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I am in need of a processor upgrade, but am really interested in an ECC RAM setup. I read this thread of 2 people arguing on /r/AMD about whether or not the AMD

• bick_nyers 3y ago
  I use ECC on my X570 and B550 ASRock boards, they have allowed unbuffered ECC for a while. Kind of a shame they don't have a mini-itx/matx X670E board (only ASUS does).
  • SteveNuts 3y ago
    Supermicro has an interesting AM5 motherboard which I'm planning to start building a workstation around https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/h13sae-mf https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/h13sae-mf
    • bick_nyers 3y ago
      Oooh, nice find. Now to find some 5200MHz (or more) Unbuffered ECC dimms...
      • dvasdekis 3y ago
        This is all I could find: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Kingston/KSM56E46BD8KM-32HA?qs=17ckDYBRdek6DFSrgOcN4w%3D%3D&_gl=1*1r7p1p0*_ga*MTg1NTA0MTYwNC4xNjk2OTE1MTc2*_ga_15W4STQT4T*MTY5NjkxNTE3Ni4xLjEuMTY5NjkxNTIzOC41OC4wLjA https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Kingston/KSM56E46BD8KM-....
      • sunshowers 3y ago
        The v-color RAM I linked to in the post is available at up to 5600MHz (that's what I got): https://v-color.net/products/ddr5-ecc-udimm-servermemory?variant=43445581906087 https://v-color.net/products/ddr5-ecc-udimm-servermemory?var...
      • kvemkon 3y ago
        Just be sure to think in advance about the maximal total amount of memory you'd need, since 5200 MHz is officially supported only for 2 modules (3600 MHz for 4). Discussed a week ago (also ECC issues were mentioned): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37717567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37717567.
        • bick_nyers 3y ago
          Hopefully won't be the case for Threadripper which allegedly is due on the 19th
    • loxias 3y ago
      Beautiful board! Shame it has to cost $550. I wonder how large of a heatsink I'd need to make it fanless. :)
    • vardump 3y ago
      I guess that 8/8 split PCIe could also be used for 100 Gbps networking? I suppose 100 Gbit card requires up to 200 Gbit bandwidth.
• boris 3y ago
  There are several plausible levels of "support" where ECC is concerned: 0. Not supported at all (i.e., if you plug ECC RAM, your system won't boot). 1. ECC RAM can be plugged but the ECC functionality is not used (i.e., there is no relevant traces/circuitry/etc). 2. ECC functionality is present (i.e., the circuitry is there) but it was not validated by the motherboard manufacturer to be functioning correctly (i.e., detecting/correcting errors). 3. ECC functionality is present and was validated by the motherboard manufacturer. This is the level one would expect from the server-grade boards from a reputable manufacturer like Supermicro. In case of the AMD processors, when you see "ECC supported", it's anyone's guess which level it is. This is in contrast with Intel, where if it says CPU/chipset supports ECC, then you know it really does. I bet Intel won't allow a motherboards manufacturer to sell a board with chipset like W680 without validated ECC support.
  • theevilsharpie 3y ago
    Ryzen consumer CPUs use the same memory controller as their EPYC counterparts, and have full ECC support if the rest of the platform (i.e., motherboard, DIMMs) also supports ECC. What separates Ryzen from its professional-grade counterparts is that ECC support is an optional part of the consumer Ryzen platform spec, which means that it's up to the motherboard vendor to enable support for it. Some motherboards don't have any support at all, some have ECC support as an explicitly-advertised feature, and many have ECC support but it's not explicitly advertised (simply listed as a footnote in the manual). That's different from the way Intel does it, where Intel has explicit control over what the platform's feature are, and uses that control to aggressively segment their markets. Intel's approach makes easier to reason about ECC support as a buyer, but you pay for it with the lack of flexibility compared to AMD's platform (and you literally pay more for ECC).
    • LtdJorge 3y ago
      Yes, this is the correct explanation. Intel basically forbids ECC on consumer HW.
      • ClumsyPilot 3y ago
• nicman23 3y ago
  yes asrock is cheap, good vrms and somewhat good bios. but most of all, they exposed all the amd cbs etc options and do not lock them
• adrian_b 3y ago
  When buying the motherboard, you must check if it declares ECC support. This is normally specified in the "Memory" section of the specifications, in something like "ECC & Non-ECC, Unbuffered Memory". Beware of mentions of "On-die ECC", which is present in Non-ECC memories and which is irrelevant. You also have to buy ECC DDR5 UDIMMs and you must be careful to not buy by accident ECC DDR5 RDIMMs, which are incompatible with AM5 motherboards. The ECC DDR5 UDIMMs have a width of either 80 bits or 72 bits. The width does not matter, as long as it is not the 64-bit width of Non-ECC DDR5 UDIMMs. (For some vendors it is cheaper to use identical x8 chips in ECC and Non-ECC modules, despite wasting some capacity, which results in an 80-bit width; there is a myth that DDR5 ECC DIMMs must have a width of 80 bits, the myth is wrong, because the standard includes 36-bit channels, which result in a 72-bit width for a dual-channel DIMM; for instance Micron makes 72-bit DDR5 ECC UDIMMs) The last time when I have checked, ASUS had the most AM5 motherboards with ECC support. I like most the PRIME X670E-PRO WIFI because it has the best PCIe expandability beyond the slot occupied by the GPU. However there are many other cheaper MBs, when less connectivity is enough.
