RAM use rises thanks to Vista, falling prices

Dashken · 7th Jul 2007, 10:47 AM

Quote:

July 05, 2007 (Computerworld) Microsoft's memory-hungry Vista operating system -- along with falling dynamic RAM prices -- is boosting semiconductor sales.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported this week that worldwide sales of semiconductors hit $20.3 billion in May -- 2.4% higher than sales of $19.8 billion in the same month a year ago.

The San Jose-based trade association, citing figures from one of its members, Micron Technology Inc., said the average amount of DRAM installed in PCs has increase from 772MB last year to 1,180MB this year.

In an interview, Kevin Kilback, a senior marketing manager at Boise, Idaho-based Micron, said DRAM price drops have allowed PC makers to increase the amount of memory without adding cost. Last week, Micron said that for the quarter that ended May 31, DRAM prices had declined approximately 35%.

Windows Vista is also a factor in driving up memory usage, said Kilback. "Vista, unlike past operating system revisions, really takes advantage of more memory," he said.

The amount of DRAM going into PCs is expected to increase next year to about 1.5GB. "That's basically driven by Vista," said Kilback.

Although buyers can still find systems with 512MB of system memory, many PC vendors are recommending 2GB for use with the operating system.

The semiconductor market is also being helped by NAND flash memory, which is used in devices such as flash drives. The SIA cited cell phone demands, in particular, as their multimedia capacity continues to increase demand.

"Despite severe price pressures on DRAMs and NAND flash, total sales of semiconductors for the first five months of 2007 increased by 3.1% from the same period of 2006," said George Scalise, SIA president, in a statement.

Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/...leId=902 6299

belikethat · 7th Jul 2007, 03:53 PM

ok now i even hate microsoft more

me still on ddr1 ram

SkylineRemix · 8th Jul 2007, 06:23 PM

I'll be using 2GB of DDRII 667.
I got the choice to use Vista but i don't want it.
Because i know it'll lag my comp and moreover most of the drivers are not available and more costy too... ^_^

LIQNIT · 8th Jul 2007, 07:02 PM

i think that Ram will be a very good affect on future computing it will allow developers to create program with larger ram requests

Conquest · 15th Jul 2007, 01:00 AM

then again vista 32bit only support upto ~3.1GB..sighs but then again reason for 4GB would be "futureproof"

Adrian Wong · 16th Jul 2007, 01:11 PM

Yup, if RAM prices stay low, it will encourage people to migrate to 64-bit OSes.

7th Jul 2007, 03:53 PM	#2 (permalink)
belikethat Active Join Date: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 502 Reputation: 58 Rep Power: 3	ok now i even hate microsoft more me still on ddr1 ram __________________ Control Panel Settings & Options Edit Signature

16th Jul 2007, 01:11 PM	#6 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 30,146 Reputation: 3081 Rep Power: 67	Yup, if RAM prices stay low, it will encourage people to migrate to 64-bit OSes. __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? Keep Tech ARP free! Visit our sponsors! We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

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8th Jul 2007, 06:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
SkylineRemix Getting there Join Date: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 225 Reputation: 43 Rep Power: 3	I'll be using 2GB of DDRII 667. I got the choice to use Vista but i don't want it. Because i know it'll lag my comp and moreover most of the drivers are not available and more costy too... ^_^

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LIQNIT Newbie Join Date: 6 Jun 2005 Posts: 9 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	i think that Ram will be a very good affect on future computing it will allow developers to create program with larger ram requests

15th Jul 2007, 01:00 AM	#5 (permalink)
Conquest Warming up Join Date: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Selangor, KL, MY Posts: 75 Reputation: 8 Rep Power: 0	then again vista 32bit only support upto ~3.1GB..sighs but then again reason for 4GB would be "futureproof"