Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
45 Posts
0
334660
Precision T5500 and T7500: what memory?
Does non-ECC DDR3 memory work with the above?
What is the performance difference between unbuffered memory and registered memoery?
Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
45 Posts
0
334660
Does non-ECC DDR3 memory work with the above?
What is the performance difference between unbuffered memory and registered memoery?
Top
Dev Mgr
9.3K Posts
0
June 17th, 2009 12:00
I'm not sure if the Xeon processor's memory controller supports non-ECC memory. The main reason for using registered memory is that unbuffered memory is limited to 2 DIMMs per memory channel per processor and 2GB max per DIMM (so max of 2 processors x 3 memory channels x 2 dimms x 2GB = 24GB). Registered memory can use all slots (3 per channel) and I believe up to 8GB per DIMM (144GB).
As for performance differences, the workstations can't overclock, and you don't buy them for tweaking (memory or processors), but registered memory in this old (2004) comparison shows to be slower. I couldn't (quickly) find anything with Google about DDR3 triple channel setups comparing unbuffered memory to registered memory.
cgukhal
45 Posts
0
June 17th, 2009 13:00
Dev Mgr:
Are you with Dell?
I do not care about over-clocking, no tweaking. The default performance is more than what I need. Dell Precisions are high-quality machines and the premium is worth it.
Having paid the premium, I would like to save money on RAM.
Can someone confirm whether Xeon 55xx's and the motherboard can work with non-ECC memory?
I was not aware of the difference between 2GB max/DIMM with unbuffered---the specs do not mention it and they should. Thanks.
T5500 (T7500) has a maximum of 9 (12) DIMMs and that means a max of 18GB (24GB)---I can live with that.
Best
cgukhal
45 Posts
0
June 21st, 2009 03:00
I looked at the T3500's configuration page.
It allows non-ECC memory upto 6GB with 1GB units and with ECC memory upto 24GB with 4GB units. The ECC units are SDRAM but not clear whether unbuffered or registered.
smoothmove
63 Posts
0
September 30th, 2009 10:00
Old Thread, BUT
Dual-> Quad CPU Xeons are ECC only- 55xx series. They will not work with Non ECC memory.
Single Socket Xeons NOT 55xx Series will take Non ECC
vvv1vvv
1 Message
0
November 13th, 2009 15:00
T5500 works with registered/unbuffered ecc ddr3.
If you try non-ecc ram you'll get this message after boot (yes it boots!): "Non-ECC dims are not supported on this system. System halted"
At the moment, dell is selling both registered+ecc unbuffered+ecc dims and the price is very competitive. They don't specify which is which but the registered ram is naturally more expensive.