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 for CXL 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 for CXL 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% |