Core i3-2100 ECC memory?

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lordsegan

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Jun 16, 2004
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Can a Core i3-2100 use ECC memory on a server mobo?

What is the cheapest current Core model to support ECC?
 
You need to use a C202, c204, or c206 chipset motherboard (server/workstation class) for ECC to work on the i3 CPU's.
 
aaaahi said:
You need to use a C202, c204, or c206 chipset motherboard (server/workstation class) for ECC to work on the i3 CPU's.
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Great -- very helpful. What are the differences between C202 204 and 206 chipsets?
 
aaaahi said:
You need to use a C202, c204, or c206 chipset motherboard (server/workstation class) for ECC to work on the i3 CPU's.
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Negative. Intel desktop CPUs (Celeron/Pentium/i3/i5/i7) will NOT support ECC under any circumstances. The board/chipset is immaterial. Intel segregates ECC to Xeons, and Xeons ONLY.

Daimon
 
You know what sucks.... I have a $600 I-7 3930K and it doesnt even support ECC. But that isnt even a remote reason I was going to buy this amazing chip. It still kinda blows hard chunks though.

AMD is so much more lenient with ECC on desktop platforms. I would also build a home server exclusive with AMD if using newer parts because of the ECC support.
 
tangoseal said:
You know what sucks.... I have a $600 I-7 3930K and it doesnt even support ECC. But that isnt even a remote reason I was going to buy this amazing chip. It still kinda blows hard chunks though.

AMD is so much more lenient with ECC on desktop platforms. I would also build a home server exclusive with AMD if using newer parts because of the ECC support.
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Don't feel bad; I was one of the early adopters of the E3 Xeons, and one of the first to "test-as-owner" on the ASUS C206 board. That MB sucked donkey balls upon release, and now it's barely adequate, with near-pathetic ECC support. 1.5v non-ECC DDR3 is just as stable as ECC/non or ECC/Buff/Reg, as long as your job doesn't depend on it. Buy a decent PSU AND UPS, and your golden for as long as your OS is stable.

Daimon
 
dac7nco said:
Don't feel bad; I was one of the early adopters of the E3 Xeons, and one of the first to "test-as-owner" on the ASUS C206 board. That MB sucked donkey balls upon release, and now it's barely adequate, with near-pathetic ECC support. 1.5v non-ECC DDR3 is just as stable as ECC/non or ECC/Buff/Reg, as long as your job doesn't depend on it. Buy a decent PSU AND UPS, and your golden for as long as your OS is stable.

Daimon
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My understanding is that i3-2100 will support ECC on at lease some C204/206 boards.

Are you sure they dont? Would you suggest the SuperMicro board over the Asus board?
 
lordsegan said:
My understanding is that i3-2100 will support ECC on at lease some C204/206 boards.

Are you sure they dont? Would you suggest the SuperMicro board over the Asus board?
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Absolutely sure. Sorry. I would suggest SuperMicro over anything else.

Daimon
 
dac7nco said:
Negative. Intel desktop CPUs (Celeron/Pentium/i3/i5/i7) will NOT support ECC under any circumstances. The board/chipset is immaterial. Intel segregates ECC to Xeons, and Xeons ONLY.

Daimon
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I know you are trying to help, but if you don't know absolutely, don't reply.

All Intel and AMD processors are able to use ECC. They aren't going to change the core memory controller physically for consumer vs server product. It all comes down to micro code. AMD allows ECC on just about everything, Intel only does for Xeon and the lower end i3 processors (recently).

I would recommend the supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O. I've built a half dozen media servers over the last several months using this board. Excellent all around. If you want to use the built in video the best choice is any of the ASUS c206 boards.
 
FWIW, I've been running a i3-2100T on a SM mb(MBD-X9SCA-F-O) with ECC ram for almost a year now. Can't confirm either way if the ECC works or not, but the system works, currently with about 200 days of uptime.
 
So what is the real answer??

Some say absolutely not. Others say they are doing it.

The Super Micro manual for the SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCL-O

Lists: CPU
Single Intel® Xeon E3-1200 series, 2nd generation Intel Core® i3, Pentium®, Celeron® processor in an LGA 1155 socket.

I was planning on putting a G530 1155 chip (Which is a celeron) in one and using ECC memory. If this won't work, why does the Super Micro manual say it supports that CPU, when that motherboard ONLY supports ECC memory. Does that just mean ECC won't actually be used? But it will operate in non ecc mode?

I don't want to pay for a higher end chip when I don't need the extra horse power if I can do ECC with a lower end chip.

I was planning on pulling the trigger on ordering that board tonight based on what CPU's the manual for that board says it supports.
 
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I found a couple of places selling the G530 installed in servers with ECC memory.

So I will assume this is not an issue and that dac7 is just misinformed.

Also to assist anyone else that was looking like me to what processors should work with ECC in the 204 and 206 (not sure on 202) boards: (in order of cost) I left out the higher end chips

Intel Celeron G530 (2MB Cache, 2 Logical Cores)
Intel Pentium G620 (3MB Cache, 2 Logical Coress)
Intel Pentium G850 (3MB Cache, 2 Logical Cores)
Intel Core i3-2100 (3MB Cache, 4 Logical Cores)
Intel Core i3-2120 (3MB Cache, 4 Logical Cores)
Intel Xeon E3-1220 (8MB Cache, 4 Logical Cores)
 
As a follow up, I wound up buying the Asus P8B-M 204 board, put my G530 CPU and ECC RAM in it, and it works fine.
 
47.00 for the G530
190.00 for the ASUS P8B-M (rebate right now on that board)
20.00 for 2 GB of DDR3 ECC RAM
 
From intel's own website

Does the Intel® Core™ i3 Desktop Processor support Error Correction Code (ECC) memory?
The Previous Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors and the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors do not support ECC memory, but the 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors support ECC memory.
Click to expand...
 
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