How important is ECC ram for a home file server?

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Archer75

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I'm getting ready to upgrade my servers hardware and was wondering how important is ECC ram for a home file server? Does it even matter?
 
If the motherboard in your home servers is designed for use in a workstation, server or multi processor system, you may need it. For just a regular desktop board you should have no problem with regular memory. ECC is just error checking memory and I doubt many home servers have it.
 
I'll be replacing the board, which is why i'm asking. Buy a board that uses ECC or a cheaper board that does not.

In fact I already have a Intel 965 board I could use. Doesn't support ECC though. I still need a CPU and ram for it.

But if ECC is something that matters for a home file server then i'll just get a new board.
 
Nah, just stay with your current board. A home file server shouldn't be doing much hard work anyway and it would be a waste of money to buy a new board and memory for an improbable and small memory hiccup you might experience. I've run my desktop 24/7 doing more work than my server ever does at times without problems, and I've also run home servers without ECC memory that ran for long periods of time without any problems.
 
It is nice for uptime/stability but also for avoiding corruptions.

Necessary? Not really. Nice to have? You bet.
 
ben333 said:
Nah, just stay with your current board. A home file server shouldn't be doing much hard work anyway and it would be a waste of money to buy a new board and memory for an improbable and small memory hiccup you WILL EVENTUALLY experience. I've run my desktop 24/7 doing more work than my server ever does at times without problems, and I've also run home servers without ECC memory that ran for long periods of time without any problems.
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FIXED
 
In my case I don't need long periods of uptime. As it stands now I turn off my current server when i'm done with it.
It houses an extensive movie collection along with other data. It's usually only on when I need it.
 
Considering I've run systems for years with only occasional reboots and none of them have utilized ECC RAM I don't think ECC RAM is needed for a home server. I highly doubt there are very many people here running ECC RAM in their home servers.

Unless you buy server grade hardware, you're probably not going to even have the option of using ECC RAM. From the stated uses of your server, you don't need mission critical server grade hardware much less ECC RAM so just save the money and get a CPU and regular DDR2 RAM for the board you already have.

 
If you have the option, go for it. ECC RAM is dirt cheap. I just paid $37 shipped for 4gb of ECC DDR2 (800mhz) for my desktop...that's just $1 more than the cheapest non-ECC stuff on newegg. Of course barely any desktop boards support it (mine is one of the few), so unless you already have the option for it, I wouldn't bother if you are on a budget. It isn't crucial, but of course it helps. It just isn't needed by most people.
 
This is one of the reasons why I prefer AMD over Intel: desktop ECC support. Choices are still limited, but at least you can find an ECC-supporting AMD board for relatively cheap (I'm currently using the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe with 8GB unbuffered ECC on my home server). You're out of luck with Intel unless you go for server boards - almost all of which use much more expensive and hot running FB-DIMMs. Server hardware is the way to go if you really value your data such as running a business or any other situation where corrupt data or system downtime can cost boatloads of time and/or money; however that's complete overkill for the home.

If you can get it then you should. I wouldn't sweat it if you can't though; not for a home server unless you really value your data.
 
SockMan! said:
You're out of luck with Intel unless you go for server boards - almost all of which use much more expensive and hot running FB-DIMMs.
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Not true; I'm using an Intel S3210SHLC with ECC memory. It's about $250 normally, but I got it new in box from eBay for $160. It runs with regular Core 2s (I'm using a Q6600) but will also accept the single-socket Xeons.

SockMan! said:
If you can get it then you should. I wouldn't sweat it if you can't though; not for a home server unless you really value your data.
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Agreed. If you have a way to get to ECC memory for, say, $200, go for it. If it's gonna be $500 to upgrade everything you need I'd pass.
 
unhappy_mage said:
Not true; I'm using an Intel S3210SHLC with ECC memory. It's about $250 normally, but I got it new in box from eBay for $160. It runs with regular Core 2s (I'm using a Q6600) but will also accept the single-socket Xeons.
Click to expand...

You're right; I remember another Tyan board that can use Core 2s and unbuffered DDR2 ECC memory. It's still easier to find AMD boards with unbuffered ECC support though; especially now with the i7 platform's (and probably the i5) complete inability to utilize ECC. If you want Nehelem and ECC then you'll need a Xeon.
 
Only dual socket (and some quad socket) Intel boards use FB-DIMMs. Everything single socket is going to be regular ECC.
 
I rebuilt my fileserver recently with an Asus workstation board (P5E WS Pro) to get ECC and PCI-X support.

It's not too pricey, and is a socket 755 board. Note it supports unbuffered ECC RAM rather than buffered. 8GB (4x2GB kingston) for it was pretty cheap I seem to recall.
 
Only if you are running a business, hosting services or something crazy like that out of your home.

Otherwise stay with regular.

edit:
Archer75 said:
In my case I don't need long periods of uptime. As it stands now I turn off my current server when i'm done with it.
It houses an extensive movie collection along with other data. It's usually only on when I need it.
Click to expand...
Definitely stay with a regular desktop board and non-ECC memory.
 
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