rimm

RIMM stands for Rambus Inline Memory Module, a memory module form factor designed to house Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) on computer motherboards. The term is often written as RIMM, but it is sometimes encountered in lowercase as rimm in informal contexts. RIMM modules were part of a broader Rambus memory architecture that aimed to provide high bandwidth and low latency through a high-speed bus and on-module memory buffers.

In practice, RIMM modules were used on systems that adopted Rambus DRAM and compatible chipsets. A typical motherboard with RIMM slots required multiple modules to operate in dual- or multi-channel configurations, and some platforms employed continuity modules to fill unused slots and maintain signal integrity. RDRAM and RIMM together represented a complete memory solution that differed from the more common SDRAM and later DDR SDRAM at the time.

Market history and legacy: RIMM/RDRAM emerged in the late 1990s as a high-performance alternative to SDRAM, but the technology faced several drawbacks. Licensing costs, higher memory prices, heat and power considerations, and mixed performance results relative to emerging DDR technologies limited widespread adoption. By the early 2000s, most mainstream systems shifted to DDR SDRAM, and Rambus-based platforms gradually faded from the consumer market. Today, RIMM modules are largely obsolete, surviving mainly in historical discussions of memory technology and in legacy systems that still rely on Rambus DRAM.

See also Rambus DRAM, RDRAM, DDR SDRAM.

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