A stupid question about RAM

[Radium_Angel]

The mobo says it supports ECC RAM (as well as supporting Xeons, for which ECC RAM is ideal) but if the CPU is a non-Xeon, and the RAM is ECC, will there be a compatibility issue, or will the Intel CPU simply ignore the ECC part and treat it as normal RAM?

[paddy-stone]

Shouldn't be a compatability issue, non-xeons can use ecc ram too. I have a micro-server that has a dual core celeron g1610t that uses ecc ram.

I read a thread on here a while back that seemed to suggest if your motherboard supports ecc, but the cpu doesn't, then it might turn off the ecc chip and still run fine, as long as the motherboard supports the ram and is not a miodded bios. I'll try to find it.

[paddy-stone]

 

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Shouldn't be a compatability issue, non-xeons can use ecc ram too. I have a micro-server that has a dual core celeron g1610t that uses ecc ram.

I read a thread on here a while back that seemed to suggest if your motherboard supports ecc, but the cpu doesn't, then it might turn off the ecc chip and still run fine, as long as the motherboard supports the ram and is not a miodded bios. I'll try to find it.

Thank you kindly. 

I asked because ECC RAM is way cheaper to buy (in the older DDR3 format) than non-ECC RAM, but the CPU is a vanilla i5.

[A1200]

9 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Thank you kindly. 

I asked because ECC RAM is way cheaper to buy (in the older DDR3 format) than non-ECC RAM, but the CPU is a vanilla i5.

ECC memory has data relaibility as a priority but there is a small tradeoff in performance - I don't think its likely measureable in real world application but it is a documented "con" for ECC.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, A1200 said:

ECC memory has data relaibility as a priority but there is a small tradeoff in performance - I don't think its likely measureable in real world application but it is a documented "con" for ECC.

This part I am aware of, but since I"m not a gamer (really, I play 2 games, which are very simple) the perf hit isn't a factor.

Main main workstation uses ecc registered ram (I'm a photographer) and dual Xeons, just never mixed-n-matched ram and cpus before.

[paddy-stone]

33 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Thank you kindly. 

I asked because ECC RAM is way cheaper to buy (in the older DDR3 format) than non-ECC RAM, but the CPU is a vanilla i5.

 

I don't have a ddr3 motherboard that supports ecc ram unfortunately, if not I'd do a quick test to see if that works out... and I don't have any ddr4 ecc ram either, so can't test that way. Sorry I couldn't help with a definitive answer here. couldn't you briefly turn off one of your servers and borrow an ecc module or 2 to test in the i5 board?  that's what I'd do personally, assuming you have the board and cpu already?

[Radium_Angel]

2 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

 

I don't have a ddr3 motherboard that supports ecc ram unfortunately, if not I'd do a quick test to see if that works out... and I don't have any ddr4 ecc ram either, so can't test that way. Sorry I couldn't help with a definitive answer here. couldn't you briefly turn off one of your servers and borrow an ecc module or 2 to test in the i5 board?  that's what I'd do personally, assuming you have the board and cpu already?

You have been most helpful already, I will do that when I get a moment and report back.

 

Cheers Mate!

[paddy-stone]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

You have been most helpful already, I will do that when I get a moment and report back.

 

Cheers Mate!

No worries

 

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

if the CPU is a non-Xeon

Depends on the CPU, so which is it?

ARK will say if it supports ECC or not. The consumer I-series usually don't. 

ECC support has long been the one thing differentiating the consumer Core line and the Xeons, to force people wanting it to go Xeon.

[Radium_Angel]

2 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

ARK

Doh!

Totally forgot to check there.

Yeah it's not supported.

It's an older i5-3570k