Registered versus Unbufffered RAM

[vodkaman]

Hi Everyone,

I've done a TON of reading and have not found a clear answer on this. All sites say that when using large amounts of RAM you should use registered RAM however it doesn't say if this large amount refers to the number of size of a SINGLE RAM chip or the entire lump sum of RAM on the server.

To elaborate, I saw a site that said anything equal to or greater 4GB should use registered ram - does this mean 4GB or over on a SINGLE chip?

After researching it seems as though the problem registered ram solves relates to a single RAM chip being very high density... Meaning the it relates to a single chip. Some sites also state that with smaller RAM registered can even hurt speed.

The reason I ask is because we're putting 24GB into a server however it will be made up of 12 2GB chips. The cost difference between registered and unbuffered is a good amount and with budgets the way they are I'd rather not spend it if it's not needed and could even be detrimental.

I know that the generic answer is registered is better but it seems it's not that clear.

Does anyone here know the super fine details of this? Thanks for the help

 

[rclarke250]

Most servers require you to use registered memory. Check your manual. I've never heard that there is a size requirement. If your motherboard requires RDIMMs, then buy the registered as the other won't work.