[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/lzxqod/list_of_am4_mot...
So this definitively settles it, that the AMD+ASRock combo is truly ECC RAM?
This is normally specified in the "Memory" section of the specifications, in something like "ECC & Non-ECC, Unbuffered Memory".
Beware of mentions of "On-die ECC", which is present in Non-ECC memories and which is irrelevant.
You also have to buy ECC DDR5 UDIMMs and you must be careful to not buy by accident ECC DDR5 RDIMMs, which are incompatible with AM5 motherboards. The ECC DDR5 UDIMMs have a width of either 80 bits or 72 bits. The width does not matter, as long as it is not the 64-bit width of Non-ECC DDR5 UDIMMs. (For some vendors it is cheaper to use identical x8 chips in ECC and Non-ECC modules, despite wasting some capacity, which results in an 80-bit width; there is a myth that DDR5 ECC DIMMs must have a width of 80 bits, the myth is wrong, because the standard includes 36-bit channels, which result in a 72-bit width for a dual-channel DIMM; for instance Micron makes 72-bit DDR5 ECC UDIMMs)
The last time when I have checked, ASUS had the most AM5 motherboards with ECC support. I like most the PRIME X670E-PRO WIFI because it has the best PCIe expandability beyond the slot occupied by the GPU.
However there are many other cheaper MBs, when less connectivity is enough.
I've seen allegations that for some vendors, text like this on their non-server/workstation boards turns out to mean that ECC modules will work in the board, but without the actual ECC function.
The only way to gain more confidence is if the downloadable MB manual has an exhaustive description of the BIOS options.
If in the BIOS options there is one for enabling ECC and perhaps additional related options, e.g. for configuring scrubbing, only then there is complete certainty about ECC support in the MB.
However most recent MB manuals no longer have a complete BIOS description, so they may be not helpful.
At least with the ASRock or ASUS AM4 or AM5 MBs that I have used, whenever "ECC & Non-ECC, Unbuffered Memory" was specified, the MB really had ECC support.
0. Not supported at all (i.e., if you plug ECC RAM, your system won't boot).
1. ECC RAM can be plugged but the ECC functionality is not used (i.e., there is no relevant traces/circuitry/etc).
2. ECC functionality is present (i.e., the circuitry is there) but it was not validated by the motherboard manufacturer to be functioning correctly (i.e., detecting/correcting errors).
3. ECC functionality is present and was validated by the motherboard manufacturer. This is the level one would expect from the server-grade boards from a reputable manufacturer like Supermicro.
In case of the AMD processors, when you see "ECC supported", it's anyone's guess which level it is. This is in contrast with Intel, where if it says CPU/chipset supports ECC, then you know it really does. I bet Intel won't allow a motherboards manufacturer to sell a board with chipset like W680 without validated ECC support.
What separates Ryzen from its professional-grade counterparts is that ECC support is an optional part of the consumer Ryzen platform spec, which means that it's up to the motherboard vendor to enable support for it. Some motherboards don't have any support at all, some have ECC support as an explicitly-advertised feature, and many have ECC support but it's not explicitly advertised (simply listed as a footnote in the manual).
That's different from the way Intel does it, where Intel has explicit control over what the platform's feature are, and uses that control to aggressively segment their markets. Intel's approach makes easier to reason about ECC support as a buyer, but you pay for it with the lack of flexibility compared to AMD's platform (and you literally pay more for ECC).
You mean flexibility to claim ECC support but not doing any validation to make sure it actually works? Does any AMD motherboard manufacturer actualy states that "ECC is supported and has been validated"? I think the muddy waters that AMD has created would warrant such an explicit statement.
The actual ECC functionality is part of the memory controller, which is entirely AMD's domain. The ECC functionality of the memory controller is fully validated.
Whether or not ECC support is present on the rest of the platform is the responsibility of the system builder. However, if the platform isn't fully ECC-capable (e.g., you're using non-ECC DIMMs, the motherboard doesn't have the necessary electrical traces, ECC support is disabled in the UEFI, etc.), this will result in the memory controller disabling ECC support, which is visible to the operating system and is something that you -- the end user -- can verify.
> Does any AMD motherboard manufacturer actualy states that "ECC is supported and has been validated"?
Yes. ECC support will be listed in the motherboard's spec sheet and manual. There also motherboards marketed for professional use where ECC support is explicitly advertised in the vendor's marketing.
> I think the muddy waters that AMD has created would warrant such an explicit statement.
AMD's official statement regarding ECC support on Ryzen is that it's supported if the motherboard also supports it. I'm not sure how they can be any clearer without making ECC a mandatory feature of the platform.
Now all Zen 3 and Zen 4 CPUs, both desktop and laptop, have explicit ECC support, which means that ECC must be validated by AMD in all of them.
If any current AMD CPU happened to have defective ECC, that would be a completely defective CPU, which must be replaced by the vendor.
Despite the fact that all laptop Ryzen 6000 and Ryzen 7000 CPUs support ECC, I have not seen yet any AMD laptop or SFF computer with ECC support. On the other hand it is much easier to find AM5 MBs with ECC support than Intel W680 MBs.
(Edited to reflect the current state of the website, as it used to say ECC support was present[3].)
