Can you use it?
What Is ECC RAM?
First off, we need to clarify what ECC RAM is.
Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek
But of course, it doesn’t always go perfectly.
Errors will occasionally slip through, and when they do, they might just cause your PC to crash.
A memory error can be triggered by anything, including cosmic rays (we’re not joking).
-Crucial
This is where ECC memory steps in.
Why is this the case?
Can I Use ECC RAM on My PC?
Justin Duino / How-To Geek
The answer to this is a bit complicated.
While the RAM you have in your PC is probably non-ECC, some consumer hardware actually supports ECC memory.
As of the time of writing, it’s a toss-up, though.
For AMD chips, ECC memory is “unofficially” supported.
On Intel chips, ECC memory is also supported on a handful of them since 2021.
However, it can be way trickier to hunt down an ECC-capable motherboard for Intel consumer chips.
If ECC memory is basically just way more stable RAM, why isn’t everyone using it?
Why Isn’t Everyone Using ECC RAM?
There are a few disadvantages to ECC memory.
The added capabilities also mean that ECC RAM is 10% to 20% more expensive than standard RAM.
Do you remember the last time your machine crashed because of memory corruption?
This is unlike servers and enterprise computers, where any downtime could very well be catastrophic.
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