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Notebook upgrade - to ECC or not to ECC?

notagamer
By notagamer
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Go to solution Solved by solado,
3 minutes ago, notagamer said:

It's a Ryzen 3 3200U. So you would suggest me to buy a non-ECC RAM?

Just go with non-ECC as you have a soldered on RAM chip anyway.

 

Try match the latency / speed of the existing ram soldered onto the computer, it will just improve compatability (shouldn't be an issue anyway) and stops you buying faster RAM for it to simply down clock to the slowest chip & spending more money unessaserily.

Posted

Hi there,

my Notebook is my main device for daily use and I want to upgrade its RAM from 8GB to 20GB in order to be able to properly run some VMs and other virtualization stuff on it. Now I have got some questions:

  1. Can I replace SODIMM RAM with an ECC SODIMM?
  2. Would I even notice a difference with ECC?
  3. dmidecode differentiates between configured memory speed and speed. What do both of them mean, and which RAM speed would be the best for me when buying a new SODIMM?

 

Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-14API

RAM config: dual channel: 1x 4GB DDR4 2666Mbps (Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD) on the motherboard + 1x 4GB DDR4 2666Mbps (Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD) removable SODIMM

dmidecode output: 

# dmidecode 3.4
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.1.1 present.

Handle 0x001E, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
	Location: System Board Or Motherboard
	Use: System Memory
	Error Correction Type: None
	Maximum Capacity: 64 GB
	Error Information Handle: 0x0021
	Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x001F, DMI type 17, 40 bytes
Memory Device
	Array Handle: 0x001E
	Error Information Handle: 0x0022
	Total Width: 64 bits
	Data Width: 64 bits
	Size: 4 GB
	Form Factor: SODIMM
	Set: None
	Locator: DIMM 0
	Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL A
	Type: DDR4
	Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
	Speed: 2667 MT/s
	Manufacturer: Samsung
	Serial Number: 00000000
	Asset Tag: Not Specified
	Part Number: M471A5244CB0-CTD    
	Rank: 1
	Configured Memory Speed: 2400 MT/s
	Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Configured Voltage: 1.2 V

Handle 0x0020, DMI type 17, 40 bytes
Memory Device
	Array Handle: 0x001E
	Error Information Handle: 0x0023
	Total Width: 64 bits
	Data Width: 64 bits
	Size: 4 GB
	Form Factor: SODIMM
	Set: None
	Locator: DIMM 0
	Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL B
	Type: DDR4
	Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
	Speed: 2667 MT/s
	Manufacturer: Samsung
	Serial Number: 3459C118
	Asset Tag: Not Specified
	Part Number: M471A5244CB0-CTD    
	Rank: 1
	Configured Memory Speed: 2400 MT/s
	Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Configured Voltage: 1.2 V

 

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Posted

What CPU is it ?

From online looks like a Ryzen and there isn't official ECC ram support on Ryzen IIRC.

 

Quote

Would I even notice a difference with ECC?

If it works, real world nope.

CPU: Ryzen 5900x | GPU: RTX 3090 FE | MB: MSI X470 Gaming Pro Carbon | RAM: 32gb Ballistix | PSU: Corsair RM750 | Cooler: Sythe Fuma 2 | Case: Phanteks P600s | Storage: 2TB WD Black SN 750 & 1TB Sabrent Rocket | OS: Windows 11 Pro & Linux Mint

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12 minutes ago, notagamer said:

Hi there,

my Notebook is my main device for daily use and I want to upgrade its RAM from 8GB to 20GB in order to be able to properly run some VMs and other virtualization stuff on it. Now I have got some questions:

  1. Can I replace SODIMM RAM with an ECC SODIMM?
  2. Would I even notice a difference with ECC?
  3. dmidecode differentiates between configured memory speed and speed. What do both of them mean, and which RAM speed would be the best for me when buying a new SODIMM?

 

Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-14API

RAM config: dual channel: 1x 4GB DDR4 2666Mbps (Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD) on the motherboard + 1x 4GB DDR4 2666Mbps (Samsung M471A5244CB0-CTD) removable SODIMM

dmidecode output: 

# dmidecode 3.4
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 3.1.1 present.

Handle 0x001E, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
	Location: System Board Or Motherboard
	Use: System Memory
	Error Correction Type: None
	Maximum Capacity: 64 GB
	Error Information Handle: 0x0021
	Number Of Devices: 2

Handle 0x001F, DMI type 17, 40 bytes
Memory Device
	Array Handle: 0x001E
	Error Information Handle: 0x0022
	Total Width: 64 bits
	Data Width: 64 bits
	Size: 4 GB
	Form Factor: SODIMM
	Set: None
	Locator: DIMM 0
	Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL A
	Type: DDR4
	Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
	Speed: 2667 MT/s
	Manufacturer: Samsung
	Serial Number: 00000000
	Asset Tag: Not Specified
	Part Number: M471A5244CB0-CTD    
	Rank: 1
	Configured Memory Speed: 2400 MT/s
	Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Configured Voltage: 1.2 V

