ECC Capable RAM

Hi there...
I want to add some RAM to my system. I currently have 126MB of SDRAM - DIMM and know that if I should buy RAM with ECC capabilities only if my current RAM has ECC. How do I know?? Thanks, I've never upgraded before so don't want to buy something and pay more for ECC if it's not worth it.

 

You're right.

ECC-capable RAM will work on your board; but, the ECC feature will function only if your board supports it.

Go to www.crucial.com and enter your board's information. They will list all types of RAM that will work on your system. If your board supports ECC, it will be listed along with non-ECC.

 

Thanks Alex...went to the site and it listed 7 different ones that were compatible...some were ECC. Not sure, though, if that means that my RAM already in my system has ECC, or it the board just supports it. I suppose the only sure way is to pull it out and look at the number of chips as it suggests.

 

ECC will have an odd number of chips on each side of a stick.

 

Thanks for your help Alex

 

Some systems that support ECC have a setup option to enable/disable ECC function. (You need to get into system setup or BIOS setup mode to see...)

If your board supports ECC and you want to enable it, you'll have to make sure that --all-- of your DIMM/SIMMs are ECC, or you'll see your system go into severe error recovery mode! (can't mix-and-match)

If you get into system setup and see that ECC was already enabled, then your DIMM/SIMMs are ECC. If not enabled, your memory may still be ECC (or not), but the BIOS ECC was never enabled.