Workstation build - confused about ECC

[heistz]

Hey

 

First of all I'm a bit of a newbie, so please be kind

 

I need a workstation that requires reliability, but I am unsure about the ECC part of the build.

 

The motherboard I want to go with is Asus Pro WS W680 (says it supports ECC)

https://www.asus.com/us/motherboards-components/motherboards/workstation/pro-ws-w680-ace-ipmi/

 

The CPU is Intel i5 13600K (on the intel site it says that it supports EEC memory)

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-13600K-Desktop-Processor-P-cores/dp/B0BCDR9M33

 

But now comes the tricky part - I am really unsure about the ram.

First I read that all DDR5 ram would come with ECC as default, so I thought great - that will be easy then!

 

But later I read that it's only "On-Die" ECC which only correct errors at the RAM level.

I need the whole "chain" to check for errors and by that I mean data that transfers from the RAM to CPU to GPU and so on.

 

Okay so here is the question:

Will any regular DDR5 ram stick with "On-Die" ECC work?

Or does the ram need to be unbuffered ECC so it works with the whole "chain" (if that makes sense)?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

[LiamApex]

can i ask, what's the use case for the workstation? 

[heistz]

2 minutes ago, LiamApex said:

can i ask, what's the use case for the workstation? 

Of course.

 

It's a PC that needs to be on 24/7

It will run Windows with some programs that the technicians use during the manufacturing process

[LiamApex]

Just now, heistz said:

Of course.

 

It's a PC that needs to be on 24/7

It will run Windows with some programs that the technicians use during the manufacturing process

Ok, fair enough... 

 

so DDr5 was advertised as having "On Die ECC" the On Die ECC is more relating to reliability than data retention / protection. 

 

as the memory modules increase in size the cells inside get closer together, making them more venerable to bit flips. on Die ECC is a way of protecting against that as I understand it. so it will protect against Thermal Bit Flips however once the data is moved out of memory there is no ECC in that instance.

 

if you want traditional end to end ECC (protection during data transfer) then there is DDR5 ECC available, such as the Kingston: KSM48E40BD8KM-32HM 32gb kit. 

 

hope this helps!

[heistz]

27 minutes ago, LiamApex said:

Ok, fair enough... 

 

so DDr5 was advertised as having "On Die ECC" the On Die ECC is more relating to reliability than data retention / protection. 

 

as the memory modules increase in size the cells inside get closer together, making them more venerable to bit flips. on Die ECC is a way of protecting against that as I understand it. so it will protect against Thermal Bit Flips however once the data is moved out of memory there is no ECC in that instance.

 

if you want traditional end to end ECC (protection during data transfer) then there is DDR5 ECC available, such as the Kingston: KSM48E40BD8KM-32HM 32gb kit. 

 

hope this helps!

 

Okay thank you very much

 

So I need to pick unbuffered ECC and not "On-Die" Ram to get protection during data transfer as well.

Just to be sure - if I should purchase the Kingston ram that you posted ECC should work end-to-end with my mobo and CPU, yes?

 

[LiamApex]

20 minutes ago, heistz said:

 

Okay thank you very much

 

So I need to pick unbuffered ECC and not "On-Die" Ram to get protection during data transfer as well.

Just to be sure - if I should purchase the Kingston ram that you posted ECC should work end-to-end with my mobo and CPU, yes?

 

You'd need to source unbuffered ECC memory to get traditional ecc functionality yes, with regards to those specific modules, they are server memory, so im not sure how using them with a non server board & CPU will work out, your mileage may vary, i have used ECC on a desktop platform in the past and has success.. unfortunately, its going to be one of those things where you may just have to try it, make sure the motherboard is rated for ECC & CPU and you *Should be fine.

 

thanks 

[iosengineer]

Info shared is correct. There is an additional DDR5 ECC UDIMM that I like a bit better than the Kingston - from Crucial. In fact, ShopBLT (a very legit vendor I've used many times for enterprise stuff) shipped me 4x of them within a couple days, and is a bit cheaper than it looks like the Kingston is.

 

Have you been able to find the Asus W680-ACE anywhere to buy or even preorder / backorder?

 

https://www.shopblt.com/item/micron-32gb-4800mhz-ddr5-udimm-ecc/micron_mtc20c2085s1ec48ba1r.html

 

https://www.crucial.com/memory/server-ddr5/mtc20c2085s1ec48ba1r

 

Be careful that there is a "tech-america.com" listing for a few dollars cheaper, but researching the site there is considerable evidence that it may be a scammer front.