Ivy Bridge Core i3s and ECC - Santa Clara, we have a problem...

[Ericloewe]

It has recently come to my attention that Intel had provided contradictory information regarding Ivy Bridge i3s and ECC RAM support. They have since updated all Ivy Bridge i3 ark pages to show that ECC is not supported!

This can be a major problem, since many people have built systems using these processors on the assumption that ECC would work. If ECC is in fact not working, we have quite a mess to deal with.

From what I can tell, Ivy Bridge Pentiums still show ECC as supported, only Core i3s have been updated.

The obvious next step is assess what the hell is going on, meaning that we need to figure out if ECC is actually working on these processors. For this, I would like to ask for help from owners of Intel Core i3 32xx CPUs on ECC-enabled systems (meaning server motherboard and ECC RAM), as well as owners of Ivy Bridge Celerons and Pentiums with such systems:

1. Acquire an Ubuntu (or other Linux distro that includes gcc, haven't tried FreeBSD) Live Image and boot it. Instructions for creating a live USB drive can be found here.
   
2. Download the attached zip archive and extract the files onto a second USB drive.
3. Insert the USB drive into the system and compile the code. Instructions are included in the archive.
4. Post your hardware and your results here. Please use CODE tags for the results!

Unfortunately, this little piece of code isn't guaranteed to work. On my Haswell-EP desktop, for instance, the output is garbage. AMDs also tend to output garbage.
It should be accurate for Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors, though.

This program comes from the HardOCP forums, where more details can be found.

Edit: pschatz100 did the favor of summing up two important tips required for the Ubuntu method, quoted below:

1) After booting into the Ubuntu Live environment, copy the extracted files for ecc_check into one of the directories under "Home." I used "Downloads". Do not compile them on the second USB stick.
2) Start a Terminal session, cd to the appropriate directory then run the gcc command. To execute the program after compiling, run "sudo ./ecc_check".

Update: Intel has apparently clarified which Celerons and Pentiums do support ECC:

Intel have published the list of Celeron and Pentium processors that support ECC memory in their community discussion forum. They have/will correct the ARK information:

• G1850
• G1840T
• G1840
• G1830
• G1820TE
• G1820
• G1820T
• G1630
• G162
• G1620
• G1610T
• G1610
• G3220
• G3220T
• G3240
• G3240T
• G3320TE
• G3420T
• G3420
• G3430
• G3440
• G3440T
• G3450

At first glance, it looks like this list has all Haswell Celerons and Pentiums (except for Devil's canyon) and Ivy Bridge Celerons.

 

[jgreco]

Awesome. Thanks, Intel!

 

[jkh]

The word on the street says that the "lite" Xeon chips (Core i7 38xx/39xx/48xx/49xx and Core i3-3225) don't and have never supported ECC - there was initially a glitch in the Ark documentation for the Core i3-3225 which, as you've noted, as been fixed. If you want ECC on a budget, the Xeon E3 V3 is the one to get. There are also Haswell i3's which support ECC but, sadly, FreeBSD itself does not yet support Haswell so it's kind of a moot point for now.

Edit: Sorry, mea-culpa, what FreeBSD does not support is Haswell i915 Integrated Graphics, so you can't use FreeBSD on a laptop, but you can certainly use it in a server. I was having a senior moment there, sorry!

 

[jgreco]

So, the summary here is, i3's don't support ECC and you need Xeon for it. Is that correct?

I always found the ECC on i3 thing to be confusing, and it makes a lot more sense this way. It is too bad that Intel bears no liability for publishing incorrect information.

 

[Ericloewe]

So, the summary here is, i3's don't support ECC and you need Xeon for it. Is that correct?

I always found the ECC on i3 thing to be confusing, and it makes a lot more sense this way. It is too bad that Intel bears no liability for publishing incorrect information.

Right now, I'm at "There is a strong possibility that no i3s support ECC, especially Ivy Bridge i3s". However, at least one person on the linked thread from the HardOCP forums got a positive result on a Sandy Bridge Celeron or Pentium. Another one got an ambiguous result on a Sandy Bridge i3.

I just finished going through Intel's errata and "updates" document for Haswell and it doesn't mention ECC. The datasheet implies that all non-Xeon processors only support non-ECC RAM and ark says otherwise.

The word on the street says that the "lite" Xeon chips (Core i7 38xx/39xx/48xx/49xx and Core i3-3225) don't and have never supported ECC - there was initially a glitch in the Ark documentation for the Core i3-3225 which, as you've noted, as been fixed. If you want ECC on a budget, the Xeon E3 V3 is the one to get. There are also Haswell i3's which support ECC but, sadly, FreeBSD itself does not yet support Haswell so it's kind of a moot point for now.

Wha? I'd say most people here have Haswell systems. i3 4xxx and Xeon E3 v3s are Haswell.

 

[jgreco]

Wha? I'd say most people here have Haswell systems. i3 4xxx and Xeon E3 v3s are Haswell.

