How picky are Supermicro motherboards with regards to RAM compatibility? Specifically LGA2011 boards with the C60x chipset. I've heard horror stories about RAM compatibility on Supermicro boards to the effect of "Don't expect anything not on the tested / HCL list to work." However, these were older systems. Is it better now or should the HCL / tested memory list be strictly followed?
Supermicro RAM tolerance / pickiness?
- Thread starter Stereodude
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On older Supermicro boards, I've found that most memory I have laying around (of a compatible type, of course) works just fine. On the systems I build for work, I normally buy memory on the compatibility list, just so I can eliminate it as a potential issue if I have to talk to Supermicro support about a problem.
On the X8DTH-iF (the board I'm most familiar with) I've been able to populate the sockets in the wrong order, have an incorrect part (one 16GB -800 part mixed in with eleven 8GB -1333 parts), memory with no readable SPD, and even populating memory for the wrong CPU socket and the system will at least POST.
I think a lot of the "Supermicro is picky" comes from people trying to use non-server memory.
I've never had a problem myself, with the couple dozen 'different brand' sticks not on the list.
Although, it's really easy to buy from the list on ebay since the Hynix and Samsung are VERY POPULAR
On 2011-r3 platform supermicro has a BIOS/BOOT warning about improper population but it still booted, even with a bad stick in there too (was testing different slots).
I don't think I've ever had a SM board 'not boot' due to ram compatability issue but I'd say 75% of the time I'm using ram off their list anyway
Although, it's really easy to buy from the list on ebay since the Hynix and Samsung are VERY POPULAR
On 2011-r3 platform supermicro has a BIOS/BOOT warning about improper population but it still booted, even with a bad stick in there too (was testing different slots).
I don't think I've ever had a SM board 'not boot' due to ram compatability issue but I'd say 75% of the time I'm using ram off their list anyway
Thanks for the replies guys. You're making it seem less perilous than I feared.
I've found similar sticks from Hynix and Samsung are very common. I haven't found most of the exact sticks on the list to necessarily be common or cheap. Like Supermicro will list a HMT351R7BFR8C-PB, but the part that you'll find some of on eBay is the HMT351R7CFR8C-PB. According to Hynix, its just a newer revision of the memory, but I don't know if it will work since it's not on the list. Or they list a 4GB Registered ECC Hynix DIMMs for 1600, but only Samsung at 1333 for 4GB Registered ECC. Or you can find a few of the exact DIMM from the list, but they're several times the price of very similar (equivalent per the basic specs) DIMM that's not on the list.Although, it's really easy to buy from the list on ebay since the Hynix and Samsung are VERY POPULAR
IME in the post-Netburst era, no SM board has been so picky as to not post. To preempt any issues, I do try to meet the baseline timing/internal configuration specs of HCL modules if getting something off-brand/off-list. Third-party manufacturers can change the internals of a DIMM at will, so if a full spec sheet for the DIMM/set you're getting isn't easily available (a lot aren't), this part can be difficult unless you have access to photos of the DIMM that have sufficient resolution to also ID the individual chips.
Correct. Here's the Hynix secret decoder ring.
Supermicro (or any other vendor) will test with whatever the current part is at the time they do the compatibility testing for a particular board. They generally won't re-test a minor change to a memory module, and you can assume "... or any later version of the same module". The memory module manufacturer's datasheet should note any incompatibilities or differences from the prior version, if any. In the case of the 2 SK Hynix parts listed above, the major change seems to be the introduction of a -1866 speed binning in the C-chip version.
A manufacturer may not have released a module at a given speed/capacity point at the time Supermicro (or any other motherboard vendor) does their testing.
In general, there are 3 grades of memory module manufacturer:
- A company that makes both the chips and the PC board they're mounted to. SK Hynix, Samsung, and Micron / Crucial are in this category.
