Curious, wonder why we don't switch to sodimm...

[Clearnfc]

I am just curious why are are still using regular dimm, esp. for smaller board like mini-ITX.

I really cant see any benefit of dimm over sodimm. No doubt dimm have higher capacity, but not many people need more than 32GB (most are 16GB). As for speed, I believe it depends alot more on ram chip rather than form factor. The RAMsink on most rams serves as cosmetic rather than heat dissipation.

 

[wwenze]

Smaller pins are harder to make

 

[NightRaven49]

I really cant see any benefit of dimm over sodimm.

sodimm doesnt offer low cas latency as regular dimm. so even if they both advertise the same mt rate, sodimm can be much slower than dimm.

 

[watzup_ken]

Currently fastest SODIMM DDR4 memory is 3200 MHz. As compared to desktop RAM, the speed gap is quite huge. SODIMM is good for laptops due to lack of space, that’s true. But are you willing to give up speed for a smaller sized RAM that cost more (assuming same speed)? It’s also harder to cool SODIMM because the PCB is smaller and the chips are packed closer with insufficient heat spreader.

 

[wwenze]

sodimm doesnt offer low cas latency as regular dimm. so even if they both advertise the same mt rate, sodimm can be much slower than dimm.

Currently fastest SODIMM DDR4 memory is 3200 MHz. As compared to desktop RAM, the speed gap is quite huge. SODIMM is good for laptops due to lack of space, that’s true. But are you willing to give up speed for a smaller sized RAM that cost more (assuming same speed)? It’s also harder to cool SODIMM because the PCB is smaller and the chips are packed closer with insufficient heat spreader.

Because the fastest JEDEC DDR4 standard is DDR4-3200W, but most manufacturers go for DDR4-3200AA which is CL22 @ 1.2V. This is the same for DIMM modules.

All the faster DDR4-3600 CL18 @ 1.35V or whatever is using XMP.

 

[cscs3]

Smaller pins are harder to make

And easy damaged sodimm socket. This is one reason notebook maker now move to direct solder on board.

 

[tsteo77]

Not much peoples are using non standard mini pc, so not much to earn for makers.

 

[Clearnfc]

sodimm doesnt offer low cas latency as regular dimm. so even if they both advertise the same mt rate, sodimm can be much slower than dimm.

I would say this is because sodimms are mainly used in laptops or SFF where performance is not the key, so there is no demand for low latency sodimm.

 

[Clearnfc]

And easy damaged sodimm socket. This is one reason notebook maker now move to direct solder on board.

Not really. Mainboards are not using the same sockets. These slots I would say are quite durable, no difference from regular dimm slots. They are used where space is limited.

https://www.servethehome.com/asrock-rack-epc612d4i-review-mitx-xeon-e5-platform/

 

[booest]

chip density need to increase

 

[NightRaven49]

I would say this is because sodimms are mainly used in laptops or SFF where performance is not the key, so there is no demand for low latency sodimm.

well there is demand for high performance dimms in regular form factors, which have more than ample space for regular dimms.

 

[Clearnfc]

chip density need to increase

Not quite. This is because sodimm has 32GB modules. So, 2 x 32GB = 64GB. This I would say is more than enough for vast majority of the users. Most are still on 2 x 8GB, some are 2 x 16GB. Very few need 2 x 32GB.

Of course, for those who require that much RAM, I would say they will likely require more CPU power (threadripper), so this means they need 4 sticks for quad channel. 4 x 32GB is quite alot of memory.