Question Easy Way to Verify ECC RAM installed?

[soundtrek]

I recently got an apparently great deal on an HP ZBook Fury 15 G8 laptop for a great price. The Ebay ad said it has the Xeon W-11955m CPU, which was confirmed by Device Manager. But section in Device Manager says nothing about memory. When I clicked into System & Security it confirmed the same CPU and said I have 32GB memory (the seller said it was 64GB!!), but it doesn't specify ECC or non-ECC.

I know that this can be determined by physical inspection. ECC RAM sticks will have an odd number of chips on them; one of the chips will be for parity checking (?). This video shows a tear down procedure for getting at the memory sticks but it's way too tedious and risky for my liking.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flL1kNVY_9k


Might there be a way via the BIOS, Windows 10 or other software to confirm whether or not ECC RAM is installed?

 

[punkncat]

You may be able to get a model number or information from CPU-Z that is good for a lookup?

 

[soundtrek]

You may be able to get a model number or information from CPU-Z that is good for a lookup?

Thanks but apparently such apps cannot guarantee if ECC RAM is installed; can't even rely on what the BIOS says.
https://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1583115

 

[CountMike]

Thanks but apparently such apps cannot guarantee if ECC RAM is installed; can't even rely on what the BIOS says.
https://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1583115

http://softnology.biz/files.html

 

[V8VENOM]

HWINFO can report specific RAM and ECC.

 

[Karadjgne]

Thaiphoon Burner.

 

[soundtrek]

HWINFO can report specific RAM and ECC.

Thanks but presumably entering wmic memphysical get memoryerrorcorrection into PowerShell and hitting Return yields the correct answer. Unfortunately, in my case it's 3.

Question - Easy Way to Verify ECC RAM installed?

I recently got an apparently great deal on an HP ZBook Fury 15 G8 laptop for a great price. The Ebay ad said it has the Xeon W-11955m CPU, which was confirmed by Device Manager. But section in Device Manager says nothing about memory. When I clicked into System & Security it confirmed the same...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[V8VENOM]

Thanks but presumably entering wmic memphysical get memoryerrorcorrection into PowerShell and hitting Return yields the correct answer. Unfortunately, in my case it's 3.

WMIC has been deprecated per MS docs here. I'm not sure I'd trust the results.

 

[geofelt]

CPU-Z has a memory and spd tab which should display your ram and operating status.

 

[soundtrek]

http://softnology.biz/files.html

Thaiphoon Burner.

I went there but fail to see the relevance to ECC for presence of ECC RAM, but then I'm a basically a noob at this level.

 

[soundtrek]

WMIC has been deprecated per MS docs here. I'm not sure I'd trust the results.

CPU-Z has a memory and spd tab which should display your ram and operating status.

So then which of these apps is the less foolproof for a noobie to verify if ECC RAM is installed, even if it might somehow not be enabled to detect/correct bit errors?

 

[Karadjgne]

Can't see the forest for the trees. Thaiphoon Burner, Cpu-Z, even speccy will give you the model number of the ram. It's there isn't it? Google the model. ECC ram is very specific, don't think I've ever seen 'value' ECC ram.

Don't think you can disable ECC either. Not by a switch. It needs to be disabled in bios.

 

[soundtrek]

Can't see the forest for the trees. Thaiphoon Burner, Cpu-Z, even speccy will give you the model number of the ram. It's there isn't it? Google the model. ECC ram is very specific, don't think I've ever seen 'value' ECC ram.

Don't think you can disable ECC either. Not by a switch. It needs to be disabled in bios.

Duh, I should have clicked on the screenshots.
http://softnology.biz/images/shots/imb_proddet.png
Okay, I'll install it and see what RAM it says I have.

 

[soundtrek]

Thaiphoon Burner, Cpu-Z, even speccy will give you the model number of the ram. It's there isn't it? Google the model. ECC ram is very specific, don't think I've ever seen 'value' ECC ram.

Don't think you can disable ECC either. Not by a switch. It needs to be disabled in bios.

Installed Thiapoon Burner but when I clicked on app launch button I got a warning for "ASUS users". I don't know if my HP ZBook G8 laptop has an ASUS motherboard, or anything else ASUS, so I didn't click ok. I took a screenshot of the notice and saved to a Wordpad file; I don't yet have MS Word on this laptop. But this forum won't accept that format for uploading.

But I did click on a Version document, which said:

"The XMP Enhancer Editor is capable of accessing DRAM controller configuration registers of Intel and AMD processors. The idea is to create XMP profiles on the base of the current DRAM timing settings. Unfortunately, not all Intel processors are fully supported due to the lack of technical documentation."

And below this text, it says

6th Gen "Skylake" Desktop & Mobile Intel CPUs with DDR3 DC mode - tWR & tWTR are not read out;
* 10th Gen "Ice Lake" Model U/Y CPUs - tRC, tRFC2 and tRFC4 are not read out;
* 11th Gen "Tiger Lake" Mobile CPUs - tRC, tRFC2 and tRFC4 are not read out.
Mine is 11th Gen. As a suitable alternative, it looks like HWinfo should be compatible
https://biblprog.com/en/hwinfo32/historychanges/

https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/threads/is-dram-freq-correct-in-tiger-lake-laptop-cpus-with-3200mhz-ddr4.7845/

HWiNFO - Free System Information, Monitoring and Diagnostics

Free Hardware Analysis, Monitoring and Reporting. In-depth Hardware Information, Real-Time System Monitoring, Reporting & more

www.hwinfo.com

Please advise.

