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When I build a PC, the number one feature I want is ECC memory. It can be tricky to find a non-server configuration that supports it (you historically need a "good" bios that is smart enough to enable it for AMD, and you typically need a Xeon flavor CPU + workstation level board for Intel; caveat, it has been 2.5 years since my last build).

I was hoping that this tool might make finding non-server parts that support ECC easier, but alas, that does not seem to be the case.




I'm genuinely curious, why is it your number one feature? I know that ECC provides error correction, but aside from server use, is it really that critical?


Memory errors are a significant cause [citation needed!] of system instability. If you want a reliable machine, even a desktop, that is going to keep working, then ECC is very useful.

If you've decided upon ECC as a must, then it would be great for a system builder tool to then show you options based upon that choice.


And for some high end use case you might want to be looking at xenon's or even dual xenon's.

I could see a big data or HPC developer wanting to have a desktop that used the same processor as the cluster they are writing for - mainly in the case where your tuning for max performance and want to able to develop using the same complier flags.


It's less about the stability and more about data integrity. Crashes suck, but they suck a hell of a lot less than corrupt filesystems and backups.


I think I'm the vein of this product's philosophy, maybe a "stability" or "reliability" metric along with the performance and price metrics.


This is an old page, but convinced me years ago to go with ECC memory whenever I build a new machine.

http://cr.yp.to/hardware/ecc.html

He hasn't updated is build in a while, though. http://cr.yp.to/hardware/build-20090123.html




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