It is not just ASRock, ASUS also working on “Half” UDIMM memory
Following ASRock’s announcement of DDR5 “One sub-channel” HUDIMM support on Intel 600, 700, and 800-series motherboards, an ASUS ROG motherboard engineer has now shown the same concept working on a ROG Maximus Z890 Apex board. The post came from Bing Lin, a member of ASUS ROG motherboard R&D team.
According to post, the demo included two modified 24 GB DDR5 modules limited to a single sub-channel each, which made the system report 24 GB total instead of 48 GB. Lin also showed a TeamGroup module described as an 8 GB one-sub-channel stick, booting on the same Z890 Apex platform. The post says Lin had previously tested a similar idea by masking part of a module and disabling half the channels in BIOS, but this time he was able to show what appears to be a purpose-built DIMM.
Source: ASUS Bing Lin
Cheaper modules for troubling times
A standard DDR5 DIMM is split into two independent 32-bit sub-channels, while ASRock’s patent-pending HUDIMM design uses only one 32-bit sub-channel. ASRock says this can cut chip count on the module in half, which in turn should lower manufacturing cost. TEAMGROUP is named as the memory partner, and Intel’s Robert Hallock is quoted in ASRock’s release backing the concept for Intel 600, 700, and 800-series platforms.
Source: ASUS Bing Lin
Two things stand out here. Unlike ASRock, ASUS is only confirming that it is working on support for this type of memory. Whether ASUS will partner with memory vendors and roll out support across the wider LGA-1851 platform stack is still unknown.
Also for the demo, ASUS also chose the ROG Maximus Z890 Apex, which is an expensive overclocking board. That may simply be because it is a two-DIMM design, making it a better fit for this kind of memory demonstration and for showing what such a platform can still achieve.
Source: Uniko’s Hardware