As are E5 v3's. Don't worry, especially on weekends, Jordan is prone to saying strange obviously-not-true things. ;-)

 

[enemy85]

There are also Haswell i3's which support ECC but, sadly, FreeBSD itself does not yet support Haswell so it's kind of a moot point for now.

What does this mean? Could you please explain it further?
Lots of people are using the i3 4xxx CPUs, (that SHOULD still support ECC for what I understood, right?) with freenas

 

[Ericloewe]

For anyone with experience in messing with processor registers, this is a link to the Xeon E3 v3 datasheet, part 2 of 2 (Processor registers, including Memory configuration registers). There doesn't seem to be a simple "Is ECC enabled" register, but Haswell apparently supports injecting ECC errors. The ERRCMD register also seems to be usable as an "ECC is enabled" message.

What does this mean? Could you please explain it further?
Lots of people are using the i3 4xxx CPUs, (that SHOULD still support ECC for what I understood, right?) with freenas

Haswell processors obviously work. The question is: Do they actually have ECC working or did Intel seriously fsck up their documentation?

At least for Sandy/IvyBridge, there's a known way of checking if ECC is enabled. I'm going to see if the program works on Haswell and report back.

 

[Ericloewe]

Ok, after a lot of fiddling via IPMI (note to self: don't try to execute stuff from removable media. Copy to a local folder, compile it there and run it), I have what is, at worst, not bad news - it could even be good news.

On my server (Haswell, i3-4330, 16GB Crucial ECC DDR3, Supermicro X10SLM+-F), I get the following output:

Code:

5004-5007h: 20 0 63 3
5008-500Bh: 20 0 63 3

Which should indicate that ECC enabled is throughout.

 

[marbus90]

Shouldn't dmidecode list the current ECC state as well?

 

[Ericloewe]

Shouldn't dmidecode list the current ECC state as well?

dmidecode only reports if the RAM supports ECC, IIRC.

 

[DrKK]

OK, and for the tens of thousands of our userbase using pentium G3xxx Haswells on the 1150 sockets? They are, or are not, getting ECC? It wasn't clear from the above...

 

[Ericloewe]

OK, and for the tens of thousands of our userbase using pentium G3xxx Haswells on the 1150 sockets? They are, or are not, getting ECC? It wasn't clear from the above...

So far, evidence tends towards Ivy Bridge Celerons/Pentiums supporting ECC. This requires some validation, as does the lack of ECC on Ivy Bridge i3s.

It seems that Haswell (socket LGA 1150) Celerons, Pentiums and i3s all support ECC as previously thought.

 

[jkh]

Sorry about the Haswell misinformation earlier - I was thinking of Haswell support for non-server platforms and managed to confuse even myself. I've edited my post above to clarify my confusion!

 

[DrKK]

So far, evidence tends towards Ivy Bridge Celerons/Pentiums supporting ECC. This requires some validation, as does the lack of ECC on Ivy Bridge i3s.

It seems that Haswell (socket LGA 1150) Celerons, Pentiums and i3s all support ECC as previously thought.

That would really have been something if our stated "go-to" low-priced build (Supermicro X10 series with a G3220 family CPU) didn't even support ECC after all this time. hahaha.

Glad that's not the case (or least, we hope it's not the case).

 

[Sir.Robin]

Jeez... i almost spilled beer out of my nose!!

 

[Ericloewe]

That would really have been something if our stated "go-to" low-priced build (Supermicro X10 series with a G3220 family CPU) didn't even support ECC after all this time. hahaha.

Glad that's not the case (or least, we hope it's not the case).

Anyone with access to one of these - running the ecc_check code would help shed some light on the whole situation, as well.

However, the most urgent ones are Ivy Bridge i3s, Celerons and Pentiums. It's still a sizeable userbase that might be at risk unlike previous expectations.

 

[hervon]

I ran the test with Ubuntu Live. Glad, as expected, it supports ECC. Hope that helps others with similar systems.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ sudo ./ecc_check
5004-5007h: 20 0 63 3
5008-500Bh: 20 0 63 3

 

[Ericloewe]

I ran the test with Ubuntu Live. Glad, as expected, it supports ECC. Hope that helps others with similar systems.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ sudo ./ecc_check
5004-5007h: 20 0 63 3
5008-500Bh: 20 0 63 3

That is with an X9SCM-F and a Sandy Bridge Pentium G360? It's odd, because ark lists no Sandy Bridges (other than Xeons, of course), which support ECC.

So Intel is all over the place with ECC support...

 

[BigDave]

It is too bad that Intel bears no liability for publishing incorrect information.

This CYA blanket is at the bottom of EVERY ark page!

"All information provided is subject to change at any time, without notice. Intel may make changes to manufacturing life cycle, specifications, and product descriptions at any time, without notice. The information herein is provided "as-is" and Intel does not make any representations or warranties whatsoever regarding accuracy of the information, nor on the product features, availability, functionality, or compatibility of the products listed. Please contact system vendor for more information on specific products or systems."

There's no telling how many ark listings have been changed recently...