The difference between server memory and regular memory

There are some key differences between server memory and regular memory. Although they both belong to memory products, in a broad sense, they are essentially the same, but in reality, they can be seen as two levels of the same product. Server memory is at a higher level, but it does not pursue higher frequency or speed; instead, it focuses on stability and error correction capability.

When selecting regular memory, people usually pay attention to specifications such as DDR3 or DDR4, frequency, capacity, the type of chips used, and cost-effectiveness. These performance indicators are the main considerations for purchasing decisions.

In contrast, server memory places more emphasis on applied technologies. Most advanced technologies are usually first applied to server memory, while advanced processes are used for regular memory. For example, server memory typically features ECC (Error-Correcting Code) technology, Chipkill technology, hot swapping, etc., to ensure long-term stable operation and data correction capabilities. In contrast, only a few products of regular memory have ECC technology, such as UDIMM ECC, but ECC functionality cannot be enabled on regular PCs.

ECC technology is mainly used for data correction, which is crucial for server memory under long-term workloads to ensure the correct transmission and execution of instructions. Additionally, hot swapping technology is also one of the important technologies to ensure the continuous stable operation of servers, allowing maintenance personnel to directly plug and unplug memory while the server is running normally, without the need to shut down the server. In contrast, regular memory requires memory replacement under power-off conditions.

The structural differences are also reflected in the presence of ECC error correction chips. Typically, server memory will have an additional ECC error correction chip, while regular memory will not. This leads to differences in capacity and quantity, with server memory usually starting from 4GB, while regular memory starts from 2GB.

Finally, it should be noted that server memory and regular memory belong to dedicated memory and cannot be used interchangeably, otherwise, the system will not recognize them.