Why is DDR and DDR2 ram being used over RAMBUS?

Question

Rambus is stronger technology with much better architecture. It comes with a 1033Mhz bus speed (one way) and can take heat better. Why is DDR being used instead!?

Answer 1

Yes as good as rambus is it will never gain a significant market share. The lisencing scheme makes it more expensive to produce and sell RD-RAM. The other factor is limited production. RD-RAM doesn't sell as many units as DDR sells so less of it is produced. There are also less companies who make rambus due to the royalties(less competition).

Also the problem might lie with distributors being negatively biased. I bought a PC in 2001 with 256 MB rambus ram within two years the price almost doubled, and then no one in RSA even bothered to put it on their pricelist becuase nobody was buying. Still now none of my suppliers here in RSA sell rambus, because there is only a small portion of people who can afford computers, and an even smaller portion who can afford such the luxury of Rd-Ram.

Sony had the forsight to put rambus in PS2 and PS3 will use rambus as well, which once again means it will be more expensive than consoles running on DDR/2.

Answer 2

Rambus is intellectual property that is created by a single company. The DRAM vendors have to pay royalty to that company (Rambus). Since every penny matters in that market, the lowest cost solution often wins, even if it's not technically the best.