ECC RAM

[iamtrout]

Hi guys.
Did I make a mistake in buying Crucial ECC DDR2100 RAM? If I plan to increase my RAM size can I mix ECC and non-ECC? Thanks a bunch.

 

[bozo1]

In most cases you can mix ECC and non-ECC but you have to turn off ECC support in your BIOS.

 

[iamtrout]

Nice. Is there a noticable performance advantage to enabling ECC?

 

[bozo1]

-No-

ECC is slower.

 

[iamtrout]

What's the advantage of ECC then?

 

[bozo1]

ECC will correct single-bit errors if something is flaky with the module. Fairly useless for home users but it can keep you from a crash in a server situation.

 

[John]

<< Did I make a mistake in buying Crucial ECC DDR2100 RAM? >>



No.

 

[Amused]

<<

<< If I plan to increase my RAM size can I mix ECC and non-ECC? >>



No. >>



Huh? Yes he can, he just loses ECC capablity.

 

[Amused]

iamtrout, you can read about ECC memory and wht it does here:

Anandtech FAQ on ECC memory

"In my opinion a couple of things can be concluded. The performance impact is insignificant since 3% is barely within the margin of error on benchmarks. The price impact in these days of cheap memory is insignificant. The frequency of soft errors in SDRAM is high enough at high altitudes (Denver, CO, for example) to be of concern. Paying 10% more for memory to avoid potential data corruption seems like a low price to pay. In a way, ECC is like insurance on memory errors, if you care about data integrity and system reliability then it?s worth the premium."

 

[John]

AmusedOne, I pasted the wrong quote. 🙂 Nice catch though.....

 

[Oyeve]

I use ECC memory on all my home systems. With WinXP, I would think it could only help, not hinder. And the speed difference everyone always mentions is negliable. You wont even notice.