I have a P4 machine with 800Mhz ECC Ram & the local computer shop has non-ECC Ram on sale ($130 for 256M).

What problems will I create if I mix and match ECC and non-ECC ram?

Thanks -

PS anyone know where the best prices are on the net for ECC Ram (for a Dell machine)?

 

You should be able to find the answers to any questions you have about RAM at Crucial.com, it's the direct sales website for Micron. If you have a Dell, there's a pretty good chance that the memory that's already in it is from Micron. I'd also recommend that you buy your memory from them, but since I work for Micron, you can take my recommendation however you chose .

 

you are using ECC RAM in your PC?

it thought ECC RAM are more expensive and they are for more reliable machines (e.g. server)

and, somebody correct me if i'm wrong, when you mix ECC and non-ECC RAM together, they will all operate as non-ECC RAM.

 

#1 yes correct. ECC uses 14bits for 1 byte. Non-ECC uses 8 bits for 1 byte. So ECC has almost 2x the number of chips (well it could be the same # of chips w/ twice the storage per chip).

#2 correct again.. If you mix mem you system will always dumb down to the lowest common denominator. So Non-ECC mixed with ECC will in non-ECC mode. Just like if you had one PC133 and one PC100 stick, you would run them both at PC100 speed.

 

any price for correct answer?

 

apparently $130 for 256MB.

 

Check www.crucial.com for good memory prices. You'll usually get the RAM within days.