Thinkpads Forum

When I check on the Crucial website, the memory it suggests for the X301 is all Non-ECC.

But this model seems to have the same specs, except it's ECC:

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory/ct51272bf160b

Can it be used in the X301?

Click on the link that you posted and enter your system where it says "Will it work with my system? Select your system to see if this part is compatible." It says that it is incompatible.

It is ok to try ECC memory in an X301. It won't break anything, only beep at you if there is a problem. It might even boot up and run, but I doubt that Lenovo allowed that in the BIOS. Either way, the X301 can't use the error correcting feature of ECC memory and I don't know if any laptops actually can. So try it if you have the memory already, but otherwise stay away from that memory.

Qing Dao wrote: but I doubt that Lenovo allowed that in the BIOS.

Pretty sure it's the CPU and/or chipset that prevent ECC. BIOS support would only be a factor if those allowed it.

Here's some info directly from Intel on their CPU support of ECC:

http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced?s=t&ECCMemory=true (450 matching products)
http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced?s= ... mory=false (1398 matching products; SU9400 and SU9600 processors that came in an X301 are in this list)

jdrou wrote:

Qing Dao wrote: but I doubt that Lenovo allowed that in the BIOS.

Pretty sure it's the CPU and/or chipset that prevent ECC. BIOS support would only be a factor if those allowed it.

I didn't mean that the error correcting could work, just that the memory could. I've heard of some desktop configurations that do not support error correcting memory working with ECC memory installed.