News DDR3 with both EPP 2.0 & XMP support "is possible"

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/03/24/ddr3_with_epp_2_and_xmp_support_possible/1

DDR3 memory modules supporting both EPP 2.0 and XMP are technically possible, but it may not happen because of the branding nightmare.

 

Both XMP and EPP are nothing more than saved profiles... just oc on your own and you dont need either, or get a mainboard that allows you to save various bios settings, then you not only have the memory oc saved, but everything.

 

You're clearly not in the target market though, like I said in the article. Many don't use them at all, because they prefer to tune their memory themselves, but those that don't know how or don't have time to do that will obviously look towards features like this.

 

from another perspective, it just a certification process of so-and-so RAM works faster on my chipset after we take look at your DIMM and confirm. It is a pay-for-RAM-Chipset-certification scheme.

General consumer market segment is less willing (or will never) pay for harware validation like in workstation/server market. Hence, they had to repackage it and tie it with "Performance" plus acronym.

This is a good thing in general.

I am sure there will identical DIMMs without EPP/EPP2/XMP label that works as well. With identical modules, It is only time someone figure out the EPP2 and XMP tables and program the DIMM themselves with very little risk as long as within voltage spec.

 

whats up with the SPD chip?

 

EPP / XMP use the SPD chip... they use the spare space to provide additional settings including voltage options, etc (that are accessible via EPP/XMP). JEDEC only certifies a limited amount of SPD settings and these are not designed with performance in mind.

Basically, memory manufacturers have to set their SPD to a certain value, even if they claim the modules can hit higher speeds. With EPP/XMP, they can enable the rated speeds by changing just one option in the BIOS. The rest is taken care of.