RAM Question.. Crucial's site no help with this one..

Salvador

Diamond Member
May 19, 2001
7,058
0
71
Hi,

I have some older FPM (Fast Page) RAM and SiSoft Sandra says that it's ECC RAM. I just contacted tech support from the RAM's manufacturer and they are telling me that it is Parity RAM and not ECC. They say that ECC came later with the DIMM's. My question is this: Why would Sandra say that I have ECC when it seems to be able to detect Parity, non-parity chips? Sandra also says that my system does not support ECC, so if it encounters errors, it will shut down. Why would it say this if I don't have ECC? I don't know whether to trust tech support on this one.

Can anyone give me any info regarding this? I'd like to know if I have ECC or just Parity RAM if I could.

TIA,

Sal
 

JHeiderman

Senior member
Jan 29, 2002
696
3
81
I could be way off base here but I thought that back in the day "Parity" was equivalent to what we know today as "ECC" Ram. Maybe someone with a bit more experience can tell us for sure though. So the software recognizes the RAM but describes it by today's standards...?

- J
 

Rand

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,071
1
81


<< I have no clue.. Would I call this RAM parity then or ECC?

Sal
>>



Call the DRAM parity, ECC is a different technology. ECC is an extension of the original concept of Parity, I can provide a thorough example of the differences between the two if you wish.
The tech support personnel is correct in stating the ECC DRAM came later with the proliferation of DIMM's.

SiSoft Sandra is incorrect in stating you have ECC RAM, I've noticed SiSoft tends to be rather in-accurate in reading data from EPROM or the SPD on RAM, and it's likewise very unreliable in differentiating between parity and ECC RAM.
 

Salvador

Diamond Member
May 19, 2001
7,058
0
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Rand: Thanks for verifying this for me. So.. Since this is Parity that I have, it doesn't correct errors like ECC does? Yeah.. Sanda is whacked then in saying that my system will shut down if I get errors because my system does not support ECC.

BTW.. You can elighten us all with the differences if you wish. I certainly wouldn't mind. I love to learn new things. :)

Thanks again,

Sal