Hi everyone!
I'm considering a FreeNAS build, and Error Correction Code (ECC) RAM is a must to prevent any potential errors in RAIDZ parity calculations. Unfortunately, only certain hardware supports ECC outside of the full-blown server scene.
I know most AMD chips and lower end Intel chips (celerons, pentiums, and low i3) support unbuffered ECC memory, but the motherboard support is a bit sparse (the ECC traces from cpu socket to dimm slots are frequently omitted in consumer boards, so even if the memory controller on the cpu supports ECC, the board won't). That leaves only expensive server-grade boards, or so I thought!
Recently, AMD's new low-power AM1 platform CPUs seem to sport ECC enabled memory controllers (Athlon 5350/5150) and are very easy on the wallet. Most boards again claim only to support non-ECC memory, but some intrepid experimenters revealed that the ASUS AM1M-A mATX motherboard *does* indeed support unbuffered ECC memory - which led ASUS to update its manual to reflect such.
Now, I really want to go with an mITX solution and ASUS released a companion board to the AM1M-A called the AM1I-A - an ITX version. Its manual still says it does not support ECC memory, though.
Does anyone have any experience with this board, or any other low-cost ECC solutions for that matter?
I'm considering a FreeNAS build, and Error Correction Code (ECC) RAM is a must to prevent any potential errors in RAIDZ parity calculations. Unfortunately, only certain hardware supports ECC outside of the full-blown server scene.
I know most AMD chips and lower end Intel chips (celerons, pentiums, and low i3) support unbuffered ECC memory, but the motherboard support is a bit sparse (the ECC traces from cpu socket to dimm slots are frequently omitted in consumer boards, so even if the memory controller on the cpu supports ECC, the board won't). That leaves only expensive server-grade boards, or so I thought!
Recently, AMD's new low-power AM1 platform CPUs seem to sport ECC enabled memory controllers (Athlon 5350/5150) and are very easy on the wallet. Most boards again claim only to support non-ECC memory, but some intrepid experimenters revealed that the ASUS AM1M-A mATX motherboard *does* indeed support unbuffered ECC memory - which led ASUS to update its manual to reflect such.
Now, I really want to go with an mITX solution and ASUS released a companion board to the AM1M-A called the AM1I-A - an ITX version. Its manual still says it does not support ECC memory, though.
Does anyone have any experience with this board, or any other low-cost ECC solutions for that matter?