  • wil421 3y ago
    About on-die ECC, as you said avoid it like the plague. Real ECC memory has an extra chip on the stick to support ECC.
  • 0xcde4c3db 3y ago
    > This is normally specified in the "Memory" section of the specifications, in something like "ECC & Non-ECC, Unbuffered Memory". I've seen allegations that for some vendors, text like this on their non-server/workstation boards turns out to mean that ECC modules will work in the board, but without the actual ECC function.
    • adrian_b 3y ago
      While there might have existed such vendors, nobody provides more information than that written above in their MB specifications, so it is difficult to know for sure which is the case, before buying a MB. The only way to gain more confidence is if the downloadable MB manual has an exhaustive description of the BIOS options. If in the BIOS options there is one for enabling ECC and perhaps additional related options, e.g. for configuring scrubbing, only then there is complete certainty about ECC support in the MB. However most recent MB manuals no longer have a complete BIOS description, so they may be not helpful. At least with the ASRock or ASUS AM4 or AM5 MBs that I have used, whenever "ECC & Non-ECC, Unbuffered Memory" was specified, the MB really had ECC support.
• yetanotherloss 3y ago
  Can't speak to asrock but asus x570 boards definitely really do ECC, I have a known bad ECC DIMM and it's possible to use it to create correctable and uncorrectable conditions in short order. Hard to imagine asrock wouldn't run the lines given all the other components are there, but I guess it's conceivably possible. If the kernel says it has ECC, it's right. If not, return the board as defective and use a different vendor.
• islandnut 3y ago
  Using ASRock X570 PG 4S + Ryzen 5 2600 + Kingston 32GB 2666 ECC(cpu/mem support list for this mobo says the ECC works in this config). Dmidecode still reports 128bit data width instead of 72 however it also reports multi-bit correction instead of single-bit so ... ;). I'm kind of used to 72bit on Intel boards with UDIMM for example Supermicro+Xeon that I have. I think that a combination of memory controller plus mobo reporting has an effect on that info instead of actual hardware support - but still EDAC works, registers proper driver and I get the warnings once in a while from EDAC/RAS that a correctable error has been indeed corrected. Now if I should question whether it actually corrects something then I should also question the Supermicro+Xeon config - I don't have any means to check that - however if it's not working then I should see that on the ZFS dataset every month or so during scrubbing and I don't see anything there. So for me it is settled.
  • mrlonglong 3y ago
    Mine reports 128 bits too. Why 128 bits and not 72 bits?
• CTDOCodebases 3y ago
  A motherboard can accept ECC RAM and function but not correct single bit errors or halt on multibit errors a you would expect. Some motherboards list ECC RAM support as a feature and have ECC RAM on their QVL for memory. Be warned ECC UDIMMS are expensive. For checking if ECC RAM is working in linux use the dmidecode command. For monitoring ECC errors use rasdaemon. Asrock isn't the only brand that reliably supports ECC memory. See below. https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/15zuj70/ecc_udimm_for_ryzen_x670e_system/ https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/15zuj70/ecc_udimm_...
• justinclift 3y ago
  If it helps, the ASRock B550M Pro4 supports ECC. At least when paired with a Ryzen 5600X and 4x 16GB (Kingston KSM26ED8/16HD @3200MHz) memory modules. It's what I've been using for 15+ months as my main development desktop. This is how they show up in the system (Linux) from dmidecode: Handle 0x000F, DMI type 16, 23 bytes Physical Memory Array Location: System Board Or Motherboard Use: System Memory Error Correction Type: Multi-bit ECC Maximum Capacity: 128 GB Error Information Handle: 0x000E Number Of Devices: 4 Handle 0x001A, DMI type 17, 92 bytes (this section is repeated 4 times though, once per DIMM stick) Memory Device Array Handle: 0x000F Error Information Handle: 0x0019 Total Width: 72 bits Data Width: 64 bits Size: 16384 MB Form Factor: DIMM Set: None Locator: DIMM 1 Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL A Type: DDR4 Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered) Speed: 3200 MT/s Manufacturer: Kingston Serial Number: [snipped] Asset Tag: Not Specified Part Number: 9965745-028.A00G Rank: 2 Configured Memory Speed: 3200 MT/s Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V Configured Voltage: 1.2 V Memory Technology: DRAM Memory Operating Mode Capability: Volatile memory Firmware Version: Unknown Module Manufacturer ID: Bank 2, Hex 0x98 Module Product ID: Unknown Memory Subsystem Controller Manufacturer ID: Unknown Memory Subsystem Controller Product ID: Unknown Non-Volatile Size: None Volatile Size: 16 GB Cache Size: None Logical Size: None
  • tremon 3y ago
    The B550 chipset is for AM4/DDR4 boards. For newer AM5/DDR5 motherboards, the ECC support is a lot less clear. As in: several motherboard vendors have claimed ECC support in the past, but no longer do, without publicly stating a reason. Also, some boards do list ECC memory modules in their QVL, but do not claim ECC support; whether this means that the board supports ECC or only that the memory module functions without ECC, nobody knows.
    • justinclift 3y ago