# AMD says Mext can halve server memory use with minimal performance loss

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/amd-where-were-going-we-dont-need-as-much-dram/
- Published: 2026-11-11T09:59:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-11T10:20:09+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/systems/2026/11/11/amd-where-were-going-we-dont-need-as-much-dram/5308953
- Topics: AI, Technology

## Key points

- Mext aims to halve DRAM use while retaining up to 99 per cent of performance.
- AI predicts which memory pages to move between DRAM and NVMe storage.
- AMD estimates $5 million in savings across 145 deployed systems.

## Summary

AMD says its Mext software can let some Epyc servers use half as much DRAM while retaining up to 99 per cent of performance. It uses machine learning to move less frequently accessed memory pages to cheaper NVMe storage, then bring them back before applications need them.

AMD acquired Mext in June, and its former chief executive Gary Smerdon says the software has been deployed on 145 systems, with an estimated $5 million in avoided memory costs. AMD says flash costs less and uses less power per bit than DRAM, but is much slower; Mext aims to manage that trade-off by predicting memory access. The model trains on an Epyc CPU core in under a second, while virtualised setups require one core per VM or VPC.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.