Question Go With Alder Lake for Cool & Quiet ECC RAM Supporting Processor?

chane · Nov 19, 2024

When Arrow Lake desktop processors arrived I thought that their base power draw would be lower than that of my last pc's CPU.

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Instead the base TDP is 125 W

Arrow Lake (microprocessor) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Apparently, the trend is for more efficient processors but with higher TDPs.

I do zero gaming and would not be doing more than 720p video editing, if ever. Mostly might be using AI-assisted audio restoration software, like this or better.

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rx.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqts4g4O8kJxUHdZtSeCOxsSSvp_CnQhew6uS89sw6Y8ZH5jKmI

Thus, for my next pc build around Q2 2025, stick with this?

Intel® Core™ i5-12600 Processor (18M Cache, up to 4.80 GHz) Product Specifications

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Markfw · Nov 19, 2024

I would say a 9950x with the TDP set to 125 watt would make you happier than that 12600

gdansk · Nov 19, 2024

I have 12600Ks in two different W680 boards. You can set the power limits in the BIOS. Buy whichever Alder Lake is cheapest and set the power limit as you please.

Conversely I also have Ryzen 7900 in a cheap ASRock B650 board. At 88W load it makes a joke of Alder Lake. But Alder Lake can have lower idle. Total cost was less by avoiding the the exorbitant W680 prices. It runs ECC UDIMMs with error checking in Linux and the supported DDR5 speed is higher. I haven't tested Windows. But I understand the uncertainty confuses you and some other people.

chane · Nov 20, 2024

I'm not a system builder and effortless Windows 10 and ECC RAM support are a must, and from processors with base TPDs well below 125w. After all this time, why do users still have to jump through hoops to get AMD processors to make ECC RAM fully functional, assuming they're lucky enough to find ECC RAM compatible motherboards? https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/1f4ilpl/ryzen_9_9950x_ecc_post_issue/?rdt=64613 There's no excuse for this. Those AMD bums should have fixed this gens ago.

gdansk · Nov 20, 2024

The only other advice I can give: pick your memory carefully. W680 boards only officially run 2 DIMM per channel configurations at 4000 (1R) or 3600 (2R). At those speeds it might be worse than DDR4.

Shmee · Nov 20, 2024

One thing to consider, is that if you plan on running Windows 10 like many of us as we can't stand going to Windows 11, know that CPUs with hybrid core designs don't run as well with the Windows 10 task scheduler generally. So if buying Alder lake, you may want to consider a chip without the E cores, or you could disable them if that is your preference.

I see you are looking at the i5 12600, but I believe an i5 12400 might be a good chip for you, as it also has 6 P cores, but should be cheaper than the 12600. Alternatively, you could get an i7 12700 and disable the E cores.

As for ECC support, I don't know a whole lot about it on the latest consumer platforms. I understand it is a mixed bag depending on motherboard. That said, what is your setup now? One thing to consider for ECC support, is to build an older system based on compatible X99 board, Broadwell EP Xeon (available very cheap), and cheap ECC DDR4 RDIMMs. I recently did this with my server, now it has 256GB of ECC RAM on the Asus X99 Deluxe. Though I am using a Haswell EP Xeon.

chane · Dec 4, 2024

Shmee said:
One thing to consider, is that if you plan on running Windows 10 like many of us as we can't stand going to Windows 11, know that CPUs with hybrid core designs don't run as well with the Windows 10 task scheduler generally. So if buying Alder lake, you may want to consider a chip without the E cores, or you could disable them if that is your preference.

I see you are looking at the i5 12600, but I believe an i5 12400 might be a good chip for you, as it also has 6 P cores, but should be cheaper than the 12600. Alternatively, you could get an i7 12700 and disable the E cores.

As for ECC support,

Thanks for this valuable feedback! I will pass it on to my builder when plan my next desktop ~ Q2. I don't plan on installing Windows 11 either on my current or the next build if I can avoid it. The one Steiger Dynamics built for me Aug. 2022:

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And Steiger added some very low noise fans.

Very nice HTPC!

zir_blazer · Dec 4, 2024

Shmee said:
I see you are looking at the i5 12600, but I believe an i5 12400 might be a good chip for you, as it also has 6 P cores, but should be cheaper than the 12600. Alternatively, you could get an i7 12700 and disable the E cores.

