securitybreach Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) I am planning on building a server and I just ordered a new motherboard. It is a Gigabyte 8IPXDREL-GG Server Board w/Two Xeon 2.4GHz CPUs http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=8IPXDREL-XEON24-RHere are the specs: Gigabyte 8IPXDREL-GG Server BoardDual Intel Xeon CPUs up to 2.8 GHz in a PGA604 socket400 MHz Front Side Bus512 MB L2 cacheSocket 604Intel E7501 chipsetExtended ATX form factorSupports up to 12 GB RAM (max.)ATI Rage-XL graphics with 8 MB memoryIntel 82546EB Gigabit Ethernet controller1 PCI slot6 DIMM socketsI found out from here:http://www.deal-stop.com/MBGB601_GIGABYTE-...efer=pricewatchthat it supports 12 GB (max) ECC Registered DDR 266 MHz DIMMsMy question is what is ECC ram? I have read that it does error correction for mission-critical servers. I know I need DDR but what type of ram should I get? Also, is it compatible with other types of ram since ECC is very expensive?Thanks Edited February 12, 2008 by securitybreach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grogerf Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I am planning on building a server and I just ordered a new motherboard. It is a Gigabyte 8IPXDREL-GG Server Board w/Two Xeon 2.4GHz CPUs http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=8IPXDREL-XEON24-RHere are the specs:I found out from here:http://www.deal-stop.com/MBGB601_GIGABYTE-...efer=pricewatchthat it supports My question is what is ECC ram? I have read that it does error correction for mission-critical servers. I know I need DDR but what type of ram should I get? Also, is it compatible with other types of ram since ECC is very expensive?ThanksHallo securitybreach I ran into the same question a while ago when I was building my PC.EEC ram is RAM that is qualified for use in The European Economic Community - they have much tighter standards on EMC (Electro Magnetic Compatibility) than many other countries (in particular much tighter than the US). As you are based in the USA you don't need to worry about EEC regulations - it's a legal requirement in Europe but not in the rest of the world. The governing body for such matters in the USA is the FCC. EEC ram wouldn't hurt your system - but it's not worth you paying any more for it. You could safely use 'non EEC' ram if it was cheaper. Provided the ram is from a reputable manufacture/supplier you shouldn't have any trouble. However you do need to be sure that ram is mechanically (i.e. no of pins etc) and electrially (speed/switching times) suitable for the M/B that's all. The suppliers (in this case Computer Geeks.com will be able to confirm the detail.)In fact I've never had any trouble with 'generic' ram - you might be surprised at the manufacturer of 'generic ram' when it arrives. I have been surprised a few times recently to receive to top branded ram c/w hologram identification & certificates of origin which was described in the ads as 'generic'. It's never recommended to mix different manufactures or types of ram in one machine. Generally the ram as a whole performs at the level of the worst in the package.The important thing is to buy the right kind of ram from a reputable supplier where you know that there will be service if things go wrong. It's often a good idea to buy the ram from the same place & at the same time as the motherboard- you can specify that the ram is to be suitable for the motherboard/processor combination that you have. (I'd check on the Gigabyte site for the ram specification (DDR, DDR2 etc for that motherboard and any unusual features.)Hope this helps Grogerf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) Its ECC not EEC. Parity checking provides single-bit error detection for the system memory, but does not handle multi-bit errors, and provides no way to correct memory errors. An advanced error detection and correction protocol was invented to go a step beyond simple parity checking. Called ECC, which stands for error correcting circuits, error correcting code, or error correction code, this protocol not only detects both single-bit and multi-bit errors, it will actually correct single-bit errors on the fly, transparently.. http://www.pcguide.com/ref/ram/errECC-c.htmlThanks for the ram info though Edited February 12, 2008 by securitybreach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Please check the site of the motherboard manufacturer if the board is suited for ECC RAM !! BrunoPS: I am moving this to the hardware forum . . . maybe you will get good/better advice there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 http://members.aol.com/mnecctek/faqs.htmlhttp://www.pcguide.com/ref/ram/err.htmThe best I could get at for this board:http://crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=GA-8IPXDR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the information but I still cannot find the motherboard from the Gigabyte website. I read all about ECC ram but still cannot find out if I can use regular DDR instead of ECC. I do not care about error correction and I have plenty of DDR and DDR2 sticks already available. I hope I did not screw myself with buying a server board since buying ECC ram is like twice the price of normal ram. Any help would be appreciated.Thanks Edited February 12, 2008 by securitybreach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b2cm Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The motherboard was most likely manufactured for an OEM which is why it is not on the Gigabyte support website.Go ahead and try your non-ECC modules. The BIOS will auto- disable the ECC option once it detects your non-ECC modules. Just make sure you use DDR1 modules if this is a DDR1 mainboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) The motherboard was most likely manufactured for an OEM which is why it is not on the Gigabyte support website.Go ahead and try your non-ECC modules. The BIOS will auto- disable the ECC option once it detects your non-ECC modules. Just make sure you use DDR1 modules if this is a DDR1 mainboard.Thanks a lot for clearing that up.The motherboard uses DDR1 and I already found out that DDR1 and DDR2 are not compatible. I did not think of it