However I searched briefly on newegg and amd's site and could not find anything in the quick spec sheet that mentioned ECC. I DO believe that only server cpu's (I.E. opterons in this case) are capable of ECC. I don't exactly understand ECC, but I do know it is for servers that MUST be accurate to an insane degree. So, if you are using this chip as a home server, it shouldn't matter really. In the everyday user's usage, I doubt if ECC would make even calculations more accurate...
However I searched briefly on newegg and amd's site and could not find anything in the quick spec sheet that mentioned ECC. I DO believe that only server cpu's (I.E. opterons in this case) are capable of ECC. I don't exactly understand ECC, but I do know it is for servers that MUST be accurate to an insane degree. So, if you are using this chip as a home server, it shouldn't matter really. In the everyday user's usage, I doubt if ECC would make even calculations more accurate...
Thanks rabidbunny...
I actually found that aparently ALL AMD cpu's support UN-REGISTERED ECC, but only the server range support REGISTERED ECC.
Anyway, like you said, for home server applications it probably makes no difference. I am using Windows Home Server and came across a post that some data corruption was happening to a WHS user which was caused by faulty RAM . He only came across the fault because of some stress testing he carried out on the server. Otherwise he still would have no idea that he had faulty RAM in his server.
This is what prompted me to take preventative measures... i figured that if i use ECC Ram, i could avoid this type of data corruption.
cheers
Message edited by vvulture on 06-28-2008 at 06:07:47 AM
It's up to the motherboard chipset and since AMD has an IMC (integrated memory controller) it would have to be ECC 'aware' to work across various chipsets.
ECC stands for 'Error Correcting Code' which means that in addition to sending data bits, additional 'check bits' are sent to verify data integrity. It detects and corrects memory errors.
Mobos will support both ECC and nonECC ram. It's possible that you can put ECC ram in a nonECC motherboard. The error correcting function would, of course, not work.
If the mobo manual specifically says 'non-parity memory only' it won't work.