 

[Karadjgne]

That just says there's an issue reading specific timings. That's not an issue since bios will read them anyway. The Only thing you'd need is the exact model designation. Like the above listed ram shows Crucial Ballistix Elite, which is Not ECC registered ram.

 

[vov4ik_il]

Just a side question… why would you expect to have ECC memory on your LAPTOP? It is very seldom in 260-pin and only used in server applications (normally).
To answer your question, the easiest would be googling the memory part number.

 

[soundtrek]

That just says there's an issue reading specific timings. That's not an issue since bios will read them anyway. The Only thing you'd need is the exact model designation. Like the above listed ram shows Crucial Ballistix Elite, which is Not ECC registered ram.

Ran HWinfo64. Looks like very complete system info. My luck that the ECC field says no. At least I have an answer. The memory brand is hynix but the app looks like it's only showing part of the model number: hma82gs6

 

[soundtrek]

Just a side question… why would you expect to have ECC memory on your LAPTOP?

Most, if not all, "workstation" laptops from HP, Dell and Lenovo give you the option to choose a Xeon processor. And with Xeon CPUs you can opt for ECC memory.

 

[DSzymborski]

Most, if not all, "workstation" laptops from HP, Dell and Lenovo give you the option to choose a Xeon processor. And with Xeon CPUs you can opt for ECC memory.

Yes, but it doesn't mean that they necessarily have ECC RAM. HP's own page for this model of laptop offers both ECC and non-ECC memory as options.

As to where the source some of the RAM, that's trickier; it's not a common thing with laptops generally, ECC SODIMMs don't seem to be available from the usual sources, and I've never personally had a workload that required ECC RAM that I ever wanted to run on a laptop.

 

[soundtrek]

Yes, but it doesn't mean that they necessarily have ECC RAM. HP's own page for this model of laptop offers both ECC and non-ECC memory as options.

As to where the source some of the RAM, that's trickier; it's not a common thing with laptops generally, ECC SODIMMs don't seem to be available from the usual sources, and I've never personally had a workload that required ECC RAM that I ever wanted to run on a laptop.

Yes, ECC RAM is optional with Xeon ZBooks, even though there's barely any difference in price or speed, so I can't see why anyone wouldn't opt for ECC. Kinda of a dumb choice, I'd say, especially since ECC offers some insurance against bit errors corrupting your data; non-ECC offers none. I certainly could stand some kind of piece of mind from something these days.

As for availability https://www.kingston.com/en/memory/...-15-15-6-g8-mobile-workstation?errorcheck=ecc

 

[Karadjgne]

so I can't see why anyone wouldn't opt for ECC.

Speed. ECC is considerably slower in every aspect, and thats especially true with Ryzen platforms. ECC has an extra chip that contains data, and that data is compared to the other data on the other chips. If there's an error, it gets corrected. That takes time, which generally can mean a loss of fps for gamers.
Price. High speed ECC isn't cheap because to get ECC working without error and still be ECC rated, it needs a working environment it can deal with, the slower the ram, the easier time the ram has to do those comparative checks. Big difference in work between 2133MHz and 4400MHz. So that eprom is going to need to be highest grade silicon, better than the other chips. That's an extra step, more materials, higher cost per unit.
Compatibility. ECC is only viable when the cpu and mobo agree. X570 will support ECC, B550 doesn't. 2000 Series Ryzen doesn't. So for ECC you'll need a PRO version cpu, and X570 mobo, which increases costs on a platform level and consumer level.

I agree that ECC Can be important, in the financial, medical, engineering fields etc, but for general use and gaming, all that's required would price ppl out of purchases.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yes, ECC RAM is optional with Xeon ZBooks, even though there's barely any difference in price or speed, so I can't see why anyone wouldn't opt for ECC. Kinda of a dumb choice, I'd say, especially since ECC offers some insurance against bit errors corrupting your data; non-ECC offers none. I certainly could stand some kind of piece of mind from something these days.

As for availability https://www.kingston.com/en/memory/...-15-15-6-g8-mobile-workstation?errorcheck=ecc

Again, you are drastically, drastically overrating the probability that the average consumer will ever see any visible consequence, no matter how small, from an error of this type. If this weren't true, ECC RAM would be the standard.

There's also a very small chance that I will get two flat tires on the highway. But the space used in having to carry a second spare tire is far more valuable to me than the piece of mind of having two spare tires. As it is for almost everyone. But there are people with highly specialized needs and different consequences, for example, someone in a long road rally or driving in dangerous, mountainous terrain. That doesn't mean, however, that it's a normal situation.

There are a lot of cases where even the astronomical chance of a lost comma or moved decimal somewhere is significant (most errors won't be ones like this even). Like computers monitoring patients' vitals in a hospital. Or a computer dealing with millions of financial transactions regularly.

Literally nobody with a use case this crucial would ever worry about having to buy a server motherboard instead of a consumer-typical one. It would be assumed.