The all-new laptop memory standard, CAMM (Computer and Multimedia Memory), has officially been adopted as a JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard and is now formally named CAMM2, marking its replacement of the SO-DIMM standard that has been in use for over 20 years.
Leading the way in introducing CAMM2 is Dell, who has incorporated it into their Precision 7670 laptop model. Compared to SO-DIMM, CAMM2 boasts a major advantage in its slimmer form factor, with Dell claiming it to be 57% thinner than SO-DIMM. Additionally, CAMM2 breaks through the 6400MHz limitation of DDR5 SO-DIMM memory and “expands to higher clock speeds”.
However, initially being a proprietary technology of Dell, CAMM2 lacked the convenience of upgradability as compared to SO-DIMM due to its sole production by Dell. In contrast, SO-DIMM memory could be purchased from numerous companies. This issue has been addressed by the standardization of CAMM2 through JEDEC, an organization responsible for establishing memory specifications such as GDDR6, HBM3, and DDR5.
CAMM2 standard encompasses two versions: one for DDR5 and the other for LPDDR5(X). It is worth noting that CAMM2 allows for non-soldered LPDDR5(X) memory, possibly reducing the usage of soldered DDR5 memory. However, these two versions have different pinouts, rendering one version incompatible for use on motherboards designed for the other type of RAM.
Another advantage of CAMM2 is that activating dual-channel memory no longer requires multiple memory modules. A single CAMM2 module can be designed to have two memory channels, providing more memory bandwidth for the CPU and integrated graphics, thereby enhancing performance. In contrast, SO-DIMM memory can only have a single channel per memory module. However, reports suggest that CAMM2 modules with a single memory channel will also be introduced.
While CAMM2 is expected to be considerably more expensive than SO-DIMM initially due to its recent release, it is destined to become the new standard for laptops and other mobile devices. The phasing out of SO-DIMM may take some time, and it is foreseeable that the lifecycles of both standards will overlap considerably.