Mixing ECC RAM and non-ECC Ram

[Schu81]

I have 1G of ECC memory (512x2) currently installed in my Intel 915P motherboard. A friend has another 1G of memory (512x2) he is willing to sell me cheap, but it is non-ECC. RAM speeds all match and I have two slots available for installation.

What would happen if I installed the non-ECC along with the ECC RAM?

 

[garebo]

I stand to be corrected, but i believe i have seen this question before and the answer, i believe, was that if your mobo accepts the ram then its ok to use both.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[Enkrypted]

You could put it in there and the system will run. There may be times where you might experience instability. However, a couple things to keep in mind:

1. Mixing the two will make the memory default to Non-ECC mode.

2. If your BIOS is set to Parity Check, make sure you disable that or the system will probably lock up.

3. Make sure you do a backup before doing this. I have seen some cases where mixing memory like this caused corruption within the OS.

Enkrypted
A+