On PCs the RAM size is limited to 16GB per bank but yet
only 8GB are common and available. For faster RAM you
will have to take even smaller 4GB modules as the speed
takes it’s toll. But Samsung has set a new RDIMM record.

RDIMM is “Registered DIMM” and they’re commonly used in servers where processors and chipsets are optimized to work with larger-sized modules.

While I haven’t seen any larger modules than 32GB this news made me read even more carefully. Not less than 19 memory chips are crammed onto one module (16x16Gb modules plus 2x16Gb register modules plus 1 ECC module):

However one such module might be extremely pricey as 4x64GB kits offering the same capacity are still at roughly 4’000 US$ the time this article has been written. I expect one module to price at 4’500 US$ MSRP once they’re released.

As newer Xeon and EPYC platforms are already able to verify 128GB modules, it’s just a matter of time when the BIOS microcode gets updated to support even these big modules.

With 12 slots, a Xeon-based server might benefit from 3TB of total RAM whilst the architecture can currently support and address 3.84TB.

AMD however says thet their upcoming generation of EPYC processors and maybe even the Threadrippers might go for even 8TB of total addressable ram. Speaking of that you’d need a whopping 32 modules to create a server monster like that and tbh… a server for about 150K US$, that’s even a big number for big companies.

On the other hand this may allow big virtual servers handling a lot of virtual server instances. For instance: You could host 256 virtual servers with each 32GB of RAMon such a beast. If you budle that much RAM with 4 big EPYC processors with each 64 cores, that would make a fine 2HE server blade for Low-CPU-power-demanding applications and simultaneously running 256 instances of these on just one blade!

But even if you go only for 4core-Systems, then you’d still be able to cram 64 virtual instances with 4 cores and 128GB each into one 2HE blade. – YUMMY!

I guess the phantasies are given now. and be it Windows Server 2018 or Linux/Unix… they both face a new challenge: Running a VM ESX Server that can handle these masses of cores and memory…

But first these modules have to be mass-produced in order to allow servers to be produced in a good quantity. So it’s up to Samsung to make these modules available in a fashionable time.