Will SSD's ever replace ram?

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Hi Guys,

I was pondering with someone where PC's will be in 10 years. I was thinking that SSD's could replace RAM if they get fast enough. Do you think this will ever happen?

Ta
 
Maybe, but not in the forseeable future, it would require quite the redesign, plus it would be one less component to sell so less profit oportunity
 
well never know..i mean to "my"(little) understanding,,ram are random access memory(deletes everything when computer shuts off) and ssd is a type of storage device so maybe they could sort of mix them up together and come up with a really fast i mean really fast random access storage memory device? hahah lol
 
Maybe, but not in the forseeable future, it would require quite the redesign, plus it would be one less component to sell so less profit oportunity

Quantum computers will be the next true evolution in computers I would imagine, UEFI will play a part soon enough as will a small redesign with motherboards.

I dont see RAM being replaced but know really knows.
 
Similar product, different function.

when disks were very slow users could make a ram disk for fast access. Now with cache at the disk the access is much quicker.

You still need program storage and you still need random access memory for the processor, they will both increase in speed and capacity until sequential disk access reaches and exceeds current ram speeds but by then the technology may have developed from silicon based chips to something much quicker for random access.

I can see terabytes of ram built into the processor running at full clock speed, be some time yet.

andy.
 
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Quantum computers will be the next true evolution in computers I would imagine, UEFI will play a part soon enough as will a small redesign with motherboards.

I dont see RAM being replaced but know really knows.

nice sig, anarchy rools. ;)
 
The function of RAM is easily duplicable on a (partition on a) hard drive with a little jiggery pokery. The problem is that while SSDs are undoubtedly fast, RAM is still considerably faster, and by all rights as SSDs get faster, so should RAM- or whatever RAM is in ten years.

The "but then people will buy less" argument holds some water, but to be honest, SSD manufacturers will be thinking "people will spend more on our product because then they don't have to buy RAM", and memory manufacturers won't get a word in edgeways.

As for quantum computing, as a man who's studied computer architectures and a considerable amount of maths whilst at university, I'm not entirely convinced by it. Non-deterministic computing is theoretically vastly more powerful and can solve considerably more problems, but I foresee it causing more problems than it solves, if it is even feasible- which I'm not sure of.

I think AMD's heading in the right direction at the moment with Bulldozer, and more efficient use of current technology.
 
There wont ever be a case where RAM will be replaced by SSDs or any other memory type,

Its like saying lets replace the L1 cache with Ram, exact same idea, the problem is the future development of computing technologies wont permit such a mad idea, L1 cache operates at lets say 30GB/s , and assume ram can only hit 12 GB/s , on the same scale SSD's operate at 500 MB/s ... So we can see SSD's are climbing, but if you can develop chips for SSD's that will hit the desired 12GB/s to replace Ram then there will already be a successor to Ram that will be able to hit even higher data rates, and most likely there will be even faster more efficient L1 cache, and they will all be built on advances of technology that are all closely related.

The difference ultimately resolves down to proximity, L1 cache can hit phenomenal data rates and minimal latency because of its proximity to the processor, i.e. on Die, Ram has a dedicated memory controller that gives it a direct pathway to the CPU thus lowering its latency and upping its data-rate. SSD's on the PCI Bus are a level of abstraction further away than this, thats not to say the Innards of SSD's aren't helping the advancement of memory devices and controllers the world over, but they are not fit for the purpose of bleeding edge speeds provided by RAM , L1 and L2 caches, And they will never just be conglomerated into a single concept,

There are tradeoffs everywhere, The 3 core concepts are super-fast cache for continuous processing (feed it in --> calculate --> feed it out ) in 5 cycles, Getting data from Ram (to continually feed the cache) is somewhere between a 50-200 cycle operation, And from hard drives/ ssds (whose purpose is permanent storeage of mass amounts of data) on the PCI bus its even more costly, albeit better with SSDs . But its still all about tradeoffs, that speed comes at the cost of high TDP in Cache, and a complex memory interface for Ram, growing the interface to accommodate SSD scale amounts of GB's at a data rate comparable to RAM and with just as low a latency is something that cannot be handled with the current tech, And since we are talking about future tech i say my Point still stands, the 3 core concepts are linked , but distinct. RAM will still be RAM, permanent storage will still be slower , even as the technologies grow in speed the divide will Always exist.
 
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