Server (ECC) memory in Desktop (non-ECC) board

[willjuk]

I've got 16GB of ECC Memory (4 sticks of 4GB, Hynix Part number HMT151R7AFP4C-H9, details on this page) and need to know if it will work in a non-ECC Motherboard (one of these).

Is there any way of knowing without trying it? Will it just work in non-ECC mode?

Any answers gratefully received!

 

[willjuk]

On further poking around, it seems that this memory is actually registered (i.e. buffered), but non-ECC.

So the question becomes - can buffered memory be used in a non-buffered motherboard?

 

[Paperdoc]

I looked a the web page for this board (Asus P6T Deluxe v2) and it says under Memory specs, "Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory". Usually this means it will not work with this memory type, although sometimes it means merely that it does not REQUIRE it. However, some memory modules are made with unique identifying features that prevent you from using it in the wrong places. I don't know about current DDR3 modules, but I had an older system where each memory module had a combination of notches in the board's edge that had to match a blocking hump in the mobo's RAM socket, and specifications on exactly which contacts were used or absent. So it was impossible to insert some wrong types of modules into the mobo sockets. In your case, there MAY be a similar system that would prevent you from even trying to do what you ask, independent of whether the system could deal with the "wrong" memory module.