Possible source for bargain DDR3 ECC memory.

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Philip Robar

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If you've been shopping for ECC DDR3 memory recently you've probably noticed that new sticks are selling for much more than the 20-30% premium over non-ECC memory that is common with DDR2 memory. The prices that I've found for memory that is specified to work on a particular board or that meets the listed specs for that board are more like double that of non-ECC memory: around $50 for 4GB of memory that meets the specs given for my Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 (or a TS440). (Both of which use the Intel C226 chipset.)

I hadn't had any luck searching for better prices on eBay since a search which includes "ECC" also finds all of the listing that say that the memory isn't ECC. ( I readily admit that I'm not an expert at eBay searching.)

Fortunately I got lucky and stumbled across a discussion on Slick Deals about the TS440. After slogging through many pages of comments I found this gem: People who are smart enough to not pay Apple's ridiculous memory prices are buying minimally configured Mac Pros and selling the 4GB sticks they get with it on eBay for around $20 to $30 each—usually in bundles of 3 or 4 sticks. While they are spec'd higher than what the Lenovo's need a couple of people have reported that they work just fine in the TS140 and TS440.

Search on "Mac Pro DDR3" or "Mac Pro DDR3 ECC" to find them.

Caveat: Server motherboards tend to be more picky about the memory that they work with than desktop boards but generally higher spec'd memory should work. Of course your mileage will vary depending on the board you have.

One thing to be aware of: Mac Pro memory can be either unbuffered or buffered/registered. Most FreeNAS users will be looking for unbuffered. Fortunately most eBay listings include a picture that you can read the part number from or they include the part number in the description.

I purchased 3 x 4GB for my TS140 for $60 with shipping a couple of days ago. I'll post an update after they arrive early next week.

Side note: The last time I checked on eBay, DDR2 ECC memory was so cheap that sellers are basically giving it away. Stock up while you can if your motherboard can use it.
 

Ericloewe

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If you've been shopping for ECC DDR3 memory recently you've probably noticed that new sticks are selling for much more than the 20-30% premium over non-ECC memory that is common with DDR2 memory.
What capacities? Last time I checked, DDR3 didn't vary much in price with or without ECC.
 

Philip Robar

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What capacities? Last time I checked, DDR3 didn't vary much in price with or without ECC.
I subscribe to several deal newsletters. I regularly see non-ECC DDR3 2x4 and 2x8 GB sticks for $22.50-$25/GB. Whenever I check for 4GB ECC GB RAM they're always $45-50. I hopefully don't need it now, but if you know a source of less expensive ECC DDR3 RAM I'm sure others would be happy to hear about it.
 

jgreco

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Holy crap, why are you looking for 4GB ECC modules!?!?!?!?!?!!

Get 8's and be done with it. 4's are slot stuffers, you use up all your slots and then you're hosed.

Get something like the M391B1G73QH0-YK0, should run about $60 wholesale, here it is for $67 retail over at SuperBiiz.
 

Ericloewe

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Holy crap, why are you looking for 4GB ECC modules!?!?!?!?!?!!

Get 8's and be done with it. 4's are slot stuffers, you use up all your slots and then you're hosed.

Get something like the M391B1G73QH0-YK0, should run about $60 wholesale, here it is for $67 retail over at SuperBiiz.
Heads up: Link seems broken.
 

jgreco

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Works for me. Or you could manually jam the part number in the search box there.
 

Philip Robar

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Holy crap, why are you looking for 4GB ECC modules!?!?!?!?!?!!

Get 8's and be done with it. 4's are slot stuffers, you use up all your slots and then you're hosed.

Get something like the M391B1G73QH0-YK0, should run about $60 wholesale, here it is for $67 retail over at SuperBiiz.

Because I don't even need the 16GB that I will have when the three sticks I ordered show up. Let's see:

$67 / 2 = 33.5 per 4GB
60 / 3 = 20

13.5 / 20 = 67.5%

That's a 67% premium per 4GB over what I paid.

I ran a simple FreeNAS 9.2 home file server for months with 4GB of memory that did everything I needed—and always showed free memory. Now that I've added a couple of jails and verified that they run fine with the extra 8 GB of non-ECC memory that I had on hand I'm getting ECC memory to replace them. I bought 3 sticks because that's how they were packaged and the extra 4GB gives me some space if I want to experiment with other plug-ins.

