Will ECC memory work on a non-ecc Motherboard?

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jjager85

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i have a Epox 8kta3 Motherboard, it uses non-ecc memory, but will it accept ecc memory? i have read on some pages that it will, just wont use all the ram.
 
Nope, nada, keyed different, not gonna happen. Having said that you probgally have some weird motherboard, only one in the freaking world that will do it, I didnt know Epox was even still alive. But no, it will not work and will not plug in even.
 
ECC RAM is keyed the same as non ECC, so ECC DDR2 is 240 pin just like the unregistered variety and will fit any DDR2 board. Whether or not it will work depends on the board.
 
see thats what i have read, but there are alot of people that say yes, and alot of people that say no, and your right that it depends on the board.
 
BillParrish said:
Nope, nada, keyed different, not gonna happen. Having said that you probgally have some weird motherboard, only one in the freaking world that will do it, I didnt know Epox was even still alive. But no, it will not work and will not plug in even.
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eh?! ECC ram will work perfectly fine in a non ECC mobo. seriously. and trust me, i've tried, and i've overclocked it. quite fun :p

there is no reason why the ECC ram won't work. it's sorta a superset of the ddr standard. like how memory with an EPP profile will work in anything. it's there, but not necessarily used. the only reason it wouldn't work is because the mobo mfg coded the bios STUPIDLY to prevent ECC ram from working right
 
I messed up, it is buffered ram that is keyed differently. You are right. The ninth bit will be a bios issue, so even if it fits, there might still be problems.
 
I hate to tell someone they are wrong but, Unless it is designed to accept ecc memory it prob will not work some, won't notice but most will reject the memory.
BTW I have an asus board that will accept ecc or non-ecc but won't accept double sided ram either kind says so on the website, go figure?
 
*UNBUFFERED* ECC memory will work fine in a non-ECC motherboard, it will just ignore the extra memory bits.
 
damn, now were getting it down to a science, i only see that one person has actually said they have done it with there board.
 
In "most" of the cases I have seen posted over the years at the Corsair forum, users trying to use ECC memory in a non-ECC board did not have good luck. In most cases it was unstable, especially with more than 1 DIMM and even less stable with a dual channel non-ECC MOBO with more than 1 DIMM. Many of them would boot n run with 1 DIMM but would not even post with 2.

It seems that there is no rock solid YES or NO answer here. However, I would not bet on the board you listed doing well with it.
 
I have one stick of ECC. It will run totally stable by its self in 4 motherboards BUT when you want to pair it up with something stuff gets hairy.
Paired though with my varying PC4400 Kits

In an old crappy soyo with SIS 645 chipset
Corsair TCCD: Hates this, wont post if its in with it
Geil Hynix D5: Loves this stuff
PNY TCC5: partly dislikes it, have to run slow

In Neo2 NF3
TCCD: doesnt mind - low speed
D5: doesnt mind - low speed
TCC5: doesnt mind - low speed
TCCD + hynix D5 doesnt mind

Thats about all the testing I ever did. Lets suffice it to say its weird and picky. Also different board to board. Also all the sticks I tested it with were VERY flexible at low speeds on all of their timings. Probably something to do with it.
 
It depends a lot on the motherboard.

Yes, you can mix-and-match ECC with non-ECC RAM/motherboard.

However, you cannot mix-and-match Registered/Buffered with Un-registered/Unbuffered RAM.

(I learned that from personal experience after buying the wrong Kingston RAM.)
 
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