CXL Use Case
50% Less Cost and 300% More Capacity with CXL
Q1’24 Memory Fabric Forum presentation of use case and cost analysis
50% less cost
If you want to lower the cost of your server memory (who doesn’t?), CXL technology offers a lower cost alternative to128GB DIMMs for scaling to multi-terabyte configurations.
A new class of PCIe Add-In Cards (AICs) support up to 8 lower cost 64GB and/or DDR4 DIMMs. The result you see below in the table is you can scale capacity up to 8TB for half the cost with a mixed memory configuration.
Memory Machine X Server Expansion software tells you if CXL memory is appropriate for your application environment and automatically places your data in the right memory tier for optimum performance.
CXL Add-in Card with DDR4 DIMMS
Mixed DIMM and CXL Memory Configurations
| Memory Configurations | DIMM size, type | Total Capacity (GB) | $/GB | Total Cost | Savings $ | Savings % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4TB | ||||||
| A. DIMM-only | 128GB | 4,096 | $11.25 | $46,080 | - | - |
| B. DIMM & CXL | 64GB, DDR5 | 4,096 | $5.60 | $22,928 | $26,008 | 50% |
| C. DIMM & CXL | 64, DDR4 | 4,096 | $4.90 | $20,072 | - | |
| 8TB | ||||||
| D. DIMM-only (quad-socket server required) | 128GB | 8,193 | $11.25 | $92,160 | - | |
| E. DIMM & CXL | 64, DDR4 | 8,192 | $5.77 | $47,288 | $44,872 | 49% |
300% more capacity
With a mix of DIMMs and AICs, it’s possible to configure a 2-socket server with up to 11.26TB of memory, or 38% more than the 8TB capacity possible using only DIMMs.
With a mix of DIMMs and AICs, it’s possible to configure a 4-socket server with up to 32TB of memory, or 300% more than the 8TB capacity possible using only DIMMs.
Memory Machine X Server Expansion software tells you if adding CXL memory is appropriate for your application environment and automatically places your data in the right memory tier for optimum performance.
CXL Add-in Card with 8x256GB DIMMS
| Memory Configurations | DIMM size, type | Total Capacity (GB) | $/GB | Total Cost | Capacity >8TB | Added Capacity % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11TB | ||||||
| F. DIMM & CXL | 96GB , DDR4 | 11,264 | $5.56 | $62,656 | 3,072 | 38% |
| 32TB | ||||||
| G. DIMM and CXL (quad-socket server required) | 256GB, DDR5 | 32,768 | $12.99 | $425,600 | 24,576 | 300% |