ECC or non-ECC memory upgrade?

[rebuildapc]

Thanks for the answers to the previous message - now maybe you can help me
with another simple question (for you!). LOL

I have an old SE440bx mobo. From what I understand, these old mobo's are
among the best Intel has ever made. Even though the Intel specs state it
takes 3x128 mg of sdram, it's well known in the forums across the net that
it handles 3x256 mg sdram 168 pin DIMM (pc100 or pc133) quite nicely.

It currently is using ECC ram as it was originally used for heavy financial
work. Am I correct in assuming I can use non-ECC ram as long as ALL slots
contain non-ECC sticks?

 

[kony]

Thanks for the answers to the previous message - now maybe you can help me
with another simple question (for you!). LOL

I have an old SE440bx mobo. From what I understand, these old mobo's are
among the best Intel has ever made.

Pretty good build quality yes, but a few important
limitations:

- Needs newer bios for large HDD support. Did it get past
48bit LBA (128GB limit)? Maybe, or maybe it needs a bios
just to support UP to 128GB.

- AGP 2X only, today it becomes a bottleneck for gaming,
though I wouldn't buy a video card that fast for that system
either

- USB1.1, significant sluggishness on many of today's
peripherals

- ATA33, still usable with a modern HDD, but noticably
slower

- Max memory 1GB? Usually only 512MB, after which point
you have to go to registered memory... and only low-density
memory support, max of 256MB per slot.

Even though the Intel specs state it
takes 3x128 mg of sdram, it's well known in the forums across the net that
it handles 3x256 mg sdram 168 pin DIMM (pc100 or pc133) quite nicely.

According to intel you're not supposed to populate 3 x 256MB
unless registered memory. It may work for some, but not
guaranteed.

It currently is using ECC ram as it was originally used for heavy financial
work. Am I correct in assuming I can use non-ECC ram as long as ALL slots
contain non-ECC sticks?

Yes, but frankly since you already have ECC, I'd buy one
256MB of ECC and add to what you already have. Having a ton
of memory on a box bottlenecked by HDD, CPU, video, USB, is
a bit of a mismatch. Perhaps a good plan for a fileserver
to max out memory.

 

[paulmd]

Thanks for the answers to the previous message - now maybe you can help me
with another simple question (for you!). LOL

I have an old SE440bx mobo. From what I understand, these old mobo's are
among the best Intel has ever made. Even though the Intel specs state it
takes 3x128 mg of sdram, it's well known in the forums across the net that
it handles 3x256 mg sdram 168 pin DIMM (pc100 or pc133) quite nicely.

It currently is using ECC ram as it was originally used for heavy financial
work. Am I correct in assuming I can use non-ECC ram as long as ALL slots
contain non-ECC sticks?

Yes, but you'll have to check in the BIOS that ECC is disabled, or
it'll complain while posting.

 

[CBFalconer]

Thanks for the answers to the previous message - now maybe you can help me
with another simple question (for you!). LOL

I have an old SE440bx mobo. From what I understand, these old mobo's are
among the best Intel has ever made. Even though the Intel specs state it
takes 3x128 mg of sdram, it's well known in the forums across the net that
it handles 3x256 mg sdram 168 pin DIMM (pc100 or pc133) quite nicely.

It currently is using ECC ram as it was originally used for heavy financial
work. Am I correct in assuming I can use non-ECC ram as long as ALL slots
contain non-ECC sticks?

You can, but you shouldn't. The safety and reliability of ECC ram
is unmatched. The problem is that errors can be caused by non-ECC
RAM (due to cosmic rays etc) whose effects are hidden for a very
long time, and can cause any kind of other errors.

 

[Mike Walsh]

You can mix ECC and non-ECC memory. ECC must be disabled in the BIOS so all DIMMs will operate in non-ECC mode. Since the motherboard supports ECC memory I suggest you use all ECC memory to take advantage of this worthwhile feature.

 

[DaveW]

Yes, you can use non-ECC.