People in these forums make all sorts of claims about how much memory ZFS needs without (seeming) realizing that those recommendations come from enterprise environments or from use cases other than simple home file sharing. Most noticeably they never provide any benchmark results or problem/crash analysis to back their claims up with. My server is a tool, not a toy or hobby. I'm not building an ESXi monster or an ESXi storage pool server to serve an ESXi monster. I'm a scientist by education and an engineer by profession. I choose to lead an evidence based life. To paraphrase Rod Tidwell, if you're going to tell me that I should spend more of my money than I've calculated that I need to then, "Show me the evidence."
 

rogerh

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Well at least the whole setup you describe is an adequate but economical solution, rather than an expensive server using all qualified and matched server parts. I'm still mystified by the people who are buying a new Mac Pro for thousands of dollars and then saving a relatively tiny amount using non-approved memory in it!
 

jgreco

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It's only a "67%" savings if you actually get it for the lower of the prices you mentioned, AND the memory works in the board that you have. To save ten or twenty bucks, I wouldn't want to be the one to find out the hard way it doesn't work.
 

Philip Robar

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The 12 GB of "Mac Pro DDR3 ECC" memory I bought on eBay arrived today. It's installed and working in my Lenovo ThinkServer TS140.

It's only a "67%" savings if you actually get it for the lower of the prices you mentioned, AND the memory works in the board that you have. To save ten or twenty bucks, I wouldn't want to be the one to find out the hard way it doesn't work.
As I noted in my original post, people in the slick deals thread had already reported success using this memory in a TS140 so I felt quite comfortable ordering it.
 

Philip Robar

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I'm still mystified by the people who are buying a new Mac Pro for thousands of dollars and then saving a relatively tiny amount using non-approved memory in it!
An entry level Mac Pro is $3000 and comes with 12GB of memory. Apple charges $1300 to add 52GB. That works out to $200 per 8GB. Using the (currently) $70 price given above that means that Apple is charging 3x the going rate for memory. So by installing your own memory one can save:

$1300 (52 GB Apple memory)
$-560 (64 GB owner purchased memory)
$+ 60 (low resale value of 12 GB)
--------
$ 800


[Snark removed] I bet that for a lot of individuals who are purchasing a Mac Pro for their small business that $800 is not a "relatively tiny amount."
 
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cyberjock

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You are totally missing his point. You can build a system that is far superior for FreeNAS than a Mac Pro, for less than a Mac Pro.

He's saying 'why buy a Mac Pro, then go cheap on RAM when you could have built something better yourself, not gone with cheaper parts (or parts that aren't guaranteed to work) and saved even more money'.
 

Ericloewe

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You are totally missing his point. You can build a system that is far superior for FreeNAS than a Mac Pro, for less than a Mac Pro.

He's saying 'why buy a Mac Pro, then go cheap on RAM when you could have built something better yourself, not gone with cheaper parts (or parts that aren't guaranteed to work) and saved even more money'.
Biggest advantage being guests not accidentally clogging the cooling system with trash.

You can also replace "FreeNAS" with "any workstation workload".
 

rogerh

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I'
An entry level Mac Pro is $3000 and comes with 12GB of memory. Apple charges $1300 to add 52GB. That works out to $200 per 8GB. Using the (currently) $70 price given above that means that Apple is charging 3x the going rate for memory. So by installing your own memory one can save:

$1300 (52 GB Apple memory)
$-560 (64 GB owner purchased memory)
$+ 60 (low resale value of 12 GB)
--------
$ 800


Maybe you hadn't done the math, or you're more financially secure than the rest of us, or you see Apple (one of the richest and most profitable companies in the world) as a worthy charity, but I bet that for a lot of individuals who are purchasing a Mac Pro for their small business that $800 is not a "relatively tiny amount."

I'm not rich. I am using Kingston memory in my N54L rather then HP. But then it cost me £110 new. I can see why people might buy a $3000 Mac equivalent to $1000 dollar PC and use dubious memory in it, but only if they are locked in to using Mac software. Otherwise why not buy a PC?
 
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