RAM - ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM

[HBSound]

So, I am going back and forth about these two RAM brands/manufacturers. I aim to have 96GB of RAM, with ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM. Right now, I am going back and forth about the two. I currently use Kingston in my workstation and have had no issues. I have only seen NemixRam via websites etc., but I have never used it. I use my current workstation for CAD, BIM, 3D, and Rendering. So I am shotting for stability.

Kingston Offering - KSM56E46BD8KM-48HM ($550.00)
Nemix Offer - MD44800-4828K2-MAG ($300.00)

My motherboard of choice is the ROG STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI.

Is the Nemix brand of RAM worth considering? Or would you stick with Kingston?

Specs​

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[A Computer Guy]

So, I am going back and forth about these two RAM brands/manufacturers. I aim to have 96GB of RAM, with ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM. Right now, I am going back and forth about the two. I currently use Kingston in my workstation and have had no issues. I have only seen NemixRam via websites etc., but I have never used it. I use my current workstation for CAD, BIM, 3D, and Rendering. So I am shotting for stability.

Kingston Offering - KSM56E46BD8KM-48HM ($550.00)
Nemix Offer - MD44800-4828K2-MAG ($300.00)

My motherboard of choice is the ROG STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI.

Is the Nemix brand of RAM worth considering? Or would you stick with Kingston?

Specs​

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View attachment 366776

I can't really speak to DDR5 with Nemix RAM but my DDR4 system with Nemix was not stable with 4 sticks (128GB) at idle so my confidence level with them isn't as good as let's say genuine Crucial/Micron but other than that they seemed to work and I saved some money at the time. In retrospect I ended up buying Crucial/Micron later to solve the problem and would have been better served just buying that option up front for the extra $100 or so premium at the time. I don't know why but there is a reason Nemix is cheaper and you pay for what you get.

 

[HBSound]

I can't really speak to DDR5 with Nemix RAM but my DDR4 system with Nemix was not stable with 4 sticks (128GB) at idle so my confidence level with them isn't as good as let's say genuine Crucial/Micron but other than that they seemed to work and I saved some money at the time. In retrospect I ended up buying Crucial/Micron later to solve the problem and would have been better served just buying that option up front for the extra $100 or so premium at the time. I don't know why but there is a reason Nemix is cheaper and you pay for what you get.

Thank you. I was considering biting the bullet and getting the Kingston RAM.
That is the route I will take.
Thank you for sharing!

 

[A Computer Guy]

In my current system I'm running 64GB Crucial/Micron DDR5-5600 MTC20C2085S1EC56BD1 but it's still pretty expensive compared to consumer RAM. They seem to overclock well to DDR5-6200 for a nothing burger performance boost but I haven't tried reducing the timings yet to see how well it responds for curiosity sake.

One thing I did notice is AM5 automatically tweaked the timings for me from CL46 to CL44. I'm not sure if that's normal or not but something to look out for after you install your RAM. By default after installing it the UEFI/BIOS wanted to run it DDR5-5200 and gave me an option to select the speed from the modules profile.

I would be interested to see how your Zen Timings look after you install it to compare.

 

[Speedyblupi]

"ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM."

I assume you mean "ECC or Non-ECC"? The STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI can support both ECC RAM modules and non-ECC RAM modules, but there's no such thing as "an ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM" because it's a contradiction (a DIMM is either ECC or not. It can't somehow be both ECC and Non-ECC at the same time), and you can't mix ECC and Non-ECC DIMMs in the same PC.

The Kingston RAM is ECC. The Nemix RAM is Non-ECC (hence why it's much cheaper). If stability is your top priority, the Nemix RAM would not be suitable.

I would be wary of using ECC RAM in an ASUS X870 motherboard.

While ECC RAM is compatible with ASUS X870/X870E motherboards, some users have found that the ECC functionality is disabled on some models. It may be possible to enable full ECC support in the motherboard's BIOS settings, or by updating the BIOS version, but if you cannot get the ECC error correction to work, there would be no reason to use ECC RAM, as it would be a waste of money compared to normal non-ECC DDR5 RAM.

(I assume it's ok to post this link for evidentiary/explanatory purposes. If not, please let me know, mods)

If you want ECC RAM, I would personally opt for a different AM5 motherboard which is confirmed to have working ECC functionality. There are a few different models which people have reported having working error correction on reddit and other sites, but I couldn't find any talking about the STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI. If anyone with an STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI motherboard has been able to get full/multi-bit/side-band RAM error correction working, it would be very useful to get confirmation. It also might be possible to ask an ASUS rep to confirm whether full ECC error correction can be enabled on this board, and whether you might need a specific BIOS version, though some reps don't understand the difference between the different levels of ECC support, so might give you a misleading answer. On-die ECC is included on all DDR5 modules (even "non-ECC" DDR5 has on-die ECC) and is supported on all DDR5 motherboards, but full ECC support is only available on specific motherboards with specific BIOS versions. A motherboard having ECC RAM module compatibility listed on the manufacturer's website means that it is able to run with ECC modules installed, but doesn't necessarily mean that full ECC is supported.

