ECC vs Standard PC100/133 DIMMS

[mark at buttery.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

On Thu, 20 Apr 2000, Randall Hofland wrote:

> Any thoughts on using ECC memory instead of standard PC100 or PC133
> DIMMS.

I have always been a fan of using ECC memory in any system running a
reliable operating system (i.e., one where you expect to measure the
uptime in months or years). It potentially adds a bit more system
stability. Memory errors may be rare, but they DO happen - my Alpha Linux
box has in fact survived one corrected error, which showed up on the
console. (Unfortunately, I don't think that Linux on X86 platforms manages
to report error correction; the errors are just silently fixed.)

Of course, it does cost extra, and you have to have a system board that
does ECC checking. Some of the low-end chipsets don't, or have speed
limitations if ECC is enabled. (For example, the ALI Aladdin V chipset
used on some Super Socket 7 motherboards does ECC, but only at PC66 speed;
you have to turn it off if you use PC100 SDRAM at full speed.) So you have
to decide whether the (probably slight) improvement in reliability is
worth the expense.


-- 
Mark J. Dulcey               mark at buttery.org
Visit my house's home page:  http://www.buttery.org/
Visit my home page:          http://www.buttery.org/markpoly/

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