ECC ram or not?

[Thetech]

I'm thinking about using ecc ram with an asus board (A8N-SLI Premium) is ECC ram really help prevent crashes (I?m trying to make this new comp as crash proof as possible). Is it necessary to pick ram modules that asus has tested with their motherboard for compatibility?
How much of a performance hit will I take using Ecc ram?

 

[keeleysam]

It won't work.

 

[deathwalker]

Save your money and put it into something else that will actually have a positve return on performance and reliability.

Keeleysam is correct ..this board does not support ECC memory.

 

[bluestrobe]

ECC ram won't really help your computer from crashing.

 

[Wall7486]

Server computers benefits the most from ECC ram. Judging from your motherboard you're just a home user. Don't install that much "junk" and you will see less crashes.

 

[Valkerie]

Most likely if you try installing ECC RAM, either it will force auto-hardware detection and not even take advantage of the ECC, or it will simply not even start up the comp. ECC is for workstations or servers. It's really not worth even testing it out, you'll just waste your money and precious time.

 

[Thetech]

Originally posted by: Wall7486
Server computers benefits the most from ECC ram. Judging from your motherboard you're just a home user. Don't install that much "junk" and you will see less crashes.

Why do server computers benefit from ecc ram?

I got the idea that ecc is better from an article at corsair's website

 

[Zepper]

ECC can be helpful if you are doing critical computations or data manipulations or running RAID-0 (at a slight cost in performance). But the others are correct in that if your mobo doesn't support it, then it's a waste of money as the extra bits will just be ignored.
. Most 32-bit Athlon mobos don't support ECC. The memory controller was moved onto the CPU chip with the Athlon 64 bit CPUs (I'm not sure if that applies to ALL AMD 64-bit) so you will have to read both the AMD spec sheet on your processor and the mobo specs to be sure, but I'm fairly sure that ECC is supported at the memory controller level. For some reason, the mobo makers seldom explicitly state anything about ECC support. So also check the online FAQ and or contact tech support for your mobo.
. According to the Crucial memory configurator, ECC is supported. I also checked Asus spec sheet on that mobo and it agrees with Crucial.

.bh.

 

[Thetech]

Well since it's supported is it worth using or is all this talk abot cosmic particles ;P and radioactive occurences and whatnot I read on Corsairs website false?

 

[Zepper]

I already stated the conditions under which the added expense and slight performance hit would be justified. If you don't fit in those categories but just would like the added reliability, then go for it (I use it whenever my mobo supports it even though my most critical calculations are in my checkbook balancing program).
. Remember, Corsair has quite an incentive to upsell you to ECC - significant extra profit! I would note that Crucial does NOT try to upsell to ECC for your mobo even though they share the same incentives as Corsair - don't ask me why...
. Also all RAM modules will have to be ECC once you go that route. One non-ECC module in the mix will cause all to be handled as non-ECC.

.bh

 

[Thetech]

Well considering this system will be for gaming/home office use/web I think I'll stick with regular ram. I used to think that ecc would help keep the computer from crashing freezing etc.