- May 28, 2015
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I am not a computer expert, at all. I am not an IT person. I am a scientist looking for a system that can capably run simulations on up to 8 threads. These simulations will run for several days at most (i.e., not for months at a time).
I hate crashes and blue screens as much as the next guy, but I can't really call my applications "mission critical." I do need a system that, as I said, can run simulations in parallel for several days at a time without crashing.
Should I consider ECC memory? Or is ECC memory really practically necessary for only servers that run 24/7 and for medical and aircraft control systems and the like? It's not like I'm going to render Toy Story 4 on my system, by any means, either. Since I'm not a computer expert, when I read technical articles and discussions, I have difficulty putting into context how useful ECC memory can be.
Another question is about performance. This website says that ECC memory is slower than non-ECC memory, by about 2%. For my applications, 2% slower does not seem bad.
But now suppose I compare two memory sticks that have different clock frequencies. Here are two systems that I am considering. The first system has a Core i7-4790 processor, which doesn't support ECC memory; Lenovo offers 1600 MHz memory with it. The second system has a Xeon E5-1620 v3 processor, which does support ECC; Lenovo offers 2133 MHz memory with it.
Lenovo ThinkStation P300 Tower Workstation
Intel Core i7-4790 Processor (8MB Cache, base frequency 3.6 GHz, max turbo frequency 4.0 GHz)
8GB PC3 1600MHz uDIMM
Lenovo ThinkStation P500 Tower Workstation
Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 Processor (10MB Cache, base frequency 3.5 GHz, max turbo frequency 3.6 GHz)
8GB DDR4 2133MHz ECC RDIMM
Assuming that the two processors give similar performance (which is a big assumption), how will the performance of the 2133 MHz ECC memory compare with that of the 1600 MHz non-ECC memory? Or, since the types of memory are different, am I comparing apples to oranges? (But, even if I am, could you please give me a very rough idea of what to expect?)
Thanks so much for your time!
I hate crashes and blue screens as much as the next guy, but I can't really call my applications "mission critical." I do need a system that, as I said, can run simulations in parallel for several days at a time without crashing.
Should I consider ECC memory? Or is ECC memory really practically necessary for only servers that run 24/7 and for medical and aircraft control systems and the like? It's not like I'm going to render Toy Story 4 on my system, by any means, either. Since I'm not a computer expert, when I read technical articles and discussions, I have difficulty putting into context how useful ECC memory can be.
Another question is about performance. This website says that ECC memory is slower than non-ECC memory, by about 2%. For my applications, 2% slower does not seem bad.
But now suppose I compare two memory sticks that have different clock frequencies. Here are two systems that I am considering. The first system has a Core i7-4790 processor, which doesn't support ECC memory; Lenovo offers 1600 MHz memory with it. The second system has a Xeon E5-1620 v3 processor, which does support ECC; Lenovo offers 2133 MHz memory with it.
Lenovo ThinkStation P300 Tower Workstation
Intel Core i7-4790 Processor (8MB Cache, base frequency 3.6 GHz, max turbo frequency 4.0 GHz)
8GB PC3 1600MHz uDIMM
Lenovo ThinkStation P500 Tower Workstation
Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 Processor (10MB Cache, base frequency 3.5 GHz, max turbo frequency 3.6 GHz)
8GB DDR4 2133MHz ECC RDIMM
Assuming that the two processors give similar performance (which is a big assumption), how will the performance of the 2133 MHz ECC memory compare with that of the 1600 MHz non-ECC memory? Or, since the types of memory are different, am I comparing apples to oranges? (But, even if I am, could you please give me a very rough idea of what to expect?)
Thanks so much for your time!
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