I posted this over in the Durango leak thread yesterday, but felt it might be more appropriate here.
For a variety of reasons, I have not given up on 3D stacking yet.
Why?
1. From what I've read, the current leak could be up to 9-10 months old. That's pretty old. A lot can change in that much time.
2.
Microsoft is already invested in the stacking consortium.
3.
Stacked memory uses 10% of the energy of equivalent DDR3. This would make it ideal for console use.
4. Depending on the memory design,
it can achieve between 128Gbytes and 320Gbytes per second bandwidth. Somereports say it can achieve speeds ranging from 400Gbytes persecont to over a terabyte p/s, depending on which article you read.
5. Stacked memory is roughly
90% smaller than traditional DDR3 dims. This would be ideal for consoles.
5.
Such memory goes into production in the second half of THIS year, which would be about the time consoles go into production (sometime in the summer/early fall).
6. As further proof that stacking is ready for "prime time"
Production contracts are already in place for the 2014 timeframe. (Thanks to Phonomezer for pointing out the link.)
Overall, bandwidth, physical size, energy consumption, etc... I would think that MS go with this in the final revision. I think the current "leak" is outdated.
While stacked memory would be expensive up front, it would also save a lot of money in the long run, make the console more "future proof", and have some immediate advantages (e.g. the power supply could be smaller. A lot less silicon would be used in production, it would probably lead to far, far less hardware failures as the head would be much, much less than if using traditional RAM, etc). The billion dollars that Microsoft spent replacing bad Xbox 360's last time could be more wisely invested in better technology up front. Depending on the expense, I can see stacked ram being in the final console.
Again, as I understand it the current "leak" is about 9-10 months old already. I see no reason why Microsoft could not have changed the hardware again since then as they discover better design alternatives or make moves in response to Sony's hardware configuration.
All I'm saying is that 3d stacking looks like it will be ready for production by the time Durango comes out, and based on the specs, it looks *ideal* for console use and would also be better and cheaper in the long run. So, I still hold out hope that stacked memory is consideration. ...I don't necessarily buy these leaks as the gospel truth as we have no idea how old they really are. I've seen on GAF and Beyond3d that the leak is at least 9 to 10 months old. ...Why should I believe hardware leaks that are nearly a year old are still good?
