ECC or non-ECC RAM?

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kd6icz

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ECC or non-ECC RAM?

#1

Post by kd6icz » Fri Jun 16, 2017 12:52 am

My motherboard / chip can support either so I'm wondering what the pros / cons are as far as WMC are concerned. This PC (server) will be doing nothing else except WMC and associated apps (epg123, MCEBuddy, etc).

I have 32GB of ECC RAM on hand but am thinking that non-ECC might be better suited for WMC? Thoughts?

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sbaeder

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#2

Post by sbaeder » Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:28 am

my thought is use what you have. There is some extra work done by the memory chip to manage the ecc code and check it, but if you already have 32G, why go out and get a different set of RAM sticks...

My vote is "GO FOR IT"

kd6icz

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#3

Post by kd6icz » Fri Jun 16, 2017 1:35 am

sbaeder wrote:my thought is use what you have. There is some extra work done by the memory chip to manage the ecc code and check it, but if you already have 32G, why go out and get a different set of RAM sticks...

My vote is "GO FOR IT"
I was just thinking that the error correction might actually be a bad thing when talking about video from a QAM tuner. There's a fair amount of error in video and I don't know if that might actually cause an issue with error correcting RAM? I don't know.

Seems like everything to do with AV data allows higher amounts of error (e.g. AV hard drives) so that the data flows smoothly and doesn't get held up by error correction.

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marvin-miller

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#4

Post by marvin-miller » Fri Jun 16, 2017 2:15 am

ECC memory is far better then the less expensive 'regular' ram. All real servers are populated with ECC memory as it's accurate with respect to error detection and correction. ECC has nothing to do with whether you have other errors in the data - it makes no difference. ECC is only concerned with memory-related errors.

So it's preferred memory, much more so then 'regular' consumer-grade memory. I have a server here with 144 GB of ECC in it and it will automatically shut off a DIMM or two (or more) and keep on running. Which is what ECC is for, to keep on running 24x7 with no memory errors.

So, yeah, not using it would be silly.

kd6icz

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#5

Post by kd6icz » Fri Jun 16, 2017 2:24 am

marvin-miller wrote:ECC memory is far better then the less expensive 'regular' ram. All real servers are populated with ECC memory as it's accurate with respect to error detection and correction. ECC has nothing to do with whether you have other errors in the data - it makes no difference. ECC is only concerned with memory-related errors.

So it's preferred memory, much more so then 'regular' consumer-grade memory. I have a server here with 144 GB of ECC in it and it will automatically shut off a DIMM or two (or more) and keep on running. Which is what ECC is for, to keep on running 24x7 with no memory errors.

So, yeah, not using it would be silly.
Ok! Awesome! That's the technical expertise I was looking for.

Obviously since I own it already the preferred choice is to save the $150 and use what I have. I just wasn't sure how it worked and didn't want it to cause any issues.

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stuartm

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#6

Post by stuartm » Sat Jun 24, 2017 12:50 am

kd6icz wrote:
sbaeder wrote:my thought is use what you have. There is some extra work done by the memory chip to manage the ecc code and check it, but if you already have 32G, why go out and get a different set of RAM sticks...

My vote is "GO FOR IT"
I was just thinking that the error correction might actually be a bad thing when talking about video from a QAM tuner. There's a fair amount of error in video and I don't know if that might actually cause an issue with error correcting RAM? I don't know.

Seems like everything to do with AV data allows higher amounts of error (e.g. AV hard drives) so that the data flows smoothly and doesn't get held up by error correction.
The Error correction only applies to errors that happen in the memory itself. If you get error laden data from a tuner the RAM has no way of detecting such an error as far as it's concerned it's just good data. Also the error correction would only slightly affect the speed of data loading from RAM and would not be noticeable (one estimate is 2 percent slowdown to run ECC correcting memory).

kd6icz

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#7

Post by kd6icz » Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:27 am

stuartm wrote: The Error correction only applies to errors that happen in the memory itself. If you get error laden data from a tuner the RAM has no way of detecting such an error as far as it's concerned it's just good data. Also the error correction would only slightly affect the speed of data loading from RAM and would not be noticeable (one estimate is 2 percent slowdown to run ECC correcting memory).
Good to know! I wasn't sure exactly what errors it corrected so that's why I ask. The system has been up for 4 days now rock solid. I has to fab a bracket to cool the CPU. The case only had one 120mm exhaust fan and the Supermicro didn't put a fan on the CPU... It's a Xeon D-1537 SoC and it runs HOT! Like 80c just sitting. So I placed a 80mm x 38mm fan blowing air directly from the side of the heatsink same direction as the fins. That dropped it down to 40c under normal load and 55c under heavy load (MCEBuddy).


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