Eurocom’s D900F Panther Notebook with 6-core Intel i7-980X processor: the shape of things to come for memory consumption

With all the talk of DRAM growth in 2010, you might wonder what’s driving the consumption. It’s a very logical question. Sometimes, growth is simply driven by existing market momentum. Sometimes, it’s driven by a new product category such as Apple’s iPad, discussed earlier. And sometimes, there are disruptive changes in existing markets that also drive new waves of consumption. This blog entry is about one of those changes. What’s prompted this blog entry is Eurocom’s recent introduction of the D900F Panther Mobile Workstation, a laptop with some screaming hardware under the hood. The trigger for some big, mind-altering changes in memory consumption stems from the notebook’s use of Intel’s i7-980X Extreme Edition, a 6-core processor. The use of multicore processors isn’t new and is certainly driving the rise of DRAM demand in the server arena, but the installation of a 6-core engine in a notebook PC is like putting a 1001-horsepower, 16-cylinder Bugatti Veyron engine in a Ford Focus. The car’s going to go a lot faster. More important, it’s going to consume a lot more gasoline, a lot faster. The Veyron runs at a top speed of 270+ miles/hour, but can do so only for a few minutes before draining the fuel tank dry.

That’s precisely what happens when you insert a 6-core processor into a PC, server, or laptop. The thirst for memory and storage becomes fierce. Processors starve without data and code, served up in large amounts. Where does that data and code come from? From DRAM, NAND Flash memory, rotating storage, and fast network connections. So computers like Eurocom’s D900F Panther Mobile Workstation need a lot more memory, a lot more storage, and a lot faster network connections that other computers (mere mortals). Yet unquestionably, this year’s top-of-the-line machine always, always, always becomes the norm in a frighteningly short amount of time.

So if the Eurocom D900F Panther is the shape of things to come, it bears a look with respect to its built-in memory and storage capacities. The D900F can accommodate as much as 24 Gbytes of DDR3-1333 DRAM memory in a 3-channel DDR3 configuration using three 8-Gbyte DDR3 DIMMs. That’s a lot of DRAM and a sign that this year and next might truly be blockbuster years for DRAM sales. It’s also a sign of pressure on DRAM module vendors to start thinking seriously about 8-Gbyte DDR3 DIMMs. Next, the D900F accommodates as many as four SATA HDDs and SSDs in RAID 0/1/5/10 configurations. That’s as much as 2.6 Tbytes of on-board storage. Finally, the D900F sports two Gbit Ethernet ports.

The Eurocom D900F isn’t a notebook computer designed for everyone. In fact, it will suit very few this year. But that’s always the case with top-end PCs. They’re not for everyone. In the 1980s, well-configured PCs cost $5000 and that figure remained constant for a surprisingly long time even as technology drove processor, DRAM, and HDD pricing to commodity levels. Now we’re more accustomed to $500 PCs, but specific users including gamers and video content creators need more oomph from their machines. More important, these elite users are willing to spend more money to get more oomph. The disruptive power of new technology such as multicore processors upsets apple cart, making the $5000 PC once more the pinnacle. And that pinnacle will eventually be eroded as these new, desirable capabilities and memory/storage capacities undergo the inevitable price erosion. As prices fall, demand will increase driving up sales volume in a classic, neverending cycle of innovation followed by inevitable commoditization. This time, it’s all driven by the advent of the multicore processor with its insatiable appetite for data and code.