Rambus DRAM: Uncovering Facts & Burying Rumors

It is normal for users to have their own preference as to what specific components they'd like to see in their system; we see this on a regular basis – there are some users that prefer 3dfx to NVIDIA, AMD to Intel, or on the software platform side, Microsoft to Sun.  But never has there been a situation where so much hatred for a particular company and their products has been so freely expressed and accepted alike by end users and members of the media. 

Visit the newsgroups, the chat rooms, or even our own AnandTech Forums and you will find less than 1% of the responses you get to the question "Should I use RDRAM in my system?" will contain the word "yes" or any other such derivative. 

Rambus has become the outcast of our community, no one wants anything to do with it, and yet seemingly, everyone has something to say against it whenever their flagship product, Direct Rambus DRAM or RDRAM is brought up. 

In an effort to help clear up some of the major misconceptions about RDRAM, we were contacted by Rambus and asked to meet with them under the assumption that they would be able to answer pretty much all of our questions and give us an update as to exactly where Rambus as a company and RDRAM as a product stands today and where they see themselves and their product(s) in the near future.

As we just mentioned, there is a lot of hatred towards Rambus.  While some of it is fueled by problems with the company and their technology, a considerable amount of it is fueled by reasons that have no bearing on the quality, functionality or performance of the company's products. 

It is these reasons that we ask that you throw out before proceeding any further with this article.  Remaining open minded and willing to weigh the pros and cons of both sides to this controversial story is the only way to move forward. 

It is partially the fault of Rambus that they have not stepped forward earlier when confronted with some of the allegations that have now become engraved in the minds of the community as a whole, claims such as "Intel owns Rambus" and "AMD doesn't hold a Rambus license" both of which are completely false.  Surprised?  Keep your mind open and let's see exactly how evil Rambus really is and if they do have a chance of succeeding in the future.