Ryzen Pro and ECC

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SamDabbers

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Apr 12, 2017
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ECC Memory & AMD's Ryzen - A Deep Dive

tl;dr: Ryzen's memory controller has ECC capability, but it's up to the motherboard manufacturer to run the extra traces and enable the BIOS options. AsRock's x370 Taichi and Gigabyte's AX370 Gaming 5 are two motherboards confirmed to recognize and enable ECC with the appropriate DIMMs.

Ryzen PRO seems to be the same silicon as regular Ryzen, just with AMD's remote management backdoor enabled a la Intel AMT/vPro, so probably the same situation.

Edit: Also it's Threadripper, which is objectively a totally awesome name for a processor.
threadripper.png
 
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w0mbl3

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Aug 13, 2013
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I'm hoping Ryzen Pro means we'll get more support for SOHO solutions - punching Intels E3 range on the jaw, with Tyan/Supermicro boards that sport an AM4 socket, ECC and IPMI.

As tempting as Threadripper is (agree on awesomeness of that name), I'd be content with a Ryzen Pro 1700 for light server duties (10G-capable NAS/database etc.).
 

Omazic.iv

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I am so so glad that AMD is back in the game... for long long time it was not that interesting to see what will be available and what you will get in segment of cpu and mbo for good price. And this panic moves Intel is making are so funny, like they pull out from the hat i9 in 25 days after AMD presentation, yeah right, and all moves after that :)))



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mbello

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Nov 14, 2016
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ECC is supported and reliable on Ryzen as long as you choose the right mobo. I think this has been demonstrated already.
AsRock supports it on the entire line up, Asus says so as well.
MSI as far as I know has no official word on ECC support so better avoid. Gigabyte only supports ECC on their high end motherboards.

My main issue with Ryzen motherboards is that they all seem to be targeted to gamers. Very hard to find an AM4 motherboard for a small server, with no wifi, dual Intel NICs (could we have 10Gbe?), no led circus, plenty of SATA3 ports and hopefully some IPMI solution. Maybe with Ryzen Pro we could finally have it?
 
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4004

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Feb 8, 2016
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what’s the real deal on ECC and Ryzen. I have been reading a lot about ECC and Ryzen and the pros but last I heard it’s been spotty.

I guess I’m just getting antsy for EPYC or Threadkiller when do those finally get released
Finally got sticks of ECC DDR4... KVR21E15D8/16

Installed RAM in an AB350 PRO4. Multi-bit ECC is supported, per wmic commands.

Am impressed.
 

Jeggs101

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Dec 29, 2010
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ECC support Ed but no VMware support yet. Waiting a gen.

On the pro... They need Vega graphics onboard to be competitive
 

saivert

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So far it doesn't look like AMD has positioned the Ryzen Pro line for use in workstation or server scenarios. It is just a business line of CPUs. Meant for OEM use in office computers etc.

I hope to be proven wrong on this but it looks to be Threadripper which is the real low-end server/workstation chip.

This doesn't prevent a motherboard vendor from offering a workstation centric board with some nicer features of course.
 

MrCalvin

IT consultant, Denmark
Aug 22, 2016
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Can you trust that the error correcting is actually working, just because your Ryzen system runs fine with ECC memory.
Mayb ECC memory on Ryzen just work as "normal" DDR4?
 

KarelG

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Jan 29, 2020
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[...]
My main issue with Ryzen motherboards is that they all seem to be targeted to gamers. Very hard to find an AM4 motherboard for a small server, with no wifi, dual Intel NICs (could we have 10Gbe?), no led circus, plenty of SATA3 ports and hopefully some IPMI solution. Maybe with Ryzen Pro we could finally have it?
Look at ASRockRack's ASRock Rack > Products they provide several server-like boards for Ryzen and if you don't like ryzen, then there is still Epyc 3xxx boards -- and not only from ASRockRack, but also from Supermicro and I guess also from others...
 

MrCalvin

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Aug 22, 2016
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To run a std. business server, even a virtualization host, I claim you don't need more than 4 cores everything else is just wasting power.
On my I3-7100 I run 10 VMs without problems. Even Win10 RDP and with multiple users at the same time. The performance bottleneck is storage, not CPU power.
So AFIK Epyc is a no-go. And I haven't been able to find any AMD Supermicro server boards for the Ryzen (and now I start to understand why :p)
 

Navy_BOFH

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Aug 2, 2013
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This mobo (ASRock Rack > X570D4I-2T) would make an amazing NAS competitor at this point. Mini-ITX, 10GBe, plenty of SATA capability... or a PCIe to add SAS if so inclined. I am pretty surprised that came around.
 

MrCalvin

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This mobo (ASRock Rack > X570D4I-2T) would make an amazing NAS competitor at this point. Mini-ITX, 10GBe, plenty of SATA capability... or a PCIe to add SAS if so inclined. I am pretty surprised that came around.
It would be if it ran on a Intel CPU and if you care about power-consumption! :p
SAS? A SAS controller use 10-15W alone, and that's the same as the rest of system is using (Chipset with 8xSATA, CPU and PSU....if you use an Intel CPU), talking idle state of course. And an i3 is plenty to run a NAS.

I did see your "if so inclined" ;-)....but I just saw and opportunity to bring a statement about why you should drop those power-hungry SAS controllers.
 

EffrafaxOfWug

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Feb 12, 2015
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Can you trust that the error correcting is actually working, just because your Ryzen system runs fine with ECC memory.
Mayb ECC memory on Ryzen just work as "normal" DDR4?
It does work - but most of the software ecosystem hasn't caught up to the memory controller interface yet. Support for the Zen2 IMC ECC only landed in EDAC in linux kernel 5.4, only released in November and yet to make its way downstream to most stable distros.

To run a std. business server, even a virtualization host, I claim you don't need more than 4 cores everything else is just wasting power.
Then from my POV you're very lucky - you must have users and applications that are very light on CPU requirements. But at the time I bought my 3700X it was getting me eight cores for less than the price of a 4P xeon E2100; even now the 3700X and the E-2134 are only ~£25 apart. Intel was basically holding the market back for those of us who do need/want the available CPU power. Not to mention spectre/meltdown and the rest taking a cricket bat to the knees in terms of IO performance.

As per my comment in the other thread, the X570 chipset seems to be a massive power hog. By my own experiments with my Zen2 systems running on X470 chipsets, idle usage is on par with the intel chips of the same calibre.

FWIW although the LSI SAS controllers are rated for (using the ubiquitous 9211-8i as an example) a 15W or so TDP, its average power usage is more like half that; 15W is the worst-case. The 9300's are in the same ballpark IIRC despite the extra speed.
 
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ari2asem

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Dec 26, 2018
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maybe offtopic, but i want to share my experience....using ecc-udimm (unregistered or unbuffered) memory stick (KSM26ES8/8ME) with asrock phantom gaming 6 (=motherboard, bios v1.30) with TR 1920x (=cpu) at 3000 mhz. this stick is specified at 2666 mhz, but setting xmp profile, then change frequency from 2666 to 3000 under xmp, is working without problems. setting to 3200 mhz is a problem, no boot and no bios.

my board (chipset x399, phantom gaming 6) supports ecc-udimms. this specific memory stick is not even on QVL-list of asrock. but it works.

my experience