ECC Support Xeon E-2334 and C246 chipset (and other combinations)

[Radibor]

Hi, I'm currently looking for hardware to build a TrueNAS storage server. As I need ECC working properly I was checking chipsets and processor information on ark.intel.com as my understanding is that the processor as well as the mainboard chipset need to support ECC (along with the RAM of course ;)) for it to work.

When checking the Xeon E-2334 on Ark it lists ECC support, so does the C256 chipset, but the C246 chipset does not. So I would assume that although the E-2334 would support ECC it would not work on a mainboard using C246 as the chipset does not. But I found various mainboards using C246 that claim to support ECC, which is confusing.

So, how can I be sure that a certain combination of mainboard (chipset) and CPU actually support ECC if it's not (only) for looking up chipset and CPU in Ark and verifying that both are listed as "supporting ECC"?

[n_scott_pearson]

The memory controllers are in the processor, not the chipset, so forget about its specs. It is the design of the motherboard and especially its BIOS that determines what processors and what memory can be supported. You thus need to be looking at the specs for the motherboard being utilized in order to determine this.

...S

[Radibor]

Ok, then out of curiosity, what difference does it make whether a chipset is "supporting ECC" or not? Or to phrase it differently: what would be a use case in which chipset ECC support matter?

[Paul_R_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello Radibor, 

Thank you for joining the community,

In addition to n_scott_pearson response, we can tell you that the ECC support/compatibility is dictated to the CPU's memory controllers and the design of the motherboard and especially its BIOS that determines what type of memory can be supported.

Nowhere on the specifications page, we can read that ECC is not supported for that chipset, we see that it is not listed on the features but all the CPUs compatible indicate that ECC is supported. I will look into this from our end to make sure all details are clear on the page.

For now, I will recommend you contact the board's manufacturer to ensure compatibility with ECC memory and to check the CPU's specification page for further ECC support details.

Please let us know if there is anything else that we can do for you or if we can mark the thread as resolved.

Regards 

Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios