[SOLVED] Memory Upgrade for Dual Socket Xeon Workstation

[maksins]

Dear members,
I am trying to upgrade the memory RAM of my current workstation and would appreciate your input.
Configuration: ASRock EP2C612D16NM-2T8R Server Motherboard,
2 Xeon E5 2695 - V4 processor,
850 W Power Supply
2x32 GB Hynix 2133 MHz Ram

The current memory performance is extremely poor and basically
The motherboard has 16 DIMM slots. As per my understanding, each Xeon processor has 4 memory channels, so 8 in total. I would ideally like to have 128 GB of RAM. I have been doing some internet research and found that ideally one should ideally have 8 DIMM slots filled instead of filling all 16 DIMM slots as it would reduce the possibility of memory failure and less voltage/wattage requirement. Is this correct?
Secondly, do I really require ECC RDIMMs? I am not doing any "mission critical work", just FEA/CFD simulations and the need for ECC has been questioned by many people.
I can get UDIMMs very cheap and it would fit my budget. My Workstation is already quite old, so I do not see the point of investing too much for ECC ram features.
If the answer to the second questions is Yes, then lastly, the retail websites at my place has better pricing and availibility for 2666/3000 MHz UDIMMs, however my motherboard says it can support maximum up to 2400 MHz. Can I buy all 2666/3000 MHz RAM modules and install it motherboard accepting the fact that these will operate at maximum rate frequency of the motherboard (i.e., 2400 MHz). Do you see any downside to it?

Apologies, if these are loaded questions. Would love you advice to these queries.

 

[kanewolf]

Dear members,
I am trying to upgrade the memory RAM of my current workstation and would appreciate your input.
Configuration: ASRock EP2C612D16NM-2T8R Server Motherboard,
2 Xeon E5 2695 - V4 processor,
850 W Power Supply
2x32 GB Hynix 2133 MHz Ram

The current memory performance is extremely poor and basically
The motherboard has 16 DIMM slots. As per my understanding, each Xeon processor has 4 memory channels, so 8 in total. I would ideally like to have 128 GB of RAM. I have been doing some internet research and found that ideally one should ideally have 8 DIMM slots filled instead of filling all 16 DIMM slots as it would reduce the possibility of memory failure and less voltage/wattage requirement. Is this correct?
Secondly, do I really require ECC RDIMMs? I am not doing any "mission critical work", just FEA/CFD simulations and the need for ECC has been questioned by many people.
I can get UDIMMs very cheap and it would fit my budget. My Workstation is already quite old, so I do not see the point of investing too much for ECC ram features.
If the answer to the second questions is Yes, then lastly, the retail websites at my place has better pricing and availibility for 2666/3000 MHz UDIMMs, however my motherboard says it can support maximum up to 2400 MHz. Can I buy all 2666/3000 MHz RAM modules and install it motherboard accepting the fact that these will operate at maximum rate frequency of the motherboard (i.e., 2400 MHz). Do you see any downside to it?

Apologies, if these are loaded questions. Would love you advice to these queries.

Each CPU needs four DIMMs for maximum memory performance.
With 128GB you do want ECC RAM. I am surprised that higher clocked RAM is cheaper.
For 128GB you do want eight 16GB DIMMs.

 

[maksins]

So, technically there is no issue using with UDIMMs instead of ECC RDIMMs?
Actually, availability of 2400 MHz is sparse compared to 2666 MHz or 3000 MHz. The prices starts to increase as you go beyond 3000 MHz, atleast on the retail websites I use.
So, given that is the scenario, would it be okay using 3000 MHz UDIMMs on my motherboard if I am willing to live with max 2400 MHz limited by the motherboard?

 

[kanewolf]

So, technically there is no issue using with UDIMMs instead of ECC RDIMMs?
Actually, availability of 2400 MHz is sparse compared to 2666 MHz or 3000 MHz. The prices starts to increase as you go beyond 3000 MHz, atleast on the retail websites I use.
So, given that is the scenario, would it be okay using 3000 MHz UDIMMs on my motherboard if I am willing to live with max 2400 MHz limited by the motherboard?

The ECC vs non-ECC will be a question for the motherboard manual.
On page 2 (PDF page 8) you see that the motherboard does NOT support UDIMMs. Only RDIMMs and LRDIMMs.
You should be able to find 8x16GB RDIMMs on E-Bay.