to FB-DIMM, or not to FB-DIMM?

[binford]

the upcoming intel skulltrail motherboard (or even the workstation seaburg/stoakley mobo) is my dream motherboard

i have waited a long time for this release
but im hesitant to buy it because it uses FB-DIMM
and from what i understand
everybody in the industry hates FB-DIMM
and it is going to go the way of rambus

my question to you
would you build a very expensive workstation on a motherboard using fbdimm?

 

[NXIL]

Hey Bin,

FB-dimms run about $75 a GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...4330%2CN82E16820151081

Regular ECC ram runs about half that at DDR2667, up to about $60 a gb at DDR2 800:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...7%2c526%3a7868&bop=And

And, as you know, regular non ECC DDR2 800 is really inexpensive right now, at least by historical standards.

my question to you:
would you build a very expensive workstation on a motherboard using fbdimm?

Everyone who has purchsed a Mac Pro says "yes": they use FB-DIMMs (Intel 5000X chipset).

Advantages of FB-DIMM: ECC, and, buffered, so you can use tons of it, i.e. 16, 32, 64 GB....rock solid reliable. ECC is a good thing.

http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/Ram_Guy_ECC.pdf

Disadvantages: less power efficient, heat output, a bit slower, and costs more.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/...-dimms-dead-rddr3-king

Memory module manufacturers will continue to bring out FB-DIMM modules, such as Kingston's brilliant FB-DIMM DDR2-800 CAS3, but it will not get much more than one-off for Skulltrail.

Kingston will support FB DIMM for at least a few more years:

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/...fb-dimms-live-kingston

The Skulltrail looks insanely cool:

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/...l-shows-off-skulltrail

Killer fast CPUs x 2, extreme GPUs, big power supply, needs lots of cooling anyway: FB-DIMMS are not a big deal. I would say go for it.

HTH

NXIL

 

[binford]

hey nxil thanks a lot for the advice
i really appreciate your time