More RAM for less power is forecast in 2010

The cumulative savings from higher densities, better processes and lower voltages do help a lot, as you can see:

And, according to Denali Systems, a memory design expert company, the total power consumption per chip for different DRAM technologies can differ a lot. Multiply it by the hundreds of chips often seen in high end systems - compared to a maximum of 96 chips in a six DIMM three channel desktop memory setup on a Core i7 - and you can get an idea how much power saving is at stake.

What you can also notice is that the 1.2V capable DDR3 RAM, expected only a year from now, is creeping in right now. More mainboards are supporting low DDR3 voltages, too.

Keep in mind that the similar lower voltage push will happen in the graphics memory field as well, where GDDR5 can proceed to evolve both at the speed front towards 6 Gbps and towards lower power versions for single slot cards as well as in mobile GPU applications.

In summary, as most PCs will soon ship with 4GB or more memory, and most workstations and servers with upwards of 12GB, memory power consumption and cool operation will become more important. It will be acheved not just by using newer smaller process geometries, but also denser designs and, of course, lower voltage levels.

Coupled with these improved processes and densities, low-voltage DDR3 memory will help save a lot of power while still delivering up to DDR3-1600 performance, helping to improve battery life and heat dissipation across all platform types. As for the higher speeds, well the usual 1.5V and 1.65V modules will still be there for the 'enthusiast' performance realms above DDR3-2000, until DDR4, running at 1.2V by default, starts appearing sometime in 2011.