When a read transaction size is smaller than the access quantum of the DRAM, bandwidth is always wasted. For example, a 32-byte read request to a 1x64 DDR4 DRAM, always reads 64 bytes and discards half the data. This imposes a 50% efficiency reduction on top of the normal DRAM efficiency.
When a write transaction size is smaller than the access quantum of the DRAM, the following two possibilities exist:
- Behavior similar to the read case where 50% of the efficiency is lost.
- While the transaction is pending in the queue, a subsequent transaction to the next address merges with the current transaction to make it a whole access quantum, thereby losing no efficiency. This behavior is attributed to the “write combine” feature of the DDRMC. Thus, linear access writes are efficient even when using 32B access in a 1x64 configuration, but random access writes are not.