I’m thinking about building a new AMD-based system and would like one with ECC memory. So, I’m looking for examples of CPU, motherboard, memory combinations that folks are using day-to-day that meet that criteria.
I’m thinking B550 to save a few bucks, but haven’t ruled out X570. I run Linux exclusively. I’m also thinking Ryzen 5000 series, whatever I can find at the time I buy.
Just FYI, my current desktop is based around Asrock x370 Taichi, Ryzen 7 1800X, (2) Kingston ValueRAM KVR24E17D8/16.
I feel like this question comes up a lot, and we should probably have a wiki for it at this point
But anyway, personally I would stick to motherboards that actually advertise it, as chances are it’ll not be removed by BIOS updates. Non-official ECC support (which of course also depends on the CPU) can be wonky over time depending how much the vendor cares. I’d look through the L1 Motherboard reviews (haven’t gotten to all the B550 boards yet), since wendell usually does ECC testing as well.
@zlynx I’m not sure both those really do support ECC though or what you’re reading that from. I have similar readings and I definitely don’t have ECC memory:
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x0027
Error Information Handle: 0x002F
Total Width: 64 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 8 GB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM 1
Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL A
Type: DDR4
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 2133 MT/s
Manufacturer: Unknown
Serial Number: 00000000
Asset Tag: Not Specified
Part Number: CMR16GX4M2C3200C16
Rank: 1
Configured Memory Speed: 2133 MT/s
Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V
Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V
Configured Voltage: 1.2 V
Judging by your readings I would assume the X570 board does support ECC (Total Width 72 bit = 64 bit data + 8 bit ECC), but the X370 doesn’t (Total Width 128 bit = 2x data, presumably because it’s dual rang?).
Hm interesting… although I’m wondering if that is the explicit ECC we’re talking about or the implicit ECC that is just part of the DDR4 standard… don’t really have a way of testing though.
I’m leaning towards the Asus Prime B550-Plus motherboard, a Ryzen 5800X, and two 16gig DDR4-3200 sticks of ECC unbuffered Nemix RAM. This approximates a build Linus (of Linus Tech Tips) did a while back. Any thoughts?
I can report that the Asus Prime B550-Plus motherboard, a Ryzen 9 5900X, and Nemix DDR4-3200 ECC unbuffered seem to support ECC. That’s based on wmic in Windows and dmidecode & edac-ctl in Linux. I have not attempted to force errors by overclocking memory.