Using ECC in a non-ECC board

[TubsAlwaysWins]

Is it possible to use ECC RAM in a non-ECC motherboard? Looking at buying a used server that I think has ECC RAM and it has alot of it, so I figured if I do get it I would throw some in my current system. So can I use ECC RAM in a Non-ECC motherboard and just not use the ECC part?

[Oshino Shinobu]

No. The system will not even POST if either the CPU or board do not support ECC. 

[TubsAlwaysWins]

Just now, Oshino Shinobu said:

No. The system will not even POST if either the CPU or board do not support ECC. 

Darn

[Shiv78]

no it won't work

 

[ARikozuM]

23 minutes ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

Is it possible to use ECC RAM in a non-ECC motherboard? Looking at buying a used server that I think has ECC RAM and it has alot of it, so I figured if I do get it I would throw some in my current system. So can I use ECC RAM in a Non-ECC motherboard and just not use the ECC part?

It will work in most cases as the pins are keyed the same. The problem of not POSTing is from buffered RAM.

NOTE: You will lose function of the "ECC" in your RAM.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

36 minutes ago, TubsAlwaysWins said:

Is it possible to use ECC RAM in a non-ECC motherboard? Looking at buying a used server that I think has ECC RAM and it has alot of it, so I figured if I do get it I would throw some in my current system. So can I use ECC RAM in a Non-ECC motherboard and just not use the ECC part?

If your current system is the one in your signature, it depends on whether it is buffered or unbuffered ECC. If its unbuffered ECC, it should work, unless MSI decided to make the only AMe+ board that does not support ECC ram. Unfortunately, servers tend to use buffered ECC, so chances are still slim. But double-check which type of ram you are actually considering buying.

Bottom line: your problem is not ECC, but buffered vs unbuffered so find out that before buying.

 

Edit: MSI doesn't mention ECC anywhere, which raises my suspicions, but their tested memory list includes some ECC sticks. So, find out as much as you can about that memory  

[TubsAlwaysWins]

18 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

It will work in most cases as the pins are keyed the same. The problem of not POSTing is from buffered RAM.

NOTE: You will lose function of the "ECC" in your RAM.

So it will work it just won't be ECC in my system? Also when you say I will loose the ECC you mean only when it is in a non-ecc board right?

[ARikozuM]

Just now, TubsAlwaysWins said:

So it will work it just won't be ECC in my system? Also when you say I will loose the ECC you mean only when it is in a non-ecc board right?

ECC RAM will work so long as it is unbuffered.

If your CPU (Pentium, i3, and Xeons support) or motherboard doesn't support ECC, your board will recognize it as non-ECC RAM and continue work as normal.

[TubsAlwaysWins]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

ECC RAM will work so long as it is unbuffered.

If your CPU (Pentium, i3, and Xeons support) or motherboard doesn't support ECC, your board will recognize it as non-ECC RAM and continue work as normal.

So say it is unbuffered and I stick it in my system, it will work. When I put it back in a Xeon system it will still work right?

[ARikozuM]

Just now, TubsAlwaysWins said:

So say it is unbuffered and I stick it in my system, it will work. When I put it back in a Xeon system it will still work right?

Yes.

[TubsAlwaysWins]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

Yes.

Ok thank you

[Joshuabishop4]

it wont work

[System Error Message]

people seem to get registered, unbuffered and ECC mixed up.

 

I have lga 1366 xeons in consumer boards that use ECC unregistered ram. They boot find and memtest says ECC ram but i dont know how to verify if its using ECC or not. ECC is dependent on the memory controller and with the phenom ii and iseries the memory controller is on the CPU so CPU determines whether ECC feature is used or not for ECC ram. Even if not supported the system will boot with ECC ram but not use ECC feature. ECC is an error correcting feature and has nothing to do with registered/unbuffered.

 

registered and unbuffered however cant be mixed. If a board supports registered memory it will be mentioned. If you use unbuffered ram on a server board or board that supports registered memory the system will boot up fine and vice versa as long as you dont mix registered and unbuffered. In a regular consumer board that doesnt support registered memory the system will not boot if you use registered memory.

 

Registered memory has the address table on it so it allows having huge memory sizes like 2TB of ram in a single system which CPU memory controllers dont support.

[Joshuabishop4]

1 minute ago, System Error Message said:

people seem to get registered, unbuffered and ECC mixed up.

 

I have lga 1366 xeons in consumer boards that use ECC unregistered ram. They boot find and memtest says ECC ram but i dont know how to verify if its using ECC or not. ECC is dependent on the memory controller and with the phenom ii and iseries the memory controller is on the CPU so CPU determines whether ECC feature is used or not for ECC ram. Even if not supported the system will boot with ECC ram but not use ECC feature. ECC is an error correcting feature and has nothing to do with registered/unbuffered.

 

registered and unbuffered however cant be mixed. If a board supports registered memory it will be mentioned. If you use unbuffered ram on a server board or board that supports registered memory the system will boot up fine and vice versa as long as you dont mix registered and unbuffered. In a regular consumer board that doesnt support registered memory the system will not boot if you use registered memory.

 

Registered memory has the address table on it so it allows having huge memory sizes like 2TB of ram in a single system which CPU memory controllers dont support.

2TB?! I have 69TB ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[System Error Message]

Just now, Joshuabishop4 said:

2TB?! I have 69TB ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

69TB of ram?

[Joshuabishop4]

Yes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) and the CPU is an Intel i386, 500MHz, overclocked to 501MHz

[MineCraftDance]

On 02/10/2016 at 12:01 PM, Oshino Shinobu said:

No. The system will not even POST if either the CPU or board do not support ECC. 

Well my dell optiplex 990 booted with a single ecc stick installed and i was able to use more then 8gb (3x4gb) in unraid
CPU: i7 2600