Definition: SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. SDRAM operates more efficiently as it works according to the synchronization of the clock. This makes it easy to manage faster, and the speed of the SDRAM measured in MHz instead of nanoseconds. SDRAM introduced in 1969-70. It most widely used in computers. Nowadays it is also used in other systems.
We’ll be covering the following topics in this tutorial:
Types of SDRAM
A lot of successive families of SDRAM were introduced to provide better performance. Different versions of SDRAM are as follows:
SDR SDRAM
SDR SDRAM stands for Single Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. For the very first time, this RAM introduced. Nowadays this RAM is replaced by many other types.
DDR SDRAM
DDR SDRAM stands for Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. It is also known as DDR1 SDRAM. In this, the speed of data transfer is twice as compared to the traditional SDRAM. It reads or writes two words of data per clock cycle.
DDR2 SDRAM
DDR2 stands for Double Data Rate2 Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. It is similar to DDR SDRAM, but it reads or writes four words of data per clock cycle. DDR2 SDRAM introduced in 2003.
DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 SDRAM stands for Double Data Rate3 Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. It again doubles the speed of reading and writes, i.e., you can say that DDR3 SDRAM can read or write eight words per clock cycle. Also, the performance and speed of the RAM are improved.
DDR4 SDRAM
DDR4 SDRAM stands for Double Data Rate4 Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. It introduced in the other half of 2014. DDR4 SDRAM provides improve performance and speed as compared to the different version of SDRAM.
DDR5 SDRAM
DDR5 SDRAM stands for Double Data Rate5 Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. It is currently under development. DDR5 SDRAM will reduce the consumption of power, and it will double the bandwidth and the capacity. The specification of DDR5c SDRAM labeled in 2016, but its production is still pending and will take time.
Difference between SDRAM and DDR
| SDRAM | DDR |
| SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory. | DDR stands for Double Data Rate. |
| SDRAM make use of one edge of the clock. | DDR RAM makes use of both edges of the clock. |
| SDRAM sends a signal once per clock cycle. | DDR transfers data twice per clock cycle. |
Advantages of SDRAM
• It is faster as compared to the other versions of RAM.
• It is more efficient, which is up to 4 times the performance of the other standard DRAMs.
• It can run at much higher clock speeds than conventional memory.
• It gets synchronized with the system clock.
Disadvantages of SDRAM
• It can’t use with the older motherboards.
• It works in a single data rate, i.e., it can do only tasks per clock cycle. To remove this disadvantage later on double data rate SDRAM was introduced.
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