Method and apparatus for repeatable drive strength assessments of high speed memory dimms

An apparatus for repeatable drive strength assessments of high speed memory devices, such as dual inline memory modules (DIMMs), the apparatus comprising:

• a. at least two printed circuit boards, one of the boards is configured to radiate, the other board is configured to receive and decode the radiation, the radiating board further has a memory controller wherein, during the drive strength assessment, the memory controller exercises a memory device in read mode, so only the memory device is driving, and in burst mode, so that an alternating current is created;
• b. at least one memory device, the at least one memory device having data outs which are fast switching buffers;
• c. memory data traces for carrying data to and from the memory controller and the memory device wherein only the memory data traces are radiated by the radiating board and wherein the memory data traces can be routed across open slots in the shield layer that are half a wavelength long;
• d. the memory controller having an output buffer;
• and
• e. each memory controller output buffer is over damped with a series resistor.