L2 Cache EEC Enabled/Disabled?

[lhgpoobaa]

This is something ive been wonderin about for ages now...

whats the point of this option?
why is it there?
has anybody ever gained or lost performance/stability with Enabled vs Disabled???

does it really work, besides lowering performance by a couple of percentage points?

*pondering*

oh yes... is this a common feature accross the CPU brands?

i remember seeing it on my celleron (i think) so i assume so

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[baldurga]

Well, as far as I know, ECC check should give you high reliability, and you will using it when working on critical programs/information. I have never tested, but I remeber some "performance tips" around the net saying it should be disabled to run a little bit faster.

I think motherboards use to have this option. If I'm not wrong, my Epox 8KHA+ have it. I can check it tonight if you want. I will also look what the manual says.

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[lhgpoobaa]

yaaa
i know all athlon/XP and duron systems have ECC on the L2...
and my mobo manual states: enables ECC support for the CPU's L2 cache, Performance will decrease 2%-4%.
course it doesnt say what good it really does.

or what sort of things it can protect against (i.e. memory errors)



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[labdog]

rofl.


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[Dark_Archonis]

It decreases performance, but also decreases bugs/errors, and those consume lots of time if they occur in caches.

 

[baldurga]

Well, probably my mobo's manual says the same as yours, but just in case:

" This control if the CPU's L2 Cache will support Error Checking and Correcting (ECC) " Also says the same performance drop, 2%-4%

Just for the definition, seems that the usual ECC done by RAM modules can also be done by the processor (suposing that the CPU supports it), at least with the data stored in the L2.

Hope this helps.

DIY: read, buy, test, learn, reward yourself!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hmmm. mell noone has replied saying that ECC changed their life or not... so it seems a bit of a redundant feature. its usefulness far outweighed by the performance loss.

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[Dark_Archonis]

Ya well, Do you know anyone who's had it disabled and was runnig the CPU and doing some intensive work. If so, did he experience any weird errors or crashes? All I'm saying is it help against memory errors, even if they are rare.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

no... thats partly my point.

theres really no info around to verify the usefulness of ECC on the L2... and what else it can do.

doubt its a good replacment for ECC ram though, as why would they sell ECC ram if the L2 ECC could handle mem errors?

and considering that most problems occur away from the CPU, it seems even more redundant.

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[lhgpoobaa]

at last!
some info on ECC
<A HREF="http://www.rojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/New_BIOS_Guide/CPU_L2_Cache_ECC_Checking.htm" target="_new">http://www.rojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/New_BIOS_Guide/CPU_L2_Cache_ECC_Checking.htm</A>

interesting

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[cakecake]

I remember my life before enabled... when I was still disabled I had to travel in a wheelchair and that hurt my butt. Then I got ECC cache and now my wheelchair flies!

 

[baldurga]

Hey, that's great! Well done.
But a question arises: current CPU (Intel Pentium 3 and 4, AMD Tbird and XP) are able to ECC L2? It's possible to run some program to know if a specific processor can handle it?

DIY: read, buy, test, learn, reward yourself!

 

[siliconjon]

I've left it turned off in several systems. Stable as Mount Saint Helen...

Oh, wait...no...stable as a...well, just stable. I leave it on in client/customer systems. No particular reason, as it seems to do little, but when it's not your system, you should have the stability options enable and cranked unless they're asking for a peak performer. I would have to say that for home use, this option is rather futile for most users. But that depends on your other parts, too. If you have a board that's a bit quarky, this may help alleviate some problems.

While wearing syran-wrap speedos, my shrink had the nerve to tell me "I can cleary see yer nuts!"

 

[Kelemvor]

I HAVE used ECC on my old comp (I'm still using the comp, but it's old now), but it only runs PC100 SDRAM. I don't even know if they have ECC DDR SDRAM. I think that you might be able to enable it on mobos targetted to workstations rather than desktops, as they would need it more. Specifically, I think that Registered modules are the only ones capable of enabliing it, and it won't work on Unregistered modules, but don't quote me on that, hopefully someone on here will be able to give you a little better idea as to whether or not that's true.

OK, here's the lowdown. I used it for over a year before I got a non-ECC memory module, which forces you to disable the feature. I was going from 128MB of SDRAM to 256MB, so I would guess that the performance I saw was from disabling that and getting more RAM at the same time. Regardless, there was a performance gain that was obvious to both me and a few of my friends who played on my computer regularly. Mind you that this was 2 years ago when it wasn't absolutely neccessary to have 256MB of RAM, and I still had Win98, which isn't able to utilize that much RAM as well as Win2k. I also didn't see any more or less errors after disabling the feature. I would disable it unless I had something important to work on. If I used the comp for sensitive documents that couldn't be corrupted, I might enable it. For you, my guess would be enjoy the sped without it.

OK, that should answer that question.

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[SammyBoy]

From what I've read, it might help you out overclocking, especially in stress tests like Prime95. Gives you a slightly more stable computer.

-SammyBoy

 

[siliconjon]

You should still be able to use the cache ECC even if you don't have ECC RAM. Most of the systems I've played with have not had ECC RAM, but would still let you change the cache setting. And your RAM doesn't have to be registered, either. Registered RAM is a multiprocessor feature mostly, and can also let some single-cpu boards hold more memory. The exact usage of the registered chips escapes me at the moment. And they do still make the ECC in the DDR modules, as well as the RDRAM.

And that performance increase could have been from the 100% memory increase, or perhaps the cache ecc was interfering with another process in your system. In some setups, it can do more than a 4% impose on your CPU's power.

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[FatBurger]

Speaking of Mount St. Helens, yesterday afternoon there was a cloud perfectly positioned to look like a huge white cloud billowing from the crater. Pretty freaky looking. Wish I had a camera.

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[lhgpoobaa]

indeed. that what the bios guides seem to be saying.

wonder if it would have helped with my tbird i fried from overclocking too high

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