Abstract: The growing rate of microprocessor
performances significantly overcomes the one in DRAM
memory. This problem of ever-increasing gap between CPU
and memory speeds has been explored by many researchers.
As a result, diverse specialized memory chips, that integrate
processing, have been proposed. This paper discusses the
architecture and implementation of several "smart"
memories (computational RAM - CRAM, processing in
memory - PIM chip and intelligent RAM - IRAM),
including their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for
high speed processing. Considering that these integrated
chips allow for a high on-chip memory bandwidth and low
latency, we examine IRAM's application for performing
memory intensive operations, such as the complex
calculations of the fast Fourier transform (FFT).