 

[HBSound]

"ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM."

I assume you mean "ECC or Non-ECC"? The STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI can support both ECC RAM modules and non-ECC RAM modules, but there's no such thing as "an ECC and non-ECC un-buffered DIMM" because it's a contradiction (a DIMM is either ECC or not. It can't somehow be both ECC and Non-ECC at the same time), and you can't mix ECC and Non-ECC DIMMs in the same PC.

The Kingston RAM is ECC. The Nemix RAM is Non-ECC (hence why it's much cheaper). If stability is your top priority, the Nemix RAM would not be suitable.

I would be wary of using ECC RAM in an ASUS X870 motherboard.

While ECC RAM is compatible with ASUS X870/X870E motherboards, some users have found that the ECC functionality is disabled on some models. It may be possible to enable full ECC support in the motherboard's BIOS settings, or by updating the BIOS version, but if you cannot get the ECC error correction to work, there would be no reason to use ECC RAM, as it would be a waste of money compared to normal non-ECC DDR5 RAM.

(I assume it's ok to post this link for evidentiary/explanatory purposes. If not, please let me know, mods)

If you want ECC RAM, I would personally opt for a different AM5 motherboard which is confirmed to have working ECC functionality. There are a few different models which people have reported having working error correction on reddit and other sites, but I couldn't find any talking about the STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI. If anyone with an STRIX X870-I GAMING WIFI motherboard has been able to get full/multi-bit/side-band RAM error correction working, it would be very useful to get confirmation. It also might be possible to ask an ASUS rep to confirm whether full ECC error correction can be enabled on this board, and whether you might need a specific BIOS version, though some reps don't understand the difference between the different levels of ECC support, so might give you a misleading answer. On-die ECC is included on all DDR5 modules (even "non-ECC" DDR5 has on-die ECC) and is supported on all DDR5 motherboards, but full ECC support is only available on specific motherboards with specific BIOS versions. A motherboard having ECC RAM module compatibility listed on the manufacturer's website means that it is able to run with ECC modules installed, but doesn't necessarily mean that full ECC is supported.

Thank you, I will check out this video.

Here is the way I understand RAM.

From my understanding, this motherboard will not run ECC-Registored RAM. But it will run ECC-Unbuffed RAM. Then you have refueler DDR5 RAM that has ECC included on all the RAM. Tell me if I am incorrect. When I think of reaching the point of ECC support. Getting the ECC-Unbuffed RAM is the setup over the DDR5 RAM. If I am incorrect, let me know. For me it is about stability, IF the ECC-Unbuffed RAM is going to provide me a bit more stability in the system, over the regular DDR5 RAM, then, cool. That is what I am looking for, because according to the specs - the full ECC Regigiserted RAM is not supported by this motherboard. I saw it all as a stair step, and the ECC-Unbuffed RAM was getting me halfway up the stairs.

 

[Speedyblupi]

Here is the way I understand RAM.

From my understanding, this motherboard will not run ECC-Registored RAM. But it will run ECC-Unbuffed RAM. Then you have refueler DDR5 RAM that has ECC included on all the RAM. Tell me if I am incorrect. When I think of reaching the point of ECC support. Getting the ECC-Unbuffed RAM is the setup over the DDR5 RAM. If I am incorrect, let me know. For me it is about stability, IF the ECC-Unbuffed RAM is going to provide me a bit more stability in the system, over the regular DDR5 RAM, then, cool. That is what I am looking for, because according to the specs - the full ECC Regigiserted RAM is not supported by this motherboard. I saw it all as a stair step, and the ECC-Unbuffed RAM was getting me halfway up the stairs.

I think this is mostly correct, though the typographical errors make it slightly difficult to read.

All DDR5 has "on-die" ECC, a limited form of ECC which can detect or correct errors that occur within the RAM chips, but cannot detect or correct errors within the memory controller or while transferring data between the RAM chips and the CPU's memory controller.

ECC DDR5 also supports "side-band" or "multi-bit" ECC, in addition to on-die ECC. Side-band/multi-bit ECC can detect and correct errors which occur within the memory controller or while transferring data between the RAM chips and the CPU's memory controller. This makes ECC DDR5 more stable than non-ECC DDR5, at least when used in a motherboard that supports the additional error-correction functionality. The extra stability of ECC RAM normally isn't necessary for typical users, but it can be useful for people running servers or workstation tasks that take a long time to complete.

