Server Memory

[rsinks]

My Dell 2850 server (dual Xeons) currently has 2x512MB DDR2 400MHz CL3 ECC Reg memory. Two questions:

1) I'd like to upgrade to 4GB; there are six DIMM sockets, so I'm shopping for 1GB DIMMs. Do I need to specify Registered memory? From a performance standpoint, am I best leaving out the current 2x512 memory and getting 4 1GB DIMMs, or can I use both memory types together?

2) Can I use the 2x512 DDR2 ECC Reg'd memories in a P4 desktop system that currently uses regular (non-ECC) DDR2 memory?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[BrentUnitedMem]

<A HREF="http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_2850?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=specstab#tabtop" target="_new">Memory Specification for PowerEdge 2850:</A>
Up to 12GB ECC DDR-2 SDRAM

Support for up to 16GB when Dual Rank 4GB DIMMs are available in 2nd half 2005

1) 4GB is not a problem for this board. You can use single or double sided memory modules. You can even use 4GB modules.
I am pretty sure you will get more perfomance on a server board if you use 4GB as opposed to 2x512MB. Actually, it really depends on the application you are using. Servers are not designed specifically for performance, but rather integrity of data. For gaming applications, servers perform very poor when compared to a desktop PC. However, applications relating to large-scale networks (any network-specific application for that matter) are the server's forte.

2) No. Your system will not boot.

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