ECC? RDRAM?

davidacorddavidacord Humboldt CA
edited March 2008 in Hardware
I am not very up to date on technologies...I've heard of DIMM and SDRAM, but I just got a DELL 8100 that has RDRAM and I have no clue what ECC is. Why is this RAM so expensive? Up to $470.00 for 1 Gig?!!!!! What the Heck is up with THAT?

:confused:

Comments

  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDRAM

    That will do a far better job than I can at explaining Rdram. ECC stands for Error Correcting Code, which is normally found in server ram, but you can use it in some desktop system. This is a socket 423 P4 system, I assume? You have ECC Rdram? or just Rdram?
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    I can't give you technical details, but my old Dell 8250 had Rambus DRAM in it. I recall the stuff running in parallel, dual channel. So if you upgrade, you MUST buy identical sticks. For instance, if you want to add a gig to your system, you have to buy 2 identical 512 sticks and install them together. Rambus was very very fast stuff, but has since been overtaken by newer ram technologies. It was quickly overcome by the more standardized DDR2 RAM. Because of this, the ram was used less frequently, and today has been almost completely phased out. That's why it's so expensive.

    But you're stuck with it. You won't be able to upgrade to cheaper, faster RAM wihtout a new mobo. Dell's usually use proprietary connector boards for their front LED and power buttons, so swapping out the mobo is typically out of the question.

    If you must upgarde, you'd probably be better off starting with a new build.
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