6GB ECC tri-channel vs 16GB non-ECC dual-channel?

[pyrojoe34]

I have a poweredge T610 (w/ e5620) and I am using as a NAS (running FreeNAS 11.1) but it only has 3x2gb ECC which is very quickly saturated (and doesn't really leave me much room to run any VMs), I have 2x8gb non-ECC sticks laying around unused and I'm wondering if it's worth switching to those or if it's too risky (all the data on this NAS is backed up in at least 2 other locations so this is not mission critical, just a backup/file share server). What do you guys think?

 

If RAM prices ever drop I'll upgrade the RAM with ECC but for now the prices are just dumb (and I got the system for free and it's slightly older tech so I don't want to put any significant $ into it).

[Mira Yurizaki]

If what you're doing isn't mission critical, I don't see much reason to use ECC. Especially since I think errors are extremely uncommon anyway.

 

And unless the system is saving bad data from RAM to storage, the file system takes care of error protection in storage.

[SupaKomputa]

Freenas loves memory capacity because the system run from the ram.

Bigger ram maybe better, for non critical files, non ecc will be safe.

Youre lucky Its a DDR3 ECC btw, the price is very low on those sticks.

8gb for only $30.

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Samsung-4GB-PC3-10600R-DDR3-1333MHz-4G-2Rx4-REG-ECC-High-Quality-server-memory-RAM-100/32840300151.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.59.d1fd5927xDW8km&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10151_10065_10344_10068_10342_10343_10340_10341_10084_10083_10618_10307_5711211_10313_10059_10534_100031_10103_10627_10626_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620_5722415_5711313-10620,searchweb201603_41,ppcSwitch_7&algo_expid=051716ff-9024-4434-beb7-28742ac3dcf9-9&algo_pvid=051716ff-9024-4434-beb7-28742ac3dcf9&transAbTest=ae803_5&priceBeautifyAB=0

[pyrojoe34]

36 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If what you're doing isn't mission critical, I don't see much reason to use ECC. Especially since I think errors are extremely uncommon anyway.

 

And unless the system is saving bad data from RAM to storage, the file system takes care of error protection in storage.

 

32 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Freenas loves memory capacity because the system run from the ram.

Bigger ram maybe better, for non critical files, non ecc will be safe.

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Follow-up question: Do you think I can mix and match the two sets (the board has 6 DIMM slots per socket, I am only using one CPU for now) to get 22GB? I realize it won't be ECC but do you think it will work? Would it still run dual channel or would it force default to single-channel? I know I can just test it myself but I figure I'd ask.

 

32 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Youre lucky Its a DDR3 ECC btw, the price is very low on those sticks.

8gb for only $30.

Even that is more than I want to spend right now... I'll wait til I can get another 6+gb ECC (in tri-channel) for <$15. I can add another e5620 to the board for about $6 to make it an 8c/16t setup (actually the most expensive item would be a T610 compatible heatsink that fits in the airflow shroud). I'm a grad student and money is tight...

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, pyrojoe34 said:

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Follow-up question: Do you think I can mix and match the two sets (the board has 6 DIMM slots per socket, I am only using one CPU for now) to get 22GB? I realize it won't be ECC but do you think it will work? Would it still run dual channel or would it force default to single-channel? I know I can just test it myself but I figure I'd ask.

It depends on the motherboard. But normally if you put RAM in matching slots, it should work in dual channel mode provided the specs are more or less the same. Some boards may allow paired modules to work in dual channel while loners are in single. Otherwise it'll force it in single channel mode. Not that I think there's much of a difference in performance but I don't know how multi-channeling affects NAS use cases.

[SupaKomputa]

Agree, The NAS performance wont be affected by multi-channeling, so single channel setup will be fine.

Don't force yourself buying another 2gb sticks, its better you use the 8x2 non ecc.