ECC Memory + AMD

[fede2222]

Ah. Ok. That sounds like a good plan. Performance should be fine in that case. :)

I do realize you aren't English as a primary language, that's why I'm not coming down hard on you for the confusion. I know I butcher sentences on the forum on occasion myself. It's amazing what missing 1 word in a sentence can do.

ok. yes, english is not my primary language... i know that i talk like a mule.. 8). thanks for the effort to understand.

 

[fede2222]

Ah. Ok. That sounds like a good plan. Performance should be fine in that case. :)

I do realize you aren't English as a primary language, that's why I'm not coming down hard on you for the confusion. I know I butcher sentences on the forum on occasion myself. It's amazing what missing 1 word in a sentence can do.

Ok. Thanks.

Yep... english is not my primary language. This is I talk like a mule . Thanks for the effort to understand..

 

[gpsguy]

If I offended you - then I apologize. I truly wanted to help.

If you reply me in bad manner because i'm a noob on Freenas and may be ask stupids questions, and you try to help i accept.

Wishing you the best, on your new build. gpsguy

 

[fede2222]

If I offended you - then I apologize. I truly wanted to help.



Wishing you the best, on your new build. gpsguy

Ok.. no problem. Thanks for all the help.

 

[DJABE]

UP.
I also happen to have a similar dilemma for my new build.
FX-4300 (Vishera) CPU seems like an overkill for NAS build I think, but since the only available MOBO series that supports ECC RAM are ASUS ones meant for AM3/+ socket, the cpu choice is really narrow.

== The list ==

• MB: Asus M5A78L-M
• CPU: FX-4300 (should be ECC compatibile, built in AES support) -or- Athlon II X3 450 (does this one even support ECC? AES is N/A for sure.)
• RAM: DDR3 8GB 1333MHz Kingston CL9 ECC (will add +1 8GB module later which will max MOBO supported size of 16 GB)
• HDDs: 4x WD RED EFRX series 3 TB

I'm really hard on this choice... any suggestion is highly appreciated.

 

[DJABE]

MB:
DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture

RAM: KINGSTON DIMM DDR3 8GB 1333MHz ECC KTD-PE313/8G
Type: ECC, Registered

I wonder will this work, since Asus MB's support Un-buffered memory modules, and the DIMM by Kingston is "Registered"?

 

[cyberjock]

MB:
DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture

RAM: KINGSTON DIMM DDR3 8GB 1333MHz ECC KTD-PE313/8G
Type: ECC, Registered

I wonder will this work, since Asus MB's support Un-buffered memory modules, and the DIMM by Kingston is "Registered"?

unbuffered has nothing to do with ECC. unbuffered means that registered will not work.

 

[DJABE]

In other words - this combination will not work at all?
So I guess I'll need unregistered ECC ram then.. :/

Thank you for quick reply cyberjock!

 

[DJABE]

I just can't grab unregistered ECC anywhere nearby..

Even for a Supermicro X9SCM-F:
Supported RAM
Supported RAM Integrity Check ECC
Registered or Buffered Unbuffered
Max Size 32 GB
Bus Clock 1600 MHz, 1333 MHz
Technology DDR3

 

[joelmusicman]

In the memory world, there's no such term as "Unregistered," or "Buffered."

Registered memory is "buffered" with some power circuitry to clean the voltage coming from the motherboard, and an extra memory module on board for storing parity info which is calculated by the memory controller (ECC).
"Unbuffered" lacks this power circuitry, but can still have the ECC module.

If I had to guess, in your case you probably would need unbuffered.

 

[cyberjock]

In the memory world, there's no such term as "Unregistered," or "Buffered."

Registered memory is "buffered" with some power circuitry to clean the voltage coming from the motherboard.
"Unbuffered" lacks this power circuitry, but has an extra memory module on board for storing parity info which is calculated by the memory controller.

If I had to guess, in your case you probably would need unbuffered.

