Using DDR3 ECC memory for consumer boards.

[noah179]

Hello i am trying to scrape together a cheap systemon the 1155 soket, and i was wondering if i could use ECC memory on a Dell M5DCD OptiPlex 390 motherboard 

[iRileyx]

Nope, can't use ECC memory on them. Normally it's only server-grade boards that support ECC.

[ARikozuM]

You can use ECC modules, but you're not going to be using the ECC function (parity bit). Since this is a Dell board, I would check their compatible hardware first.

[noah179]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

You can use ECC modules, but you're not going to be using the ECC function (parity bit). Since this is a Dell board, I would check their compatible hardware first.

I dont care about the ECC function, i just need RAM

[porina]

To further complicate matters, there's registered and unregistered ECC ram. A lot of the cheaper ram is registered, which pretty much only works on server class systems. Probably cheap as hardly anything can use the things. I have 32GB of the stuff lying idle after extracting from a server board.

[noah179]

4 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

You can use ECC modules, but you're not going to be using the ECC function (parity bit). Since this is a Dell board, I would check their compatible hardware first.

And do you know where i can find a compatible hardware list ofr this motherboard ?

[iRileyx]

25 minutes ago, noah179 said:

And do you know where i can find a compatible hardware list ofr this motherboard ?

https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/optix/en/optiplex-390-tech-guide.pdf 

 

 

The board is a H61 chipset so wouldn't even post or boot if you did put ECC memory into it.