[1] e.g. https://www.amd.com/en/product/13186
[2] https://community.frame.work/t/responded-amd-batch-1-guild/2...
[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20230513075641/https://www.amd.c... (here “FP7r2” is the version for use with interchangeable DDR5 modules rather than with soldered LPDDR5)
I have saved the page from your link on the 17th of July. In the saved page it is written:
"ECC Support: Yes (FP7r2 only; Requires platform support)"
The same was written at all AMD Rembrandt and Phoenix models, and it has been written in all such mobile CPU specifications at least since the beginning of 2022, so at least during a year and a half, if not more.
The ECC support was available only with DDR5 SODIMM memory, not with LPDDR5 memory, and only in the FP7r2 package, and neither in the FP7 nor in the FP8 packages.
Perhaps AMD has discontinued the FP7r2 package, but this is not mentioned in the specifications. Either that, or they have decided right now that they may charge more for PRO models, or save on testing on non-PRO models.
Either way, it seems a stupid move for AMD to degrade right now their mobile CPU specifications, when Intel will launch Meteor Lake, which is likely to be better than AMD Phoenix. AMD mobile Zen 5 will be better than Meteor Lake, but until its launch it remains about a half of year, supposing that it will not be delayed.
This is not the case.
Ryzen, Threadripper, and EPYC use a unified memory controller that has fully validated/qualified/supported ECC capability. The only difference between the memory controllers in these CPUs is the number of them (Threadripper and EPYC will have multiple memory controller to support the extra memory channels).
When AMD claims that ECC on Ryzen isn't validated, they're talking about the platform as a whole, not the CPU specifically. ECC support on consumer CPUs depends on the motherboard supporting it. Unlike on Threadripper and EPYC (and also unlike Intel's approach), ECC is not a guaranteed feature of the Ryzen platform, so people who want that functionality need to explicitly looks for motherboards that have it (in the same way that you'd need to explicitly verify PCIe bifurcation support).
However, if the motherboard supports it, ECC on Ryzen is a fully supported, validated, you-can-RMA-if-it-doesn't-work feature.
(Edit: These are way more attractive for home server use because they consume a lot less power than the Ryzen CPUs when idle)
If anyone is looking for one of these standalone, outside of a full build, I bought a Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G about a year or 2 ago from AliExpress. It's been running a homeserver 24x7 since then and I never had any issues with it. YMMV of course.
It is expected that AMD will launch a desktop Zen 4 APU in the near future. If that happens, it remains to be seen whether ECC will remain enabled in it, like in the current laptop packages, but there seems to be no reason to disable it.
While during at least one year and a half all the laptop CPU specifications for Ryzen 6000 and Ryzen 7000 specifications have included a clear statement that ECC is supported, in the very recent past this statement has been removed from all AMD mobile CPU (non-PRO) specifications, for unknown reasons.
Hard to imagine asrock wouldn't run the lines given all the other components are there, but I guess it's conceivably possible. If the kernel says it has ECC, it's right. If not, return the board as defective and use a different vendor.
Kind of a shame they don't have a mini-itx/matx X670E board (only ASUS does).
https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/h13sae-mf
It's what I've been using for 15+ months as my main development desktop.
This is how they show up in the system (Linux) from dmidecode:
Handle 0x000F, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: Multi-bit ECC
Maximum Capacity: 128 GB
Error Information Handle: 0x000E
Number Of Devices: 4
Handle 0x001A, DMI type 17, 92 bytes (this section is repeated 4 times though, once per DIMM stick)
Memory Device
Array Handle: 0x000F
Error Information Handle: 0x0019
Total Width: 72 bits
Data Width: 64 bits
Size: 16384 MB
Form Factor: DIMM
Set: None
Locator: DIMM 1
Bank Locator: P0 CHANNEL A
Type: DDR4
Type Detail: Synchronous Unbuffered (Unregistered)
Speed: 3200 MT/s
Manufacturer: Kingston
Serial Number: [snipped]
Asset Tag: Not Specified
Part Number: 9965745-028.A00G
Rank: 2
Configured Memory Speed: 3200 MT/s
Minimum Voltage: 1.2 V
Maximum Voltage: 1.2 V
Configured Voltage: 1.2 V
Memory Technology: DRAM
Memory Operating Mode Capability: Volatile memory
Firmware Version: Unknown
Module Manufacturer ID: Bank 2, Hex 0x98
Module Product ID: Unknown
Memory Subsystem Controller Manufacturer ID: Unknown
Memory Subsystem Controller Product ID: Unknown
Non-Volatile Size: None
Volatile Size: 16 GB
Cache Size: None
Logical Size: NoneYeah. The comment I'm replying to sounded like they're wanting to still use the AM4 platform. Maybe I misread it, or they've adjusted the post for clarity in the meantime. :)
Some motherboards list ECC RAM support as a feature and have ECC RAM on their QVL for memory. Be warned ECC UDIMMS are expensive.
For checking if ECC RAM is working in linux use the dmidecode command.
For monitoring ECC errors use rasdaemon.
Asrock isn't the only brand that reliably supports ECC memory. See below.
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/15zuj70/ecc_udimm_...