- A company that purchases carefully qualified chips from a major memory chip manufacturer and mounts them to a PC board of their own design. Smart Modular and Kingston are normally in this category, though for advanced or new module designs they may re-label parts from the previous category (I've seen Kingston and Smart labels on SK Hynix modules, for example).
- A company that uses chips from various suppliers, generally based on cost and/or availability, and mounts them on either a board of their own design or a design they have licensed (or perhaps "borrowed"). The quality of this type of board varies greatly - I've seen some that could best be described as "floor sweepings" - chips from 2 or 3 different manufacturers mounted on the same board.
This one is easy because the RAM manufacturer is also making the DIMMs -- they usually have full datasheets for those and since they self-supply, they won't change the configuration based on cheapest-supplier-of-the-week.
Compare the basic info for HMT351R7BFR8C-PB vs HMT351R7CFR8C-PB. Scroll to the end and you'll notice that the C revision tightens up timings, allowing for a jump at the high-end to PC3-14900 from PC3-12800.
Next, for the internal configuration, you'll need to open up the respective datasheet PDFs linked on those pages. The information you need is in the Ordering Information section, namely Density, Organization, Composition and number of ranks. A quick side-by-side glance shows that the only thing the newer revision changes is the model number of the component chips, going from *BFR/*BMR to *CFR/*CMR.
This let's you conclude that the newer revision at the same or higher speed-grade will be 100% compatible with systems whose HCL contained the older revision.
Okay, so if we're drifting a little farther off the memory list... Say for example, a Hynix HMT151R7TFR4C-H9, still has a high likelihood of working in a Supermicro X9SRA even though it's not on the tested memory list? Or, is it impossible to say?
It'll work, absolutely. The dates on the page and ordering information on the datasheet show that it's an older module made up of lower-density chips. The largest was 4GB, while the tested "B" series goes up to 16GB DIMMs. Importantly, the timings are the same for a given speed (-H9 is 9-9-9@1333).
The X9SRA supports behemoth quad-rank Samsung 32GB RDIMMs @ 1066 MHz and some 8-rank 64GB module (since they claim "upto 512GB") although I couldn't find it on the list. There's absolutely no reason to worry about compatibility until (if) you get to the point where you are fully populating all slots with, say, at least 16GB modules. If your memory is newer than the HCL, the worst that can happen is that it runs at lower speed.
If you get near the max-it-out point, then you should be concerned about the load the modules will present to the CPU's memory controller. For example, the X9SRA only seems to support 32GB modules at 1333/1600/1866 if they are either low-voltage (1.35V) or special load-reduced LR-DIMMs. You'd then look at the mobo manual and/or the CPU's datasheet to find out if that 256GB "great deal" lot on eBay is going to work out for you
TL;DR: So long as you stick to the regular RDIMMs on the list as a guideline, you should be fine.
Have a new x9SRA. 64GB test configs with the E5-2670 and it is now in production. Note links below.
Have M393B1K70DH0-YH9 RAM in the x9SRA
Have and have tested HMT31GR7BFR4A-H9 RAM
Testing was multi day with the above RAM. memtest86+, installing operating systems and running benchmarks. What I learned is there is a samsung memory decode PDF. I cross referenced it with memory part numbers from the compatibility list on the SM website. If you look carefully one memory density is tested on one x9 board, but probably is not tested on the next x9 (odd but true). Anyway, I extrapolated that an 8GB stick which worked on an x9 ought to work on them all.
It is probably the case all hinx and samsung DDR3 registered memory will work in the x9SRA (except perhaps in the cases mentioned by others, above). I went with the PC3L samsung because of the glut on ebay. It can be a bit more expensive (130$ / 64GB in my case). Based on my research I wanted the PC3L.
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Just don't buy Kingston RAM and you'll be fine. Samsung, Micron/ Crucial, SK.H are all fine brands.
Thanks for all the replies guys. I ended up buying some new surplus Legacy Electronics PC3-12800 Registered ECC DDR3 DIMMs via eBay. They use these Micron chips. The price was right, so I hope they'll work.