To ECC Or Not To ECC......

[Steve]

What is better: DDR2-800 CL5 ECC, or DDR2-800 CL4 Non-ECC?

This is for an engineering workstation, but memory speed is an issue, too.
We will be writing software that passes many large images directly into RAM,
and then analyze the large amounts of data (gigabytes) while in RAM.

I guess I am asking, is it worth the latency slowdown for error checking?
The ECC is slightly more expensive.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Mike T.]

What is better: DDR2-800 CL5 ECC, or DDR2-800 CL4 Non-ECC?

This is for an engineering workstation, but memory speed is an issue, too.
We will be writing software that passes many large images directly into
RAM, and then analyze the large amounts of data (gigabytes) while in RAM.

I guess I am asking, is it worth the latency slowdown for error checking?
The ECC is slightly more expensive.

Thanks,
Steve

Go with the ECC. CL is not as important (for performance) as raw speed, so
any DDR2-800 should do, and the ECC is really required for writing software.
Your software will have enough glitches without the RAM adding a few random
ones. In any case, you might not have a choice, if you already own the
mainboard. -Dave

 

[CBFalconer]

What is better: DDR2-800 CL5 ECC, or DDR2-800 CL4 Non-ECC?

This is for an engineering workstation, but memory speed is an
issue, too. We will be writing software that passes many large
images directly into RAM, and then analyze the large amounts of
data (gigabytes) while in RAM.

I guess I am asking, is it worth the latency slowdown for error
checking? The ECC is slightly more expensive.

ECC is always worthwhile. The so-called slowdowns are trivial.
The memory is the only section of your machine that has no
independent verification checks, so any errors can be preserved
(think file copying via a memory buffer) and not show up for months
or years. In fact the result can be faulty results with no
indication.

I advise never buying a machine without ECC capability. You must
have ALL the memory ECC in order to turn on the checking in the
bios.

 

[Bob Day]

What is better: DDR2-800 CL5 ECC, or DDR2-800 CL4 Non-ECC?

This is for an engineering workstation, but memory speed is an issue, too.
We will be writing software that passes many large images directly into RAM,
and then analyze the large amounts of data (gigabytes) while in RAM.

I guess I am asking, is it worth the latency slowdown for error checking?
The ECC is slightly more expensive.

See: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3psh8/ECC Memory.htm

and

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze3psh8/Chipkill ECC.htm

-- Bob Day

 

[paulmd]

What is better: DDR2-800 CL5 ECC, or DDR2-800 CL4 Non-ECC?

This is for an engineering workstation, but memory speed is an issue, too.
We will be writing software that passes many large images directly into RAM,
and then analyze the large amounts of data (gigabytes) while in RAM.

I guess I am asking, is it worth the latency slowdown for error checking?
The ECC is slightly more expensive.

For what you're doing, Get the ECC. And make sure your machine supports
it, and get all identical sticks.

It also wouldn't hurt to get a top name brand, like Crucial for this
application. I think you can find lower latency ECC if you really want
it.