No, you are confusing 2 different things:

Unbuffered(also called unregistered) lacks a chip compared to buffered(also called registered) that prevents the memory cell signal deterioration because of the high memory density. Memory cells are basically a boatload of small capacitors in parallel, and without registered memory the signal degrades between the chip and the memory controller on your CPU. That degredation causes the system to be unstable/unusable.

ECC/non-ECC memory has a 9th memory chip that stores a 9th bit of every 8-bit memory location(or 72 bits of information for every 64-bits of data stored in RAM).

You can have any combination of registered/unregistered along with any combination of ECC/non-ECC RAM.

 

[joelmusicman]

Ah. I wasn't aware one could get memory in a registered, non-ECC flavor.

Anyway, I was probably unclear but I was trying to inform the OP that product specs will say either "Registered" or "Unbuffered" when they're referring to the same feature (which Unbuffered does not have). Confused the heck out of me until about 30 minutes of Googling when I was shopping for RAM.

 

[cyberjock]

There were some manufactured a few years ago. I saw it in one AMD based system and was like "WTF?". I've never seen them for sale, nor have I looked for them because who would buy huge quantities of non-ecc RAM? LOL. The system never worked quite right from the vendor, and they mailed us replacement RAM that was.... wait for it.. ECC Registered. System worked fine after that. One of the guys put the RAM stick on a keychain because it was just so weird!

 

[joelmusicman]

There were some manufactured a few years ago. I saw it in one AMD based system and was like "WTF?". I've never seen them for sale, nor have I looked for them because who would buy huge quantities of non-ecc RAM? LOL. The system never worked quite right from the vendor, and they mailed us replacement RAM that was.... wait for it.. ECC Registered. System worked fine after that. One of the guys put the RAM stick on a keychain because it was just so weird!

What's this screen door doing on my submarine?? :D

 

[DJABE]

OK folks, I ordered
Asus M5A97 R2.0 MOBO with support: 2133(O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture

I also found in my area a pair of sticks 8GB DDR3 Kingston PC1600 ECC KTD-PE316E/8G (I found elsewhere correct specs which state this is Unbuffered ECC RAM).

I guess these two are compatible... correct?

 

[Sir.Robin]

If it is unbuffered it should work.

I use a AMD board on my second nas with Crucial RAM. No issues.

 

[DJABE]

Thank you Sir.Robin!
I can get the same MOBO as yours, but I don't want to be limited to 16 GB of RAM for the future expansion... so I ordered M5A97 R 2.0 (not "EVO" model, which is simply better choice just for O/C)..
Would you be so kind to tell me more details regarding ECC settings in BIOS, I mean where is the place too look for ECC reported errors and other options, if any?
I'll start with 2x8GB Unbuffered ECC by Kingston, as I mentioned in my previous post.
Also, isn't AMD FX-6300 CPU an overkill for NAS/ZFS? Six cores... multimedia machine.
I can pick FX-4300 instead, but the price difference is really small.

 

[Sir.Robin]

No problem.

I think the FX-4300 will be more than enough.

Sadly, this is a desktop motherboard. As far as i know, there is no logging in BIOS. There ainght any logs on my two (i have a M5A88-M too) anyway, wich is one main reason i upgraded my board.

 

[DJABE]

I think that too, and perhaps it would be cooler too :)

So as I have thought - prosumer boards with ECC support are just "ECC supported"... i.e. enabled and that's all. You cannot tell wherever bitflip error occurred.
I wonder does ECC really works then??? Or it just works as 64bit regular nonECC RAM, w/o ECC control... how can user possibly know that ECC error occured... I'm really confused now.

 

[joeschmuck]

The FX-4300 will be more than enough for anything you throw at it with respect to FreeNAS. Heck, you could even run ESXi on it (I have) and your FreeNAS on top along wiht a few other VMs. I found out the FX-4300 was very capable. Of course I would never recommend running FreeNAS on ESXi although some folks do, mine was only playing around to see what I could do.

Remember to test out your system before creating your FreeNAS software setup. Memtest 86+ (3 full passes) and any CPU burn in tester (1 hour). Do not try to run your RAM at a high speed, select the default. Also ensure you enable ECC RAM in the BIOS otherwise the MB will not use that extra chip.