[rescue] ECC [was: Re: WOT: Ebay changes to IBM from Sun E10Kservers?]

[Scott Newell]

>The difference is most people don't need ecc ram. A ram chip breaks usually
>only after years and years of intensive use, if it does at all. Therefor it's

I was under the impression that ECC memory was primarily used to recover
and continue from unusual events (such as a cosmic ray bit flip), not to
correct for failing or broken hardware.  Seems reasonable that the more
memory you have, the more likely such an event.  

Hmmm...has semiconductor process scaling made modern devices more or less
susceptible to cosmic rays?


newell