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Unbuffered and registered dimms – HP SL6000 User Manual

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Unbuffered and registered DIMMs

DDR3 DIMMs are available as both Unbuffered (UDIMMs) and Registered (RDIMMs). Both UDIMMs

and RDIMMs support error correcting code (ECC). There are three types of DDR3 memory:

PC3-8500R (RDIMM) —1066 or 800 MT/s data rate, depending on memory configuration and
processor

PC3-10600E (UDIMM) —1333, 1066, or 800 MT/s data rate, depending on memory

configuration and processor

PC3-10600R (RDIMM) —1333, 1066, or 800 MT/s data rate, depending on memory
configuration and processor

Administrators can use either RDIMMs or UDIMMs, but RDIMM and UDIMM memory cannot be

mixed within a single server. When choosing memory configurations using DDR3 memory, the

following guidelines are useful:

UDIMM configurations are limited to a maximum of two UDIMMs per memory channel because the

memory controller must drive the address and command signals to each DRAM chip on a channel.

This results in a 24 GB maximum configuration. Because they require fewer components, UDIMMs

are typically less expensive than RDIMMs.

RDIMM configurations can provide larger memory capacity because the memory controller only

drives the address and command signals to a single register chip, thereby reducing the electrical

load on the memory controller. Users requiring large memory footprints can install three 8-GB

RDIMMs per channel for a total of 144 GB.

For smaller memory configurations, installing only one or two DIMMs per memory channel can
potentially increase memory performance. In many instances this allows administrators to clock the

memory channel at a higher data rate.

Table 1 summarizes the choices available for DDR3 memory.

Table 1. DDR3 memory options

Type

DIMM

capacity

(GB)

Rank

Max. data rate in

MT/s (1 or 2

DIMMs/channel

Max. data rate in MT/s

(3 DIMMs/channel)

PC3-8500R

RDIMM

4

quad

1066

800

PC3-8500R

RDIMM

8

dual

1066

800

PC3-10600R

RDIMM

2

dual

1333

800

PC3-10600R

RDIMM

4

dual

1333

800

PC3-10600R

RDIMM

8

dual

1333

800

PC3-10600E

UDIMM

1

single

1333

N/A

PC3-10600E

UDIMM

2

dual

1333

N/A

An RBSU setting allows PC3-10600R memory modules to run at 1333 MT/s with two DIMMs per
channel and without performance degradation. Only HP branded DIMMs have been fully validated to

operate at this speed. Third-party DIMMs may not meet stringent design requirements; therefore, HP

does not recommend configuring third-party DIMMs for 1333 MT/s data rates with two DIMMs per

channel. At this writing, operating the memory at 1333 MT/s is supported only on select ProLiant SL
G6 server trays using the Xeon 5500 Series processors operating at 95W.

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