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New memory modules pioneered by Intel and Micron Technology using their new 3D XPoint technology is arriving, with significant advantages over the traditional DRAM chips found in conventional computers. Unlike those DRAM chips, 3D XPoint is non-volatile and recovers nearly instantly from power loss, meaning its data isn’t lost when the computer loses power.<\/p>\n
Additionally, \u201cthis kind of memory is cheaper and denser than DRAM,\u201d says\u00a0Yan Solihin<\/a>, professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University. \u201cSo people are predicting\u2014including myself\u2014that eventually DRAM will gradually be replaced by this memory.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the new technology has its drawbacks\u2014it uses more energy and takes longer to write data than traditional DRAM. But this is where research by Solihin, associate professor James Tuck<\/a>, and doctoral candidate\u00a0Mohammad Alshboul comes into play. In a paper presented<\/a> at the 45th International Symposium on Computer Architecture<\/a> in June, they showed how they’d managed to significantly reduce the amount of writing needed, thereby speeding up the memory.<\/p>\n Storing data that’s on a computer’s memory on a solid-state (SSD) or hard disk drive\u2014making it persistent\u2014involves safeguards to avoid data corruption in the event of a crash. The data is copied from the memory to the processor’s cache, and then when that process is complete, the data is sent on to the non-volatile memory (traditionally the hard disk or SSD). However, in the event of a power loss, some of that data may be lost in transit. To prevent that, “eager persistency” is used, at the expense of a nine percent increase in the transaction time. It also involves about 21 percent more writing to the non-volatile memory\u2014a problem with SSDs with limited writing lifespans.<\/p>\n