Micron joins the 3GB GDDR7 party, introduces 36 Gbps modules for GPUs — lags behind speeds of Samsung and SK Hynix

Micron has finally joined the 3GB GDDR7 party and has officially introduced 3GB modules to compete with Samsung and SK Hynix's 3GB variants. The memory maker officially announced its larger GDDR7 version in a blog post, revealing that its new 3GB ICs operate at 36 Gbps.

The new modules are 12.5% faster than the first GDDR7 modules that hit the market, which achieved 32 Gbps of bandwidth. However, Micron's new modules are noticeably slower than Samsung's competing solutions, which can run at up to 42.5 Gbps. SK Hynix similarly has outgoing GDDR7 modules that can scale up to 40 Gbps, and is working on future models that can reach 48 Gbps.

However, in Micron's favor, there are no outgoing Nvidia graphics cards that take advantage of GDDR7 speeds anywhere near 40 Gbps or faster. The highest GDDR7 transfer speeds on outgoing GDDR7 GPUs include the RTX 5080, which has its memory modules running at 30 Gbps. Other cards, such as the RTX 5090, use even lower memory speeds of 28 Gbps. That said, we have seen memory overclocks on the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5090D of up to 34 Gbps on SK Hynix and Samsung GDDR7.

As a result, there's not much reason for Micron to introduce new GDDR7 memory modules with blisteringly fast speeds of 40 Gbps or newer. The next generation RTX 60 series or next generation AMD Radeon GPUs might take advantage of higher memory speeds, but it's not required right now on existing GDDR7 GPUs.

Beyond speeds, having a third manufacturer for 3GB GDDR7 will be highly beneficial for Nvidia and other GPU makers. Nvidia is already taking 3GB GDDR7 chips from both Samsung and SK Hynix, and likely will start introducing Micron 3GB GDDR7 to help compensate for the outgoing NAND flash/memory shortage. Currently, the only Nvidia GPUs that use 3GB GDDR7 are the laptop-variant of the RTX 5090 and the RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell workstation GPU. If Nvidia ever decides to launch the RTX 50 Super series, it is expected that all rumored GPUs in that lineup, the RTX 5080 Super, 5070 Super, and 5060 Super, will use 3GB modules.

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