This is actually very bad advice. Intel made ECC a mostly mainstream feature on Alder Lake/Raptor Lake but on models xx500 or higher, like 12500. The 12400 does NOT support ECC.
Note that 12500 and 12600 are almost identical and you could save money there because the difference seems to be some slighty higher MHzs.

Markfw · Dec 4, 2024

zir_blazer said:
This is actually very bad advice. Intel made ECC a mostly mainstream feature on Alder Lake/Raptor Lake but on models xx500 or higher, like 12500. The 12400 does NOT support ECC.
Note that 12500 and 12600 are almost identical and you could save money there because the difference seems to be some slighty higher MHzs.

also, why are you only looking at alderlake ? or raptor lake ? Zen 4/5 support it (although compatibility has been an issue) and Genoa also has some cheap CPUs.

And why the need for ECC anyway ?

Shmee · Dec 4, 2024

zir_blazer said:
This is actually very bad advice. Intel made ECC a mostly mainstream feature on Alder Lake/Raptor Lake but on models xx500 or higher, like 12500. The 12400 does NOT support ECC.
Note that 12500 and 12600 are almost identical and you could save money there because the difference seems to be some slighty higher MHzs.

Interesting, good catch. So yeah, for ECC go 12500 probably, or 12700. There have been some good deals on the 12700 lately, and 8 cores or more is nice to have. Remember you can disable E cores if desired. Pity Intel does an artificial cutoff for ECC in the middle of the i5 line, even I didn't know lol.

Markfw · Dec 4, 2024

Shmee said:
Interesting, good catch. So yeah, for ECC go 12500 probably, or 12700. There have been some good deals on the 12700 lately, and 8 cores or more is nice to have. Remember you can disable E cores if desired. Pity Intel does an artificial cutoff for ECC in the middle of the i5 line, even I didn't know lol.

OK, with all the "undependability" with the Raptor lake series , matching that with ECC to me just does not make sense. I don't get it.

Shmee · Dec 4, 2024

Hey Mark, we are talking about 12th gen, which is Alder Lake.

Markfw · Dec 4, 2024

Shmee said:
Hey Mark, we are talking about 12th gen, which is Alder Lake.

why not

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Its 8 core and uses less power. and is faster I think. and $282 and in stock, so cheaper.

and $275 motherboard

https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-13-140-100

Shmee · Dec 4, 2024

Markfw said:
why not

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Its 8 core and uses less power. and is faster I think. and $282 and in stock, so cheaper.

and $275 motherboard

https://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-13-140-100

Not a bad option, but what about a compatible board supporting ECC RAM? How much does that cost?

Markfw · Dec 4, 2024

Shmee said:
Not a bad option, but what about a compatible board supporting ECC RAM?

see my edit. $275. I mean if he wants ECC and dependability, EPYC is server grade and totally reliable and server quality.

Markfw · Dec 4, 2024

And I found all of that googling in 5 seconds.

chane · Dec 7, 2024

Markfw said:
I mean if he wants ECC and dependability, EPYC is server grade and totally reliable and server quality.

Perhaps yes, if my builder confirms ECC functionality with those parts. But if my budget allowed for parts twice the price, are there ECC supporting AMD processors and boards that are faster but just as efficient?

burninatortech4 · Dec 7, 2024

Shmee said:
Not a bad option, but what about a compatible board supporting ECC RAM? How much does that cost?

You can also get this with AM4 (used CPU and RAM, new Motherboard). There's no need to go EPYC to get ECC, necessarily.

Ryzen 3 PRO 5350GE $100 eBay
Asrock B550M Riptide (ECC Support) $90 Amazon
32GB (16x2) DDR4 ECC-UDIMM (Nemix) $50 eBay

hemedans · Dec 9, 2024

burninatortech4 said:
You can also get this with AM4 (used CPU and RAM, new Motherboard). There's no need to go EPYC to get ECC, necessarily.

Ryzen 3 PRO 5350GE $100 eBay
Asrock B550M Riptide (ECC Support) $90 Amazon
32GB (16x2) DDR4 ECC-UDIMM (Nemix) $50 eBay

If used is an option there is intel CC150 (i9 9900 without turbo), it doesn't use much power and I heared it can use ECC ram even with normal board.

igor_kavinski · Jan 19, 2025

hemedans said:
If used is an option there is intel CC150 (i9 9900 without turbo), it doesn't use much power and I heared it can use ECC ram even with normal board.

There's a video on it now:

Question Go With Alder Lake for Cool & Quiet ECC RAM Supporting Processor?

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