After a much longer than expected delay, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) has finally taken over as the most popular memory chip used in PCs. The crossover to DDR2 from the previous mainstream chip, DDR-400 (double data rate, 400 megahertz), took place this week on both the spot DRAM market and the contract market, industry researcher DRAMeXchange Technology said Wednesday.
It's been a long time coming. The chips entered the market far later than expected, mainly due to heat problems. In fact, DDR-400, which has reigned as industry leader for the past few years, was supposed to be a stop-gap with such a short life span that some companies hadn't even planned to support it with a chip set. But when DDR-400 showed up on Intel's product road map in late 2002, component makers began to move forward on DDR-400, and put off developing compatible parts for DDR2. Intel microprocessors power around 80 percent of all PCs, making Intel's stamp of approval vital to computer industry parts makers.
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News source: PCWorld
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