[Hardware] Why no processor is sold with the RAM inside?

[FNX Magokiler]

RAM memory has been in all computers since the 70s, while it has happened all this time we have seen how components have appeared and disappeared. Some due to disuse, others because they are integrated into others. However, next to the processor there it is still. But what if we integrated RAM inside the processor and made it disappear? Is this possible to do? We explain it to you.

The trend in hardware is that motherboards are getting simpler compared to what they were a few years ago. For a few years now, people have been talking about certain technologies that would allow RAM and CPU to merge into the same entity. Will we see it in the future or instead are there limitations to it?
Is it possible to integrate RAM inside the processor?
One of the concepts regarding the performance of processors is that the closer the memory is to the units that execute the instructions, the better performance, since it takes less time to solve the instruction. The reason? Simple, the electrical signal has less distance to travel. So the ideal would be that processor and memory were on the same chip.

However, we find ourselves with the fact that there is RAM memory, which is the support memory that every processor uses to execute programs. Which, as you already know, is outside the chip and, therefore, does not bring the ideal performance. As if that were not enough, this distance increases energy consumption when transmitting data.

Bearing in mind that RAM memory is a fundamental piece of any architecture and we cannot delete it, we have wondered what would happen if we removed this component from view.

 

 

That is, if we integrated it into the processor. In any case, chips of this type already exist, since microcontrollers have precisely the memory with which they work inside the chip, but its function is very limited.

Advantages of integrating RAM inside the processor
First of all, we are going to talk about the advantages of integrating RAM into the processor. We put it on conditional because we are not going to take into account the technical limitations that prevent manufacturers from doing it so far. About which we will enter later. So for the moment we are going to limit ourselves to what the concept would be in theory and what advantages it would bring with it.

BMI would disappear
The integrated memory controller would end up disappearing, since it is in charge of managing the accesses with the external memory and, therefore, its space would be occupied by the RAM memory inside the processor. In the same way, the entire part of the periphery, which is the interface in charge of communicating with the system's memory externally, would also cease to exist since said memory does not exist in theory.

Processor performance would increase
Obviously, by completely reducing the access time to the data and instructions, all of them would be executed in less time and obviously the performance of these is measured by the number of instructions that they can execute in a given time. Why? Well, due to the fact that this translates into executing the programs faster or, failing that, being able to manage several of them at the same time.

 

https://hardzone.es/noticias/componentes/ram-dentro-procesador/