hbm Build flash drive with HBM modules

[Mixo-Max]

I was wondering if it would be possible to build a REAL fast 64gb usb 3.1 flash drive with 4 of theses 16gb hbm2 modules wich run at 4 gb/s each for a total of 16gb/s wich would be totally unneccesary. I couldnt find any documentation for any sort of hbm2 controller to usb aswell as no way to buy single hbm2 modules from samsung or anywhere else. If anyone finds out either, please hmu.

[RollinLower]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't HBM lose the data stored in it after it loses power?

[Skiiwee29]

Doable? no.

 

Feasable? No.

 

A) Cost for HBM is significantly higher than any other memory chips on the market.

 

B) You wouldn't be able to keep them cool enough to prevent burn out.

 

C) HBM is volatile memory, meaning it will lose its data when it loses power. 

[Skiiwee29]

1 minute ago, RollinLower said:

Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't HBM lose the data stored in it after it loses power?

You would be correct. HBM is volatile memory.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bandwidth_Memory

[curiousmind34]

3 minutes ago, Mixo-Max said:

I was wondering if it would be possible to build a REAL fast 64gb usb 3.1 flash drive with 4 of theses 16gb hbm2 modules wich run at 4 gb/s each for a total of 16gb/s wich would be totally unneccesary. I couldnt find any documentation for any sort of hbm2 controller to usb aswell as no way to buy single hbm2 modules from samsung or anywhere else. If anyone finds out either, please hmu.

USB 4 caps out at 4.8 GB/s, same thing for thunderbolt. Also, pretty sure HBM is volatile. You are better off getting a good external ssd.

[Mixo-Max]

Edit: I do know that HBM is volatile. I would have to build some sort of battery to go with it so it gets power whent its unplugged/ the computer is turned off.

[Mixo-Max]

13 minutes ago, curiousmind34 said:

USB 4 caps out at 4.8 GB/s, same thing for thunderbolt. Also, pretty sure HBM is volatile. You are better off getting a good external ssd.

That might be the limitation. Would it be possible to have it connected to multiple usb ports and transfer data over multiple usb ports at the same time to increase the speed. eg if i connect it to say 10 usb 4 ports it could run at 48gb/s, right?

[Mixo-Max]

18 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

Correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't HBM lose the data stored in it after it loses power?

yes, I would have to build some kind of battery

[Mixo-Max]

18 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Doable? no.

 

Feasable? No.

 

A) Cost for HBM is significantly higher than any other memory chips on the market.

 

B) You wouldn't be able to keep them cool enough to prevent burn out.

 

C) HBM is volatile memory, meaning it will lose its data when it loses power. 

a) i know

b) i would have to activly cool it with somethink like an amd stock cooler of wich i have one lying around.

c) i would have to build some sort of battery to go with it

[Kilrah]

Technically almost anything is possible if you throw enough resources at it...

 

In practice it would probably take you a couple of years to learn everything you need to know to do so, cost a few thousands/tens of thousands/millions of $ in parts, tools and prototyping, and that might not be a very wise investment to end with a pointless thing. 

[Murasaki]

12 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Technically almost anything is possible if you throw enough resources at it...

 

In practice it would probably take you a couple of years to learn everything you need to know to do so, and that might not be a very wise investment to end with a pointless thing. 

*sad kickstarter noises*

[mariushm]

You'd have to fabricate a usb stick controller  or  ssd controller which supports HBM, because  HBM is 1024 bit wide ... most SSD controllers have a 32 bit wide or 2 x 32 bit wide memory controller and use DDR3L / DDR4 chips.  RAM sticks in your regular computer are made with 8 bit wide chips, ex. 8 x 8 bit wide = 64 bit wide stick or DDR4 memory.

 

So to support 4 HBM chips, the ssd controller chip needs to have AT LEAST 4 x 1024 traces  going to the memory, plus around 2-500 for extra stuff related to memory, which would make it a big (surface wise) chip and an expensive one. 

Then you have to make connections between the controller chip and the 4 hbm chips and amd did this in the past by using an interposer ... basically a silicon chip that contains only those thousands of traces between the ssd controller and the memory chips. 

The estimated cost for the interposer chip alone was around 35$ when the Fury cards were released. 

 

Then you have the added costs of soldering the 4 chips onto the interposer, testing them, accepting that there's maybe a 3-5% failure rate when "gluing" the chips to the interposer so you'll lose hbm memory and controller chips during this packaging. 

 

The HBM memory itself is more expensive than regular memory, let's say if a 16 GB stick is 50$, the HBM chip would be 75-80$ to make, because there's still a high failure rate, so they have to sell a lot of the chips as only 8 GB or 4 GB stacks. 

 

Power consumption wise, 4 stacks of hbm2 probably won't need a super big cooler, I'm thinking it would consume around 10-20 watts, so a chipset type heatsink and fan would probably be sufficient.

It would consume much less when it's just idling, retaining data... maybe a watt or so... but as long as someone's willing to pay 500$ for a 64 GB stick, they'll be willing to pay $550 , which allows your fancy pants ssd controller to dump the data from ram to a 64-128 GB flash chip on power loss so the hbm memory can then be left turned off completely.

[curiousmind34]

3 hours ago, Mixo-Max said:

That might be the limitation. Would it be possible to have it connected to multiple usb ports and transfer data over multiple usb ports at the same time to increase the speed. eg if i connect it to say 10 usb 4 ports it could run at 48gb/s, right?

No motherboard has 10 usb 4 ports, realistically you are going to have to use pcie express to get more speed. PCIE express 4 caps out at 32 GB/s with 16 lanes.