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CPU-Z and ECC/registered RAM

SoNic67

SoNic67

Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
551 (0.14/day)
I had used CPU-Z on those mother boards - Dell Precision T5500 (X39) and T7610 (X79) that use ECC RDIMM. The CPU-Z cannot read the SPD on those memories.
I have tried AIDA too, but it doesn't see the SPD either.
Also, on the T7610, I think it also I am not sure it it reads the number of channels right. The BIOS shows 4 channel enabled, but the CPU-Z still shows 2 channel. Or this can be changed (from BIOS value) by Windows's drivers?
T7610 report:
https://valid.x86.fr/wyr2ss

Any ideas?

Ah, and on that linked page, the style "Big CPU", only one of the video cards is shown in the "forum banner" pic. Can it be changed to show both, or at least choose which one will be shown?

LE: OK, I have "solved" the dual versus quad channel mystery.
1. The BIOS shows "channels used" not the actual memory mode. Well when it shows "4 channels" for 4 memory sticks, it's normal, because... That's what it is. But I have 2 CPU's. So it was only 2 slots per CPU (and hence per memory controller). Normal to be able to do only 2 channel per controller.
2. I have harvested the RIMM memory from my other Dell Precision - same capacity per stick, but 2 rank instead of 1 rank and slower speed. Installed them in the farthest white slots, moved the 1 rank sticks in the closest slots (per Dell manual instructions), for a total of 8 sticks (64GB) and... voilà le carcalac: Quad channel enabled.
https://valid.x86.fr/hgge83

Still no SPD readings.
 
Last edited:
Thaiphoon Burner? Possibly AIDA64?

Never ran either to check on ECC RAM, but they might pull the information you seek.
 
my t5500 used triple channel ram.. (3-6 sticks per cpu)
i doubt that has anything to do with the issue though. unfortunately i dont have it any more and i cannot remember if i used cpu-z with it.
although i probably did because i had to fix a bent pin on the cpu socet to get all the ram slots to work and i cant imagine not verifying things with cpu-z after. so it probably worked ok for me.

i know this does not help but thought it may add something.
 
The 7610 uses Ivy-Bridge-EP CPU's with Quad channel capabilities.
But yeah on both platforms, when I use ECC Registered RAM I can't see the SPD. This is one of the memory sticks.

20190216_082918.jpg


SPD.PNG
 
Thanks, that is interesting.
I was also curious why the SPD cannot be read on those platforms.
 
its possible that the motherboard firmware or even server OS may not allow the SW to read thru the SMBus or other channels necessary to read the SPD as it could potentially see that as a malicious attack.

Maybe try something like a Linux Mint live boot drive ..

use i2c tools

command below

sudo modprobe eeprom
decode-dimms


EDIT: That is of course assuming this is not a mission critical system and you just want to poke around... and your job or whatever will NOT be compromised by taking it down just to poke at it with a stick.
 
No, is my own PC, not a server. I just don't understand why reading the SMBus data is not possible.
 
SoNic67 said:
No, is my own PC, not a server. I just don't understand why reading the SMBus data is not possible.
Click to expand...

I've worked on OEM boards before.. Likely not the exact model you are working on but admittedly some of them can be very locked down...

some only allow specific signed tools to access baseboard info... and add to that the other layer of a server OS or whatever OS you are running (I don't know so can only assume) but you can see where there are multiple layers to this onion and if on a server OS many functions are super locked down for security and can be a pain in the ass to get thru it to see the data you want to pull... especially since that's base level info. it would require a certain level of access to reading certain sensors or some information which malware could cause hell on.
 
can confirm this also on a Dell Precision T3600 running Server 2012:

: Intel Xeon E5-2650 @ 2.2Ghz (8C/16T) // 32GB ECC RAM// EVGA Nvidia GTX 650 Ti SSC 1GB//500GB Samsung 850//1.5TB Seagate//Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection

cpu-z-3319-2.PNG
cpu-z-3319.PNG
 
Imagine it's something specific to those sticks or that MoBo, though I doubt there's more than a few that might be similarly affected. I pretty much dropped all monitoring / hardware utilities as HWiNFO 64 has all of them in one place; however, these utilities are all making the same calls to the system to identify hardware properties, so I expect that it will likely suffer the same limitations.
 
It's a Dell thing. Their designs do not in all instances follow standard protocol seeing as to their proprietary nature.
 
I can attest to that ... I remeber Dell Serves had some HDs with a proprietary power cable. When user went to replace the HD, with same make / model, he couldn't power it up. Dell wanted $650 and he offered me the $95 replacement with standard connector if I could find him one under $300. I cut the cable, cut the PSU end off an old PSU.... a but of solder and some heat shrink later, he was back up and running.... offered me the $300, I took 2 slices and a beer instead.
 
Dell bios does not allow any software to read SMbus. I contacted Del Support and they told me just that.
 
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