AM3 Boards That Support ECC

[Serra]

I'm looking to build a few low power systems using Athlon II X4 615e's, but since they will see a lot of uptime I wanted to look into using ECC, which as I understand it the processors support. The trick though is that I know a lot of motherboards out there state they can USE ECC memory, but they just run it in non-ECC mode... so I'm looking for boards that can actually use ECC properly.

A few qualifying specs that I'm looking for in boards:
- Integrated graphics capable of HD acceleration (nothing fancy, just want to make sure that HD movies are smooth)
- Minimum of 1x 1Gb/s network port
- 1x PCI-E x16 required (can be x8 electrical)
- 1+ eSATA port
- HDMI out
- Preferably mATX or smaller (not required, just preferred)
- Price Range: $50-$150

[jeremyshaw]

AMD did use the AM3 socket for servers, so check out server boards with AM3 (now replaced by C32).

[Oliverda]

ASUS mobos support ECC modules.

[zanzabar]

ASUS mobos support ECC modules.

+1 my m4a89td pro dose ecc

[Panther_Seraphi]

My M3a79 has ECC ability on DDR2.

My mates M4a89GTD has ECC ability also

+1 for Asus

[Serra]

Hmmm, I wouldn't have thought that a vendor would just embrace ECC so well... go Asus! I'll take a look into their boards specifically if they're known to support it.

[zanzabar]

Hmmm, I wouldn't have thought that a vendor would just embrace ECC so well... go Asus! I'll take a look into their boards specifically if they're known to support it.

just start checking manuals/spec pages on the asus site (i know its slow as hell) but most boards support it on amd.

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...JCL&templete=2 this one maybe

[BeepBeep2]

Honestly unless you are running 4 sticks of 4GB+ density I don't think ECC will be of much benefit, even with the amount of uptime.

4 sticks of 2GB density you shouldn't need to worry about ECC, 2 sticks of 4GB density I wouldn't worry about either.

[zanzabar]

but ecc ddr3 is the same price as jdec ddr3 right now so why not. its not like there is a large performance hit unless u hammer the ram all day.

[Serra]

Honestly unless you are running 4 sticks of 4GB+ density I don't think ECC will be of much benefit, even with the amount of uptime.

4 sticks of 2GB density you shouldn't need to worry about ECC, 2 sticks of 4GB density I wouldn't worry about either.

It's all about uptime, data reliability, and standardization.

I have decided that I need three physical boxes in my home - one "prod" box running ESXi with 4-5 VM's to do generally helpful things, one "lab" box running ESXi with VM's for me to use to test configurations out (largely for work use), and one "storage" box that will provide all manner of storage services (not with VMs).

I expect the prod and storage boxes to be on 24/7 for a few years, and the "lab" box will hopefully be around there. The storage box must maintain data integrity or the value of the box as a whole is nothing. The last requirement is that to provide simplified troubleshooting and lower my repair time all three boxes will be built on identical motherboards, memory, and processors.

Hence ECC will be required. I suspect I will be using at least 2x 4GB sticks per box, possibly 4x 4GB. For a "normal" box I would probably feel OK with not using ECC until 12GB or even 16GB, but I also expect a "normal" box not to require an uptime measured in thousands of hours or have such an onus put on data integrity.