Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (
More info?)
There IS a signalling difference between registered and unregistered DIMMs, also
between buffered and unbuffered. ECC DIMMs are most often registered and
buffered.
Barring information to the contrary, the E60 BIOS would require ECC. If it was
my server brand, not HP's, I would require it, and use of anything less goes
against the design criteria for high reliability.
This is a bit better than the old days when early HP EDO ECC DIMMs had an extra
PAL to identify them as HP-branded. If you put in a non-HP DIMM otherwise
meeting the server's memory specs, the BIOS would complain loudly about the
non-HP memory it found, but fortunately the server would then boot up and run
without incident... Ben Myers
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:50:22 +0100, "Benjamin Gawert" <bgawert@gmx.de> wrote:
>ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
>
>> ECC is mandatory in nearly all HP servers. The signalling
>> characteristics of ECC memory are usually different, even though the
>> DIMM socket is physically the same... Ben Myers
>
>That's not quite correct. ECC memory uses the same signalling spec like
>non-ECC memory. All chipsets which support ECC also work with non-ECC
>memory. If a system works with non-ECC memory is a matter of the BIOS. If it
>can disable ECC verification the server will work with non-ECC memory as
>well...
>
>On the other side, there is a reason why servers use ECC. The OP should
>think twice about if sacrifying some safety for a few bucks is worth it...
>
>Benjamin
>