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AMD now took Intel's market segmentation approach and is disabling ECC on most Ryzen CPUs. Only Pro and Threadrippers have it guaranteed, then some boards with

AMD now took Intel's market segmentation approach and is disabling ECC on most Ryzen CPUs. Only Pro and Threadrippers have it guaranteed, then some boards with some desktop Ryzens.

wtallis 3y ago
Is that a change? I think what you described applies equally to every generation of Zen processors: Pro-branded chips have ECC capability officially, laptop chips don't have it, and consumer-branded chips have it unofficially with ECC capability optional for motherboards.
- adrian_b 3y ago
  Already since a few generations, at least since Zen 3, the desktop Ryzen CPU have official ECC support, not unofficial ECC support like the first Ryzen. This can be verified easily on the AMD site by reading the CPU specifications. For laptop CPUs, there has been a time interval between the beginning of 2022 and the autumn of 2023 when ECC support was specified for all mobile Rembrandt and Phoenix CPUs, but then the ECC support has been removed suddenly from the specifications of all non-Pro laptop CPUs.
c2h5oh 3y ago
Nothing changed since first Ryzen launch: - Desktop Ryzen CPUs support ECC, but implementation by motherboard vendors is not mandatory - Laptop and G-series Ryzen CPUs only support ECC in pro variant - Threadripper has ECC support edit: not confirmed but supposedly laptop and APUs starting with 6000 series all support ECC.
- 0xcde4c3db 3y ago
  There are also a few oddball desktop SKUs that are actually a G-series processor with the GPU disabled (primarily ones below the "600" tier, e.g. the Ryzen 3 4100 or Ryzen 5 5500), which also lack ECC support.
- treprinum 3y ago
  7840HS laptop CPU definitely doesn't have ECC, only the PRO variant.
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    What is weird is that AMD has published for almost 2 years specifications that all the Ryzen 6000 series and all the Ryzen 7000 series of laptop CPUs (Rembrandt and Phoenix) support ECC, then suddenly and silently they have removed the statement about ECC support from all their specifications. For the current Ryzen 8000 laptop series (Hawk Point), the ECC support has been specified as missing from the beginning.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
dralley 3y ago
Is it disabled or is it simply not certified? Last I checked ECC was not certified to work on most "consumer" oriented hardware, but AMD didn't make any attempt to actually disable it.
- mjevans 3y ago
  Last I checked, DESKTOP AMD CPUs have working (not disabled, but not 'supported') ECC with DDR5 UDIMMs (5v source, not 12v server ram). Desktop BOARDS, depends on the HW + BIOS; initial firmware revisions didn't do ECC but for many boards on some brands it does work. I haven't checked recently.
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    No longer true. At least since Zen 3 (2020), all AMD desktop Ryzen CPUs have ECC support clearly included in their specifications, so it is official support, not just a non-disabled ECC. This change was around the same time when Intel has begun to support ECC in some Alder Lake desktop CPUs (and in their successors), so it might have been a response to Intel's decision. So now the ECC support depends strictly on the motherboard manufacturer. The best chance to find motherboards with ECC support is at ASUS and at ASRock (including ASRock Rack, which offers server boards for Ryzen CPUs).
sunshowers 3y ago
I thought the same as you, but the situation's less dire thankfully. Wrote a post about it a while back that was top of HN: https://sunshowers.io/posts/am5-ryzen-7000-ecc-ram/ https://sunshowers.io/posts/am5-ryzen-7000-ecc-ram/
- justinclift 3y ago
  Possibly interestingly, the motherboard (ASRock X670E Taichi) you mention there now has ECC listed on the ASRock page: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E%20Taichi/index.asp#Specification https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E%20Taichi/index.asp#Speci... Supports DDR5 ECC/non-ECC, un-buffered memory up to 7800+(OC)
  - sunshowers 3y ago
    Oh awesome. That's really fantastic. The Riptide motherboard I use also has ECC listed now. https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650E%20PG%20Riptide%20WiFi https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650E%20PG%20Riptide%20WiFi
  - treprinum 3y ago
    "Supports" might mean you can run unbuffered ECC UDIMMs but without ECC? Even Intel can run ECC UDIMMs in non-ECC mode. Also some manufacturers don't distinguish between "on-die ECC" (DDR5) and real ECC.
    - sunshowers 3y ago
      No, the memory controller believes ECC is activated. See my post :)
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  Less dire for sure, but having to pay double the cost for ECC modules is still pretty dire.
  - adrian_b 3y ago
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
foresto 3y ago
All the Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors support ECC, I think. Check each model's specs to be sure. Asus motherboards for those CPUs also support it, as stated in the BIOS manuals I looked over. It requires changing the BIOS ECC setting from Auto to Enable. I have done this on one such system, and the appropriate EDAC messages showed up in the Linux boot log.

