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Frosty555Flag for Canada

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Fully Buffered vs Registered DDR2 server memory?

This is my motherboard:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon1333/5000v/x7dvl-e.cfm

It states that it needs "DDR2 667 & 533 SDRAM Fully Buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM)".

What is the difference between "ECC Registered" and "ECC Fully Buffered" DDR2 memory? Are the terms synonymous? Does one imply the other?

If the two types of memory are different, what is the compatibility between them? Can you put DDR2 "Registered" memory into this motherboard?


Check out these two ebay listings:

Registered memory:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Viking-Samsung-2GB-DDR2-2Rx8-800mhz-pc2-6400-ECC-Registered-Server-Memory-Module-/271042106556?pt=US_Memory_RAM_&hash=item3f1b5e54bc#ht_500wt_1180

Fully buffered memory:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/HYS72T128420HFN-3S-A-240p-PC2-5300-CL5-Fully-Buffered-ECC-DDR2-667-2x1GB-kit-/150880618472?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_MemoryRAM_JN&hash=item23212f87e8#ht_500wt_1414


Which of the above two would be compatible with my motherboard?
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dbrunton
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>>  Are the terms synonymous? Does one imply the other?

No

>>  What is the difference between "ECC Registered" and "ECC Fully Buffered" DDR2 memory?

Registered memory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_memory  (see the comment at bottom on fully buffered)

Fully buffered memory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FB-DIMM
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ASKER

The "Registered Memory" article uses the terms "Registered" and "Buffered" interchangeably, and suggests that "Buffered" is an older way of saying "Registered".  The article on FB-DIMMs goes into great length discussing the technology but doesn't actually address my question of compatibility.

This just makes things more confusing. Now I need to know what the difference is between "Registered", "Buffered", and "Fully Buffered". It seems like Registered and Buffered are the same thing, but "Fully Buffered" is something else?

So I need to re-iterate my question - what's the compatibility like between the two different types of memory, and which of the two ebay listings above would be compatible in my motherboard?
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dbrunton
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