Abstract: A quad data rate RAM (100) in accordance with the invention is a burst synchronous RAM with separate data buses (Data-In, Data-Out) for read and write data. Data can be transferred on both buses and on both the rising and the falling edge of the clock (CLK). Operating at the maximum throughput, four data items are transferred per clock cycle. In one embodiment, data is written to or read from the RAM in bursts of four data items. The RAM includes four independent internal RAM blocks (44-47). in a write burst, (i) a write address, (ii) control signal(s), and (iii) four write data items are sequentially presented to the respective four internal RAM blocks at the respective four clock edges of two consecutive clock cycles. A read burst is carried out similar to a write burst except that there is a one clock cycle latency between the four read data items and the burst address.