To ECC or not to ECC?

[Viper22]

Ok im gonna be buying 768MB of Crucial Cl2 memory very shortly (3x256MB). Should i go ahead and get ECC memory or not? Its only $2 more per module and my motherboard supports it. What i want to know is what are the advantages and disadvantages of it.

Thanks.

Viper22

 

[SCSIRAID]

I would... but thats me... ECC allows your system memory controller to detect double bit and many multi bit errors and correct single bit errors. In the event of a soft error due to whatever (alpha particle, noise, whatever) your system will recover (if the error is single bit) The down side is the extra cost (not a big deal) and slightly less performance during "Non Line" write operations (non 64 bit writes) due to Read/Modify/Write cycles required to update the ECC syndrome (again not a big deal).

 

[bacillus]

if you're a server or have mission critical data then yes, get it!

 

[Rafael]

Depends on what you gonna use it. ECC is mostly used in SERVERS, its slower but safe.
BTW, you might check if you MOBO supports ECC memory.

Raf

 

[Athlon4all]

he said his mobo supports ECC, and yeah if it's a Server which I would think so because you don't often see 768MB in Desktop's, than yes ECC is a necesity.

 

[Nosferatu]

Whatever you do, do not mix ecc with non ecc. Not a good thing to do. Trust me.:frown:

 

[Viper22]

Im not gonna be mixing so thats not a problem. This is for my main box which is not a server even though with the hardware I have in it I could use it as one. Any problems with Overclocking using ECC rather than non-ECC memory?

Viper22

 

[SCUBA]

get the (error corection code)
it wont harm