Samsung's next-gen GDDR7 memory: 36Gbps bandwidth confirmed, uses PAM3 signaling

Samsung has just confirmed its next-gen GDDR7 memory technology that will feature up to 25% more power efficiency over its GDDR6 standard and oh-so-much more.

The next-gen Samsung GDDR7 memory will feature PAM3 (Pulse-Amplitude Modulation) signaling, with 25% more efficiency over NRZ (Non-Return to Zero), which is used inside of the current-gen GDDR6 memory standard. Another huge benefit of Samsung's next-gen GDDR7 memory is it will rock bandwidth of up to 36Gbps, which is a huge jump over the 18Gbps (double) that we see inside of current-gen GPUs.

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Samsung's next-gen GDDR7 memory standard (source: Samsung + Ian Cutress)

AMD's next-gen RDNA 3-based Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs will use 20Gbps GDDR6 memory, while NVIDIA is still tapping Micron's high-end GDDR6X memory across its previous-gen GeForce RTX 30 series "Ampere" GPUs and current-gen GeForce RTX 40 "Ada Lovelace" GPUs.

We should expect next-gen GPUs using GDDR7 memory on a 384-bit memory bus featuring a huge 1728GB/sec of memory bandwidth, and GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit memory bus will hit 1152GB/sec memory bandwidth. That's a huge upgrade in memory bandwidth, yet Samsung wasn't clear on when the GDDR7 memory will appear and which partners will be using it.

• Read more: Samsung announces next-gen GDDR7 memory, with insane 36Gbps bandwidth
• Read more: Samsung teases next-gen GDDR7 memory: insane 32Gbps (GDDR6X = 21Gbps)
• Read more: NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 4090 rumored to use new GDDR7 memory

We did hear rumors months ago that NVIDIA could be using next-gen GDDR7 memory on its new GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs, but it didn't happen... however, the GDDR6X memory on the GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards is plenty enough for gaming today at 4K and beyond.