Registered ECC RAM isn't supported on mainstream desktop motherboards (so it won't work on any X870 motherboard), it requires a server or HEDT workstation motherboard, such as TRX90 or W790. It isn't exactly a higher level of ECC, the register and ECC are separate features, but they can both affect stability, and almost all registered RAM is also ECC (as far as I'm aware, no company has manufactured registered non-ECC DDR5, but some older types of DDR RAM are available in registered non-ECC modules). Registered RAM has a "Registered Clock Driver" (RCD), which is an additional chip that acts as an intermediate "buffer" between the CPU's memory controller and the RAM chips - there are several other types of RAM data buffers, hence why RAM modules with no data buffer are generally called "unbuffered" rather than specifically "unregistered", but registered RAM is the most common type of buffered RAM. This allows the CPU to access more RAM chips per module/channel without being the memory controller being overloaded.

The main purpose of registered RAM is to allow RAM modules to be built with more chips and therefore with higher capacities, but if you can get enough capacity from unbuffered RAM modules, registered RAM modules normally don't have any significant advantage. Putting less load on the CPU's memory controller reduces power usage slightly and can improve stability in some situations, but registered RAM is slightly slower because accessing data through the RCD takes longer (i.e. has higher latency) than in unbuffered RAM, where the memory controller can access data from the RAM chips directly. If you don't need very high RAM capacities, you can get similar stability and power usage benefits by using slightly slower unbuffered ECC RAM, which is often cheaper than registered ECC RAM, and is supported on a wider range of motherboards.

 

[anonuser57]

The 600 series chipset Asus ProArt motherboards have ECC. If you are going to forego ECC you should just get regular gamery RAM. It's going to be just as stable as the nemix and much cheaper.

 

[A Computer Guy]

The Kingston RAM is ECC. The Nemix RAM is Non-ECC (hence why it's much cheaper). If stability is your top priority, the Nemix RAM would not be suitable.

Nice catch. I totally missed that Nemix listing was non-ECC. I was scratching my head why the price difference was so huge.

 

[HBSound]

The 600 series chipset Asus ProArt motherboards have ECC. If you are going to forego ECC you should just get regular gamery RAM. It's going to be just as stable as the nemix and much cheaper.

The 600 series chipset Asus ProArt motherboards have ECC. If you are going to forego ECC you should just get regular gamery RAM. It's going to be just as stable as the nemix and much cheaper.

If I go with regular gaming memory, I see the following right now: 96GB.

G Skill - F5-5600J4040D48GX2-FX5, Flare X5, DDR5-5600 CL40-40-40-89 1.25V, 96GB (2x48GB), AMD EXPO $260.00
Crucial Pro 96GB (2 x 48GB) DDR5-5600 PC5-44800 CL46 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit CP2K48G56C46U5 - Black $222.00
VENGEANCE® 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 5600MT/s CL40 Memory Kit — Black $288.00
T-Spec - EXPERT DDR5 DESKTOP MEMORY BLACK - Need to confirm this one works with AMD. Its at 6800. $345.00
I have no issues with the gaming memory, what I do want to make sure I am getting quality over quanity.

 

[A Computer Guy]

If I go with regular gaming memory, I see the following right now: 96GB.

G Skill - F5-5600J4040D48GX2-FX5, Flare X5, DDR5-5600 CL40-40-40-89 1.25V, 96GB (2x48GB), AMD EXPO $260.00
Crucial Pro 96GB (2 x 48GB) DDR5-5600 PC5-44800 CL46 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit CP2K48G56C46U5 - Black $222.00
VENGEANCE® 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 5600MT/s CL40 Memory Kit — Black $288.00
T-Spec - EXPERT DDR5 DESKTOP MEMORY BLACK - Need to confirm this one works with AMD. Its at 6800. $345.00
I have no issues with the gaming memory, what I do want to make sure I am getting quality over quanity.

Aside from the DDR5-6800 kit the rest are all DDR5-5600 so go for the one with the lowest CL and best price I suppose. GSkill would be my pick to try in that case but I have no reason to prefer any one brand over the other. Not sure if Corsair shook off the problems of DDR4 past or not with DDR5.

 

[Speedyblupi]

If I go with regular gaming memory, I see the following right now: 96GB.

G Skill - F5-5600J4040D48GX2-FX5, Flare X5, DDR5-5600 CL40-40-40-89 1.25V, 96GB (2x48GB), AMD EXPO $260.00
Crucial Pro 96GB (2 x 48GB) DDR5-5600 PC5-44800 CL46 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit CP2K48G56C46U5 - Black $222.00
VENGEANCE® 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 5600MT/s CL40 Memory Kit — Black $288.00
T-Spec - EXPERT DDR5 DESKTOP MEMORY BLACK - Need to confirm this one works with AMD. Its at 6800. $345.00
I have no issues with the gaming memory, what I do want to make sure I am getting quality over quanity.

