ECC Memory As Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2016-05-06
·
963 words · ~4 min read
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Everyone hates it when their computer crashes, reboots randomly, or shows the
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dreaded blue screen of death. For the average user, though, this isn't really
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the end of the world. But some systems, like cloud servers or supercomputers,
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rely on being operational for 24 hours a day. And a fatal crash could mean the
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loss of data, service outages, or cost the company millions of dollars. But for
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some IT professionals, this may seem like a catastrophic server outage is
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actually the end of the world. The likelihood of it happening thanks to
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technologies like ECC memory can actually be quite slim. ECC memory is a
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term you've probably heard floating around our channel before. But what does
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it really mean? ECC stands for error correcting code. And the principle
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behind it using mathematical methods to check data for errors quickly has
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actually been around since about 150 BC
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when Jewish scribes developed a process in which they looked at the number of
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words in a page or line to quickly determine if there were transcription
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errors. ECC memory works much the same way as it can quickly check and correct
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for the most common types of data corruption which often are the cause of
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crashes and data loss. Okay, so why is this so important? Well, the more that
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we use cloud services and virtual machines for massive calculations and
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computing means servers are not only important to large corporations but also
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to the average consumer. Take your Dropbox or iCloud account for instance.
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The servers which store your precious data rely on ECC memory to prevent
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memory failures which may otherwise leave your data inaccessible or worse
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lost altogether. Many things like electrical, magnetic, or even cosmic
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interference can cause a single bit whose value is either one or zero to
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spontaneously flip to the opposite state. As you may know, each bite in
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your memory is made up of eight bits, which in the case of your computer's
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native software language might represent a letter or a number. If a single bit is
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switched to its opposite position, the result might be garbled data. And if
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this bite is critical to a systems operation, it can cause a crash or a
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failure. ECC memory corrects for this by first performing what is called par
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checking, which involves storing an extra par bit that represents the sum of
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all the ones in an 8 bit group. The result of this is either an odd or even
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number, one or zero. If the sum doesn't match up with the par bit the next time
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the RAM accesses the data, then the system will know that at least one part
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of the bit must have been corrupted. Then in this case, ECC RAM will refer
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back to code it generated using a special algorithm when the good data was
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first stored in memory and use this code to correct the error restoring the
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original 8-bit block of data. So that's cool, right? But if you're asking,
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should I buy ECC memory for my next build? And you aren't making some kind
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of server where zero downtime is absolutely necessary, then the answer is
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likely no. ECC memory comes at a higher cost with worse performance due to the
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greater processing required and isn't even compatible with most consumer
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motherboards. Not to mention, if you're going for that flashy RGB dream rig, you
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might be disappointed to note that ECC memory PCBs are usually green and
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typically lack a heat sink or in certain scenarios and stuff, which might make
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the next dream build of yours look a little less special to the untrained
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eye. Speaking of untrained eye, FreshBooks is on a mission to make
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freelancers less stressed and more organized through their easy to use tool
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for crafting and creating and sending professional invoices in seconds. What
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What do What does this mean by untrained eye? Well, if you're not an accountant
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and you're trying to run some form of business, this could actually help you a
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lot. Fresh Books helps you track your hours. So, when it comes to create an
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invoice, you know exactly what you did, when you did it, who you did it for, and
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you can even accept deposits from those people that you did it for through their
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platform, so your work is paid for on your schedule, which is super important.
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They also have a tool to manage your expense reports. Their mobile app lets
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you take a picture of your receipts and pretty much handles the rest. Getting
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started on FreshBooks is extremely simple, even if you're not a numbers
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person, especially if you're not a numbers person. FreshBooks says you can
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try FreshBooks for free for 30 days by going to
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freshbooks.com/tequickie and entering techquicky in the how did you hear about
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us section. All right guys, like the video if your computer's stable. Maybe
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dislike it if you crash all the time and might need some ECC memory. I don't
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know, man. Do the button thing. Uh down in the comments down below, give me
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suggestions for other videos we should cover on fast as possible. There's a lot
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of stuff to cover, but we've done a lot of it already. Slight problem. Also
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check out Channel Super Fun if you want to laugh at things. This is like the
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serious channel where we do serious stuff and we try to like teach people stuff. That is the not serious channel.
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We don't do serious things over there. Doesn't happen. Thanks for watching.
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I'll see you guys next time.