Would this be on topic: "What practical advantages should I expect from ECC memory?"

Question

I'm wondering whether this will be on topic. I read the Help page, and a few Meta pages, but I'm not sure.

I'm considering building a Xeon/ECC computer, because ECC sounds attractive: no errors! Perfection! Borg! The computer is intended to be a general-purpose computer, used for gaming, Photoshop, having 200 browser tabs open, running a virtual machine or two, etc. It's supposed to be future proof, as far as medium-budget builds go.

Most people say ECC memory has no effect on gaming. That seems reasonable. And I think I have the disadvantages down: more expensive, less compatible, lower frequency. But what positive effect from ECC memory can I expect in practice, on a general-purpose computer? Fewer programme crashes? Fewer occurrences of those odd little things one half-notices on one's computer as one is performing general tasks? Or what else?

This page talks about the advantages and disadvatages of ECC memory extensively. But I'm having trouble translating what they say into practical computer use. For instance, better system stability: does that mean fewer blue screens? But I never have blue screens anyway. Fewer odd hiccups?

If it should be off topic, do you happen to have a suggestion for a place where I could ask this and get reasonable answers?

Answer 1

This would be off topic, but thanks for asking.

Questions on HR are expected to ask for the recommendation of a single specific piece of hardware. Technical support and general advice type questions are out of scope; I'm not sure which one of these categories the question would fall under, but I think it would fall into at least one.

If you need technical assistance, Super User might be your best bet (always read the help centre or ask on mets, as you have, before asking). There aren't very many hardware sites on the network at the moment, unfortunately.