being OEM, I should of thought of that when I could only find limited information on the motherboard. Oh well I guess I will see this weekend since I get it Friday. Now off to buy a power supply.Thanks Edited February 12, 2008 by securitybreach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) Well I canceled the order because of of the ram issue and lack of upgrade ability (no onboard sound and only 1 pci slot). Instead I ordered a Biostar K8M800 MicroAM2 VIA K8M800 uATX MB w/Sempron3400 CPU I think I will be much happier with this one.Here are the specs on this one: Biostar K8M800 Micro AM2 VIA K8M800 Socket AM2 uATX Motherboard w/Sempron 3400 CPU ComboAMD Sempron 3400+ Socket AM2 CPU installed w/Heat Sink and FanVIA K8M800 + VT8237R+ chipsetsSocket AM2uATX form factorMaximum 2GB2 x DDR2 SDRAM DIMMSDual Channel DDR2 533/6671 x AGP8X2 x PCIUp to 4 EIDE devicesUltra DMA 33/66/100/133VIA UniChrome Pro max shared video memory 64 MBRealtek ALC655/ALC658 5.1 Channel AC'97 AudioRealtek RTL8201CL - Integrated 10/100 transceiverSATA: RAID 0/1Socket AM2AMD Sempron 3400+Frequency: 1800 MHz (1.8 GHz)HT Speed: 1600I guess I should pay more attention whenever I order something but this is my first attempt at building a pc from scratch. Since this is not a OEM motherboard, I can also go to BioStar and actually find some information on the board. http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=AM2VCOMB34S Atleast, the case I ordered fits the new motherboard (ATX).Thanks Edited February 12, 2008 by securitybreach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) While you guys are on the subject of ECC RAM, I have a 'similar' question about it. I got hold of two old HP servers which I am scrapping for parts. The processors appear to have been P3 types. 700MHz, anyway. The RAM on the mainboard was PC100, and it is called "PC100 REG SDRAM". Elsewhere, the part number from the manufa cturer is "PC100-322-622R" On the other (HP) label the RAM is clearly marked as being 128M.HP label sez it's organized 16Mx72. I also have a couple sticks of this HP RAM which is 64M organized 8Mx72.The Question- do I have regular, non-ECC PC100 RAM here or is it ECC RAM? BTW the chip manufacturer is Hitachi and another part number appearing on their label is "HB52E169E12-B6F". I'll google that one myself. Opinions? Thanks!P.S. I'm finding a few interesting links on the subject. I googled "PC100-322-622R" (well, actually I 'Mamma'ed" it). Got the following interesting links:pc100.com and Sandra-SisoftI still can't tell if I'm dealing with ECC or not; also whether this is 'high density' RAM. It is populated on both sides of the board. The PCB does have the little extra lengths in some PC traces to equalize delays, as shown in the first link's photos of a Viking PC100 RAM. :wacko:I tried a couple of these in my eMachines 600MHz P3. It didn't like them and failed POST with error code "331". Edited February 12, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) While searching for pc100-322-622r , it looks as though that this ram is ECC. I will look some more for you though.Cluttermagnet: Look Here:http://www.ultratec.co.uk/stocklists/Searc...&maintain=1Thanks Edited February 12, 2008 by securitybreach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 (edited) While searching for pc100-322-622r , it looks as though that this ram is ECC. I will look some more for you though.Cluttermagnet: Look Here:http://www.ultratec.co.uk/stocklists/Searc...&maintain=1ThanksThanks. Yes, it is looking more like this stuff may indeed be ECC. Maybe someone on Ebay might want them- real cheap with free shipping, etc. At least they did not fry my eMachines mobo during my test. Edited February 12, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b2cm Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 (edited) Those are registered, buffered sdram modules. Whether or not ECC (most likely they are), they certainly are not your unbuffered 'regular, non-ECC PC100 RAM'. Edited February 13, 2008 by b2cm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tushman Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Those are registered, buffered sdram modules. Whether or not ECC (most likely they are), they certainly are not your unbuffered 'regular, non-ECC PC100 RAM'.Doesn't "registered" and "ECC" mean the same thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 Doesn't "registered" and "ECC" mean the same thing?Thats what I thought as well.Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_memory:)Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tushman Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Thanks for the link. So it seems it can be a combination of one or the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzButt Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 Clutter,FWIW we used to use HP Netservers at work and they all had regular PC100 memory but it was HP's "Registered" and HP branded memory. BIOS always gave us an "Warning" upon bootup after we upgraded them with 2 additional sticks of PC100 supplied by Kingston. It was still ECC type but not "registered"I guess they are a bit picky on what memory you decide to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 (edited) Thanks, all. To make it clearer, 2 very old, abandoned HP servers were scrapped for parts, thus the ECC RAM. I was just trying to figure out whether I'd be able to use this PC100 RAM elsewhere, on older machines. Probably not. I also got a couple of small, 9G SCSI drives, also various fans, all working. A couple of floppy drives, a couple of tiny (laptop?) CD drives, 24x, which I'd never use. They have the 'wrong' connector style, anyway. That's pretty much it. It was pretty ancient hardware. But still, to a career hardware geek, worth going over. ;)Oh, yes- the RAM I pulled was indeed HP server RAM. Manufacturers seem to be Hitachi and Samsung, but the sticks have HP stickers clearly labeling them as to size and "REG" (probably ECC). Oh, and of course all the stats about RAS and CAS and setup time ('latency') and such- the PC100-322-622R stuff. Edited February 16, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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