Handle 0x0020, DMI type 17, 40 bytes
Memory Device
	Array Handle: 0x001E
	Error Information Handle: 0x0023
	Total Width: 64 bits
	Data Width: 64 bits
	Size: 4 GB
	Form Factor: SODIMM
	Set: None
	Locator: DIMM 0
	Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL B
	Type: DDR4
	Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
	Speed: 2667 MT/s
	Manufacturer: Samsung
	Serial Number: 3459C118
	Asset Tag: Not Specified
	Part Number: M471A5244CB0-CTD    
	Rank: 1
	Configured Memory Speed: 2400 MT/s
	Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V
	Configured Voltage: 1.2 V

 

Your kind of stuck here as there's memory soldered on the motherboard so the best memory would be the same speed with similar timings as the soldered memory. I doubt you'd see any benefit from ECC even if it did work with the non-ECC built in.

 

Even then as it appears there's only a single SODIMM slot for expansion you'll still be running only 8GB at dual-channel and the other 12GB will be at single channel. Still that shouldn't be an issue for most workloads other than computational intensive ones like Pi-Bench that thrive on low latency access to memory.

FaH BOINC HfM

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Systems:

desktop: Lian-Li O11 Air Mini; Asus ProArt x670 WiFi; Ryzen 9 7950x; EVGA 240 CLC; 4 x 32GB DDR5-5600; 2 x Samsung 980 Pro 500GB PCIe3 NVMe; 2 x 8TB NAS; AMD FirePro W4100; MSI 4070 Ti Super Ventus 2; Corsair SF750

nas1: Fractal Node 804; SuperMicro X10sl7-f; Xeon e3-1231v3; 4 x 8GB DDR3-1666 ECC; 2 x 250GB Samsung EVO Pro SSD; 7 x 4TB Seagate NAS; Corsair HX650i

nas2: Synology DS-123j; 2 x 6TB WD Red Plus NAS

nas3: Synology DS-224+; 2 x 12TB Seagate NAS

dcn01: Fractal Meshify S2; Gigabyte Aorus ax570 Master; Ryzen 9 5900x; Noctua NH-D15; 4 x 16GB DDR4-3200; 512GB NVMe; 2 x Zotac AMP 4070ti; Corsair RM750Mx

dcn02: Fractal Meshify S2; Gigabyte ax570 Pro WiFi; Ryzen 9 3950x; Noctua NH-D15; 2 x 16GB DDR4-3200; 128GB NVMe; 2 x Zotac AMP 4070ti; Corsair RM750x

dcn03: Fractal Meshify C; Gigabyte Aorus z370 Gaming 5; i9-9900k; BeQuiet! PureRock 2 Black; 2 x 8GB DDR4-2400; 128GB SATA m.2; MSI 4070 Ti Super Gaming X; MSI 4070 Ti Super Ventus 2; Corsair TX650m

dcn05: Fractal Define S; Gigabyte Aorus b450m; Ryzen 7 2700; AMD Wraith; 2 x 8GB DDR 4-3200; 128GB SATA NVMe; Gigabyte Gaming RTX 4080 Super; Corsair TX750m

dcn06: Fractal Focus G Mini; Gigabyte Aorus b450m; Ryzen 7 2700; AMD Wraith; 2 x 8GB DDR 4-3200; 128GB SSD; Gigabyte Gaming RTX 4080 Super; Corsair CX650m

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  • Author

It's a Ryzen 3 3200U. So you would suggest me to buy a non-ECC RAM?

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Just now, Gorgon said:

Even then as it appears there's only a single SODIMM slot for expansion you'll still be running only 8GB at dual-channel and the other 12GB will be at single channel. Still that shouldn't be an issue for most workloads other than computational intensive ones like Pi-Bench that thrive on low latency access to memory.

I don't plan running any benchmarks on my Notebook. This upgrade is mainly for running VMs (I do effectively have ~5-6GiB of RAM which isn't enough for Windows virtualization or running multiple VMs at a time).

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  • Solution
3 minutes ago, notagamer said:

It's a Ryzen 3 3200U. So you would suggest me to buy a non-ECC RAM?

Just go with non-ECC as you have a soldered on RAM chip anyway.

 

Try match the latency / speed of the existing ram soldered onto the computer, it will just improve compatability (shouldn't be an issue anyway) and stops you buying faster RAM for it to simply down clock to the slowest chip & spending more money unessaserily.

CPU: Ryzen 5900x | GPU: RTX 3090 FE | MB: MSI X470 Gaming Pro Carbon | RAM: 32gb Ballistix | PSU: Corsair RM750 | Cooler: Sythe Fuma 2 | Case: Phanteks P600s | Storage: 2TB WD Black SN 750 & 1TB Sabrent Rocket | OS: Windows 11 Pro & Linux Mint

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19 minutes ago, notagamer said:

It's a Ryzen 3 3200U. So you would suggest me to buy a non-ECC RAM?

doesnt support ECC anyways

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Ok I'll go with a 2666 non-ECC RAM then.

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