RAM

Story

Memory has evolved and changed its format throughout computing life.

The first memories were magnetic nuclei and were invented in approximately 1950. These memories were used until the arrival of the chip.

MEMORY ON CHIP

After the first magnetic memories, the memories were manufactured on chips, which were soldered directly to the motherboard.

A few years later SIPP modules appeared, which were also soldered on the motherboard.

SIMM 30 Contacts

This was the first type of unchangeable RAM. So far all memory was soldered onto the board.

2-speed memories were made, at 70 nS which were the slowest and at 60 nS which were considered the fastest at that time.

In terms of capacity, 256 KB, 1 MB and 4 MB Simms were manufactured. The latter were so expensive that I have only seen one in my life. Here I show you

SIMM 72 Contacts

The evolution of the previously used 30-contact Simm.

They were manufactured in two formats, the FPM (Fast Page Mode) format with access times of 70 nS and the RAM EDO (Extended Data Output) that provided access times of 40 nS and even 30 nS.

DIMM 168 Pins

DIMM modules (Dual In Line Memory Module), were RAM memory modules.

They started to replace SIMM modules when Intel Pentium processors appeared on the market.

DIMMs were 64-bit memory. They had two notches for placement on the base plate to avoid position confusion.

The speed of these modules was no longer measured in nS (nano seconds), from this type of memory the speed began to be measured in MHz (Mega Hertz), manufacturing modules at 100 MHz and 133 MHz.

RIMM memory 168 pins

Rambus In Line Memory

This type of memory was introduced in the mid-1990s in order to have a very high performance type of memory. They were introduced in the first Intel Pentium 4 processors, with speeds between 300 MHz and 400 MHz.

Due to these high speeds they needed heat sinks and this made their manufacture very expensive, and therefore its selling price.

Because of this high price, manufacturers had to look for other alternatives, finally deprecating RIMM modules and replacing them first with SDRAM modules and later with DDR modules.