Memory bandwidth (Memory) over time
Peak or measured transfer rate. Theoretical bus bandwidth and benchmarked bandwidth belong to different comparability groups.
- Device scope
- memory
- Method
- Theoretical peak
- Plotted in
- bytes per second
Chart
31 figures from 28 machines, spanning 1981 to 2025. The lowest memory bandwidth here is 1.19 MB/s (IBM Personal Computer 5150, 1981) and the highest is 3.35 TB/s (NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU (SXM), 2022). That is a range of about 2 815 126× within one comparability group; the figures are plotted in B/s. Points use the release date of the machine the figure belongs to. The table below lists absent figures with their recorded reasons.
Data
| Machine | Released | Figure | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBM Personal Computer 5150 | August 1981 | 1.19 MB/s | Derived | |
| BBC Micro Model B | December 1981 | 4.00 MB/s | Derived | |
| Nintendo 64 Nintendo 64 main memory (RDRAM) | June 1996 | 500 MB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Sega Dreamcast Dreamcast main memory | November 1998 | 800 MB/s | Theoretical | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 256 DDR 32 MiB reference card | October 1999 | 4.800 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 256 SDR 32 MiB reference card | October 1999 | 2.656 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Sony PlayStation 2 Graphics Synthesizer embedded DRAM | March 2000 | 48 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| Sony PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 main memory (Direct RDRAM) | March 2000 | 3.2 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| Nintendo GameCube | September 2001 | 2.6 GB/s | Vendor-rated | |
| Microsoft Xbox | November 2001 | 6.4 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| ATI Radeon 9700 Pro ATI Radeon 9700 Pro frame buffer | August 2002 | 19.8 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra frame buffer | April 2004 | 35 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 | November 2005 | 22.4 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX frame buffer | November 2006 | 86.4 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Sony PlayStation 3 PlayStation 3 video memory (GDDR3) | November 2006 | 22.4 GB/s | Vendor-rated provisional | |
| Sony PlayStation 3 PlayStation 3 main memory (XDR DRAM) | November 2006 | 25.6 GB/s | Vendor-rated provisional | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 frame buffer | November 2010 | 192.4 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Nintendo Wii U | November 2012 | 12.8 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Microsoft Xbox One | November 2013 | 68 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti frame buffer | November 2013 | 336 GB/s | Theoretical provisional | |
| Sony PlayStation 4 PlayStation 4 unified system memory (GDDR5) | November 2013 | 176 GB/s | Vendor-rated provisional | |
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 frame buffer | May 2016 | 320 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti frame buffer | September 2018 | 616 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| Microsoft Xbox Series X | November 2020 | 560 GB/s | Vendor-rated | |
| Sony PlayStation 5 PlayStation 5 unified GDDR6 memory | November 2020 | 448 GB/s | Vendor-rated provisional | |
| NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU (SXM) NVIDIA H100 (SXM) GPU memory | 2022 | 3.35 TB/s | Theoretical | |
| Valve Steam Deck | February 2022 | 88 GB/s | Derived | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 frame buffer | October 2022 | 1008 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX frame buffer | December 2022 | 960 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| Intel Core i9-14900K PC PC DDR5 SDRAM | October 2023 | 89.6 GB/s | Vendor-rated | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 frame buffer | January 2025 | 1792 GB/s | Theoretical | |
| Apollo Guidance Computer (Block II) | 1966 | unknown The report describes the memory by cycle time and word length rather than by a transfer rate, which is how core-memory machines were specified. | not plotted | — |
| Saturn Launch Vehicle Digital Computer | 1966 | unknown The report specifies the memory by module capacity, word length and cycle time, and states no transfer rate. | not plotted | — |
| Apple II | June 1977 | unknown The reference manual specifies memory organization, not a transfer-rate figure. | not plotted | — |
| Atari 2600 | September 1977 | unknown The reviewed guide gives no memory bandwidth. | not plotted | — |
| Intel 8086 PC Early PC dynamic RAM | 1978 | unknown The cited processor documentation does not specify a sustained or peak byte-transfer rate for the chosen early-PC memory configurations. | not plotted | — |
| Atari 800 | November 1979 | unknown The reviewed hardware manual gives no memory transfer rate. | not plotted | — |
| Intel 80286 PC Early PC dynamic RAM | 1982 | unknown The cited processor documentation does not specify a sustained or peak byte-transfer rate for the chosen early-PC memory configurations. | not plotted | — |
| ZX Spectrum 48K | April 1982 | unknown The source describes RAM access arbitration but provides no transfer-rate figure. | not plotted | — |
| Commodore 64 | August 1982 | unknown The Programmer’s Reference Guide describes the memory by capacity, by address map and by which chip may reach which part of it, and never states a transfer rate. | not plotted | — |
| MSX | 1983 | unknown No accepted memory transfer-rate figure was located in the data book. | not plotted | — |
| Apple Macintosh 128K | January 1984 | unknown No compatible memory-transfer rate is published for this shared-DRAM design. | not plotted | — |
| Amstrad CPC 464 | June 1984 | unknown No accepted memory transfer-rate figure was located in the user guide. | not plotted | — |
