DRAMSys – The future of memory system optimization

DRAMSys is the essential tool for developers and engineers who need full visibility into their product development with integrated DRAM subsystems. This advanced Open Source simulation framework is based on the SystemC TLM-2.0 standard and offers unprecedented flexibility and speed.

With DRAMSys you can easily master the challenges of modern memory systems. From analyzing power consumption to examining temperature distributions to identifying and correcting retention errors - DRAMSys offers you the options to optimally design your system.

Best-in-class simulation models: Benefit from precise models that accurately represent the functionality, performance and temperature of DRAMs. Find the limiting factors in your system and make informed decisions.

Intuitive Trace Analyzer: With the user-friendly trace analyzer tool you can gain deep insights into the behavior of your application. Examine bank parallelism, bus utilization and much more. With the Python interface you can calculate and visualize metrics such as access latency, bandwidth and accesses per activate.

Thermal analysis: Use DRAMSys in combination with tools like DRAMPower and 3D-ICE to perform thermal simulations. Optimize your refresh strategies and reach new levels of efficiency.

• TLM2.0-AT-konform
• Comprehensive DRAM support according to all current JEDEC standards: DDR3/4/5, LPDDR4/5, Wide I/O 1/2, GDDR5/5X/6/7, HBM2/3 with 100% accuracy. Other standards such as CXL, UCIe, DDR6 or HBM4 are in development
• Flexible policies: Use various scheduling policies (FIFO, FR-FCFS and FR-FCFS with read/write grouping) and page policies (open, closed, open adaptive and closed adaptive) as well as power-down strategies to optimize the behavior of your memory architecture.
• Detailed performance analysis: Estimate power consumption and perform thermal simulations.
• Analysis of different refresh strategies (all-bank refresh, per-bank refresh, pulled-in, postpone) and power-down strategies (PDNA, PDNP, SREF, ...)
• Visual result analysis: With the Trace Analyzer you receive immediate visual feedback and can base your decisions on well-founded data.
• Full integration into the gem5 overall system simulation environment for integrated tests of individual software applications in the intended system and processor platform

With DRAMSys4.0, you have the power to systematically explore your design space and find the optimal DRAM architecture for your specific requirements. Whether you want to test new standards such as DDR5 or LPDDR5, configure the memory controller or optimize your system application, DRAMSys gives you the precise insights you need to be successful.

The application cases are diverse:

• Which DRAM configuration or standard is best for my product: DDR5, LPDDR5, HBM3?
• How will new standards like DDR5 or LPDDR5 change the behavior of my system? Will they provide greater value to my system?
• How can I configure the memory controller to achieve maximum performance or minimum power consumption?
• How can I optimize my system application with respect to the DRAM subsystem used?

DRAMSys is the fastest and most accurate simulation framework compared to other DRAM simulators. You can achieve

• maximized performance by identifying and eliminating memory bottlenecks
• reduced costs by optimizing expenses with accurate forecasts
• increased flexibility by testing different scenarios for optimal memory configuration

and benefit from a shorter time to market compared to using traditional RTL modelers.

Take your project to the next level. Schedule a meeting and find out for yourself how simulation-based facts can revolutionize your development.

Lukas Steiner explains the basics of DRAMSys at the SAMOS 2020 conference. He discusses the special TLM2.0 technology and explains the advantages of DRAMSys compared to conventional simulators.