memory subsystem at the heart of our latest processor technology,” said Dr. Dimitrios Ziakas, Vice President of Memory and I/O Technologies at Intel. “The 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor takes advantage of DDR5 enhanced memory features to deliver the bandwidth, performance and scaling capacity needed by our data center customers across a vast array of workloads and applications.”

Meanwhile, SK hynix, in collaboration with Intel, published a DDR5 white paper, which includes the features of DDR5 and the superior performance of the company’s 1anm DDR5. The company expects the white paper to be used as a reference for server customers who plan to adopt SK hynix’s DDR5 in the future.

<SK hynix DDR5 Development Timeline>

– Launch of industry’s first DDR5 in Oct. 2020
– Shipment of industry’s first 24Gb DDR5 samples in Dec. 2021
– Obtainment of industry’s first Intel validation of 1anm DDR5 for servers in Jan. 2023

Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world’s top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”), flash memory chips (“NAND flash”) and CMOS Image Sensors (“CIS”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.

Media Contact

SK hynix Inc.
Global Public Relations

Technical Leader
Kanga Kong
E-Mail: global_newsroom@skhynix.com

Technical Leader
Joori Roh
E-Mail: global_newsroom@skhynix.com

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