ECC (parity) memory, or some reliability goal?
Reliability should be a primary goal
-- choose parts so the computer still works with a high probability in 3 years.
Computers have parity checking virtually everywhere but in memory,
and 10 years ago virtually all computers had parity memory.
This year, even Microsoft now recommends ECC memory.
Yet you virtually cannot find computer parts supporting ECC memory.
Most server computers use ECC memory.
My single processor AMD Opteron computer with Tyan S2865 motherboard and ECC memory
failed after one year. I attribute that failure to the Tyan motherboard,
for which the BIOS wouldn't upgrade and even a new BIOS chip failed to get
that computer working.
On another computer, all mounted disk drives (including my mounted backup drive)
were scrambled (including 100 hours contracted software work that I must make-up),
which could have arisen from a parity problem.
It is very difficult to find reasonable cost ECC parts.
If the CPU supports ECC, its motherboards usually also support ECC.
Last week I found that AMD Athlon 64 X2, 3.1GHz, ADV6000DoBOX,
supports ECC memory.
I bought that CPU for $90 and bought ECC memory,
which cost far less than AMD's standard server-grade Opteron CPU's.
I will not buy computer parts that do not support ECC memory
-- I try to avoid the once-every-four-year disastrous loss from an ECC error.
As another point of reliability, I have about a 500GB dozen disk drives that I
shuffle between work and home, using as backups for my home computers
but keep offsite at work.
About 1/3 of these 500GB backup disk drives have failed in the last 2 years.
I try different disk drives, hoping to find more reliable drives.
Unfortunately, nobody (including TomsHardware) well addresses hardware reliability.
It requires using hardware for years, observing failure on some parts and no failure on other parts. Or, the parts could be abused with heat and G-forces
until the parts fail.
Even if reliability measures came a couple years late,
reliability ratings for many parts of several manufacturers
would let us see which part lineages were more reliable within a manufacturer's offerings. For example, could we expect the Western Digital RE3, model WD5002ABYS for enterprise markets to be reliable?
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