The best choice really depends on how much you personally prioritise RAM speed compared to price and stability, but in my opinion the best option for your use-case is the Crucial Pro kit.

The T-Spec kit might work at its rated speed, but might not, depending on how good your CPU's memory controller is (there is some random variation in CPU manufacturing, which can affect how stable your computer will be when running very fast dual-rank RAM kits like this), so it's not a good choice if stability is a priority for you. It can probably work in this motherboard, but is unlikely to do so reliably, and you might need to manually adjust some voltage or ProcODT settings to get it stable. This RAM kit is mostly designed for overclocking enthusiasts, not for workstation users. Most AM5 CPUs don't benefit much from speeds above 6000MT/s anyway.

The Crucial Pro kit is a low-voltage "JEDEC" kit, which has higher latency (CL46) than the G-Skill and Corsair Vengeance kits (CL40), so the Crucial kit is a bit slower, but minimising RAM latency is usually not as important for workstation tasks as for gaming, and it's cheaper and will have lower power usage, and may be slightly more stable. The difference in stability is unlikely to matter in practice, but if you're really worried about stability, sticking to JEDEC RAM is generally sensible.

The Corsair Vengeance and G.Skill Flare X5 kits are very similar except that the Crucial kit has lower RAS latency (tRAS 77 vs 89). The Corsair Vengeance kit uses XMP (Intel high-performance RAM profile) while G.Skill uses EXPO (AMD high-performance RAM profile), but AM5 motherboards support both XMP and EXPO, and there's no significant difference between them in practice. They're both ok value, and should be stable - they're both DDR5-5600 CL40 1.25V, a fairly conservative spec which won't stress your CPU's memory controller significantly more than the DDR5-5600 CL46 1.1V Crucial Pro kit; but they're still a decent bit more expensive than the Crucial kit while not being much faster overall. If you mainly intended to use this PC for gaming it would probably be worth choosing one of these lower-latency kits (or something even faster like Kingston Fury Renegade 6000 CL32, which isn't much more expensive), but for workstation tasks I don't think it's worth it. Note that if you choose one of these kits, you will need to enable the XMP/EXPO profile in your BIOS in order to get the RAM to run at its full speed, by default these kits will run at a slower JEDEC spec.

 

[HBSound]

The best choice really depends on how much you personally prioritise RAM speed compared to price and stability, but in my opinion the best option for your use-case is the Crucial Pro kit.

The T-Spec kit might work at its rated speed, but might not, depending on how good your CPU's memory controller is (there is some random variation in CPU manufacturing, which can affect how stable your computer will be when running very fast dual-rank RAM kits like this), so it's not a good choice if stability is a priority for you. It can probably work in this motherboard, but is unlikely to do so reliably, and you might need to manually adjust some voltage or ProcODT settings to get it stable. This RAM kit is mostly designed for overclocking enthusiasts, not for workstation users. Most AM5 CPUs don't benefit much from speeds above 6000MT/s anyway.

The Crucial Pro kit is a low-voltage "JEDEC" kit, which has higher latency (CL46) than the G-Skill and Corsair Vengeance kits (CL40), so the Crucial kit is a bit slower, but minimising RAM latency is usually not as important for workstation tasks as for gaming, and it's cheaper and will have lower power usage, and may be slightly more stable. The difference in stability is unlikely to matter in practice, but if you're really worried about stability, sticking to JEDEC RAM is generally sensible.

The Corsair Vengeance and G.Skill Flare X5 kits are very similar except that the Crucial kit has lower RAS latency (tRAS 77 vs 89). The Corsair Vengeance kit uses XMP (Intel high-performance RAM profile) while G.Skill uses EXPO (AMD high-performance RAM profile), but AM5 motherboards support both XMP and EXPO, and there's no significant difference between them in practice. They're both ok value, and should be stable - they're both DDR5-5600 CL40 1.25V, a fairly conservative spec which won't stress your CPU's memory controller significantly more than the DDR5-5600 CL46 1.1V Crucial Pro kit; but they're still a decent bit more expensive than the Crucial kit while not being much faster overall. If you mainly intended to use this PC for gaming it would probably be worth choosing one of these lower-latency kits (or something even faster like Kingston Fury Renegade 6000 CL32, which isn't much more expensive), but for workstation tasks I don't think it's worth it. Note that if you choose one of these kits, you will need to enable the XMP/EXPO profile in your BIOS in order to get the RAM to run at its full speed, by default these kits will run at a slower JEDEC spec.

Thank you