AMD now took Intel's market segmentation approach and is disabling ECC on most Ryzen CPUs. Only Pro and Threadrippers have it guaranteed, then some boards with some desktop Ryzens.

wtallis 3y ago

Is that a change? I think what you described applies equally to every generation of Zen processors: Pro-branded chips have ECC capability officially, laptop chips don't have it, and consumer-branded chips have it unofficially with ECC capability optional for motherboards.

adrian_b 3y ago
Already since a few generations, at least since Zen 3, the desktop Ryzen CPU have official ECC support, not unofficial ECC support like the first Ryzen. This can be verified easily on the AMD site by reading the CPU specifications. For laptop CPUs, there has been a time interval between the beginning of 2022 and the autumn of 2023 when ECC support was specified for all mobile Rembrandt and Phoenix CPUs, but then the ECC support has been removed suddenly from the specifications of all non-Pro laptop CPUs.

c2h5oh 3y ago

Nothing changed since first Ryzen launch: - Desktop Ryzen CPUs support ECC, but implementation by motherboard vendors is not mandatory - Laptop and G-series Ryzen CPUs only support ECC in pro variant - Threadripper has ECC support edit: not confirmed but supposedly laptop and APUs starting with 6000 series all support ECC.

0xcde4c3db 3y ago
There are also a few oddball desktop SKUs that are actually a G-series processor with the GPU disabled (primarily ones below the "600" tier, e.g. the Ryzen 3 4100 or Ryzen 5 5500), which also lack ECC support.
treprinum 3y ago
7840HS laptop CPU definitely doesn't have ECC, only the PRO variant.
- adrian_b 3y ago
  What is weird is that AMD has published for almost 2 years specifications that all the Ryzen 6000 series and all the Ryzen 7000 series of laptop CPUs (Rembrandt and Phoenix) support ECC, then suddenly and silently they have removed the statement about ECC support from all their specifications. For the current Ryzen 8000 laptop series (Hawk Point), the ECC support has been specified as missing from the beginning.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

dralley 3y ago

Is it disabled or is it simply not certified? Last I checked ECC was not certified to work on most "consumer" oriented hardware, but AMD didn't make any attempt to actually disable it.

mjevans 3y ago
Last I checked, DESKTOP AMD CPUs have working (not disabled, but not 'supported') ECC with DDR5 UDIMMs (5v source, not 12v server ram). Desktop BOARDS, depends on the HW + BIOS; initial firmware revisions didn't do ECC but for many boards on some brands it does work. I haven't checked recently.
- adrian_b 3y ago
  No longer true. At least since Zen 3 (2020), all AMD desktop Ryzen CPUs have ECC support clearly included in their specifications, so it is official support, not just a non-disabled ECC. This change was around the same time when Intel has begun to support ECC in some Alder Lake desktop CPUs (and in their successors), so it might have been a response to Intel's decision. So now the ECC support depends strictly on the motherboard manufacturer. The best chance to find motherboards with ECC support is at ASUS and at ASRock (including ASRock Rack, which offers server boards for Ryzen CPUs).

sunshowers 3y ago

I thought the same as you, but the situation's less dire thankfully. Wrote a post about it a while back that was top of HN: https://sunshowers.io/posts/am5-ryzen-7000-ecc-ram/ https://sunshowers.io/posts/am5-ryzen-7000-ecc-ram/

justinclift 3y ago
Possibly interestingly, the motherboard (ASRock X670E Taichi) you mention there now has ECC listed on the ASRock page: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E%20Taichi/index.asp#Specification https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E%20Taichi/index.asp#Speci... Supports DDR5 ECC/non-ECC, un-buffered memory up to 7800+(OC)
- sunshowers 3y ago
  Oh awesome. That's really fantastic. The Riptide motherboard I use also has ECC listed now. https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650E%20PG%20Riptide%20WiFi https://pg.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650E%20PG%20Riptide%20WiFi
- treprinum 3y ago
  "Supports" might mean you can run unbuffered ECC UDIMMs but without ECC? Even Intel can run ECC UDIMMs in non-ECC mode. Also some manufacturers don't distinguish between "on-die ECC" (DDR5) and real ECC.
  - sunshowers 3y ago
    No, the memory controller believes ECC is activated. See my post :)
Dylan16807 3y ago
Less dire for sure, but having to pay double the cost for ECC modules is still pretty dire.
- adrian_b 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

foresto 3y ago

All the Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors support ECC, I think. Check each model's specs to be sure. Asus motherboards for those CPUs also support it, as stated in the BIOS manuals I looked over. It requires changing the BIOS ECC setting from Auto to Enable. I have done this on one such system, and the appropriate EDAC messages showed up in the Linux boot log.