ECC RAM question

[imported_itr]

is ecc ram required on a ecc-enabled motherboard? can i use non-ecc ram instead?

 

[Cerb]

Gnerally, ECC is optional. Registered vs unbuffered is what you need to watch out for.

 

[imported_itr]

is registered memory required then?

 

[Cerb]

You'll have to find that out for the mobo. ECC is always optional, AFAIK, and may be on registered or unbuffered DIMMs.
For some chipsets, you'll have the option. I don't know if new Xeon ones are that way, but older ones were, as was the AMD 76x.
Now, though, with the rest of technology reaching par with servers, registered RAM, ECC support, and other such things (multi-CPU, FI) are being used as a dividing line. However, there are exceptions all over the place for single-CPU server/workstation boards, so w/o knowing what you have or are getting, it's hard to say.

 

[imported_itr]

i'm looking at this tyan board in particular. it has the amd 760chipset. i'd like to use non-ecc unbuffered ddr sdram on this if possible. in the specs it states:

Memory
? Four 184-pin 2.5-Volt DDR DIMM sockets
? Supports up to 4GB * of Registered DDR 200/266
? Supports ECC (72-bit) memory modules

after researching about the tyan s2640, i found this, which says it requires registered ram at the bottom:

The TYAN Tiger MP (S2460) requires REGISTERED DDR MEMORY in order to POST.

 

[Cerb]

Then you need registered RAM. You may wish to look for others, though. I had a 760 board, the K7 Master, that used registered RAM as an option.
If the price stays fairly low (and with having to buy new RAM for it, the threshhold is pretty much up to you), get it and eat the new RAM costs. The newer versions of that board are going for $200 or more new, and it looks like the supplies of dual-462s really is dwindling. It's about $80 for 512MB RAM, $130 for 1GB, buying new.