| Intel 80386DX PC 32-bit PC dynamic RAM | 1985 | unknown The cited processor documentation does not specify a comparable byte-transfer peak for these 386 and 486 configurations. | not plotted | — |
| Atari 520ST | June 1985 | unknown The reviewed manual gives no main-memory transfer-rate figure. | not plotted | — |
| Nintendo Entertainment System | October 1985 | unknown Nintendo's table states two memory capacities and no transfer rate, bus width or timing, so there is neither a bandwidth to read nor terms to compute one from. | not plotted | — |
| Sega Master System | June 1986 | unknown The reviewed manual gives no memory bandwidth or bus width. | not plotted | — |
| Commodore Amiga 500 | 1987 | unknown The manual states which parts of memory the custom chips can reach and how bus cycles are shared between them, and states no transfer rate. | not plotted | — |
| Acorn Archimedes A310 | June 1987 | unknown The reviewed manual gives no memory transfer-rate figure. | not plotted | — |
| NEC PC Engine | October 1987 | unknown The reviewed system-outline manual gives no memory bandwidth or bus width. | not plotted | — |
| Sega Mega Drive | October 1988 | unknown The reviewed manual covers a different console revision. | not plotted | — |
| Intel 80486DX PC 32-bit PC dynamic RAM | 1989 | unknown The cited processor documentation does not specify a comparable byte-transfer peak for these 386 and 486 configurations. | not plotted | — |
| Nintendo Game Boy | April 1989 | unknown The reviewed manual gives no memory bandwidth or bus width. | not plotted | — |
| SNK Neo Geo AES | April 1990 | unknown The reviewed manual gives no memory bandwidth or bus width. | not plotted | — |
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System | August 1991 | unknown Nintendo's table states memory capacities in bits and no transfer rate, bus width or timing. | not plotted | — |
| Commodore Amiga 1200 | October 1992 | unknown The service manual states the data path width and the memory fitted, and no transfer rate. | not plotted | — |
| Commodore Amiga 4000 | October 1992 | unknown The checked manuals provide capacity and memory topology, not a transfer rate. | not plotted | — |
| Intel Pentium PC PC synchronous dynamic RAM | 1993 | unknown The representative PC configurations state capacity but do not assert an unverified memory-bus peak. | not plotted | — |
| Sega Saturn | November 1994 | unknown Sega's specification block states memory capacities and no transfer rate, bus width or timing. | not plotted | — |
| Sony PlayStation | December 1994 | unknown The developer reference states the capacity of main memory and of video memory and the bus width, and no transfer rate for either. | not plotted | — |
| 3dfx Voodoo Graphics 3dfx Voodoo Graphics frame buffer | November 1996 | unknown No reviewed source establishes this figure for a Voodoo Graphics board. | not plotted | — |
| Intel Pentium II PC PC synchronous dynamic RAM | 1997 | unknown The representative PC configurations state capacity but do not assert an unverified memory-bus peak. | not plotted | — |
| Silicon Graphics Octane | 1997 | unknown The cited documents are published SPEC results, which describe the machine’s configuration and its scores and state no memory bandwidth. | not plotted | — |
| Game Boy Advance | March 2001 | unknown The reviewed manual gives no memory bandwidth or bus width. | not plotted | — |
| Intel Pentium 4 PC PC DDR SDRAM | 2002 | unknown One of the three machines fitted with this component can be documented and the component cannot: Intel rates the Core i7-2600K's dual-channel DDR3-1333 interface at 21 GB/s. The same component also stands for the Pentium 4's DDR and the Core 2 Duo E6600's DDR2, which are different standards at different transfer rates, so the one figure available describes a third of the component. | not plotted | — |
| Nintendo DS | November 2004 | unknown The reviewed reference gives no main-memory transfer-rate figure. | not plotted | — |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 PC PC DDR SDRAM | July 2006 | unknown One of the three machines fitted with this component can be documented and the component cannot: Intel rates the Core i7-2600K's dual-channel DDR3-1333 interface at 21 GB/s. The same component also stands for the Pentium 4's DDR and the Core 2 Duo E6600's DDR2, which are different standards at different transfer rates, so the one figure available describes a third of the component. | not plotted | — |
| Nintendo Wii | November 2006 | unknown The registered technical source does not yet provide a transcribed comparable memory transfer-rate figure. | not plotted | — |
| Intel Core i7-2600K PC PC DDR SDRAM | January 2011 | unknown One of the three machines fitted with this component can be documented and the component cannot: Intel rates the Core i7-2600K's dual-channel DDR3-1333 interface at 21 GB/s. The same component also stands for the Pentium 4's DDR and the Core 2 Duo E6600's DDR2, which are different standards at different transfer rates, so the one figure available describes a third of the component. | not plotted | — |
| Nintendo Switch | March 2017 | unknown Nintendo's technical specification page has no memory row, so it states neither a bandwidth nor the transfer rate and bus width one could be computed from. | not plotted | — |
Why this chart holds one group only
Every point on a chart is implicitly compared with every other point on it. This chart uses one comparability group: one metric, one device scope, one method . There is no chart of all clock frequencies over time because they are not one quantity.
Points use the release date of the machine a figure belongs to, including figures recorded against a part. A release date applies only to a machine that shipped. What this metric measures.