This is definitely great news for homelabbers. One of the things that has definitely been a drawback with migrating to mini PCs is the fact that we only have access to a max of 48 GB memory modules since mini PCs use SODIMM memory.
However, there couldn't be better news coming out of a news release from Crucial here: Crucial Broadens Memory and Storage Portfolio to Deliver:
Note the following quote from the PR release:
Crucial DDR5 UDIMM/SODIMM: Crucial is now offering its Crucial Classic DDR5 Memory in a 64GB density at the 5600 MT/s speed grade, across both UDIMM and SODIMM form factors. Crucial® DDR5 Memory has the blazing speed and massive bandwidth needed for the next generation of multi-core CPUs, allowing users to multitask better, load, analyze, edit, and render faster, game with higher frame rates and significantly reduce system lag for heavy workloads over the previous generation.
Can you imagine what this will mean for mini PCs moving forward? One of the things I missed about my Supermicros was the 128 GB of memory I had them populated with. However, now this looks like it will be possible to boost up to 128 GB total with (2) 64 GB modules.
There is also VMware's NVMe memory tiering which I have talked about extensively this past year and have tested in the home lab. It works by allocating an NVMe drive as a slower memory tier that can be used to offload memory pages. However, there is nothing faster than REAL memory.
I do think this could be a game changer overall for the home lab community to have access to these types of memory densities. One thing I am concerned with is price though. The 48 GB modules are pretty pricey, so it will be interesting to see what the 64 GB modules go for.
Availability: straight from the PR release, "Crucial’s slate of new memory offerings will be available through crucial.com, as well as through etailers, retailers and global channel partners starting February."
@t3hbeowulf @malcolm-r @jnew1213, curious what you guys think about this news? It was bound to happen, but seems like it has been a LOOOONGGG time coming.