Why am I seeing Zero errors in non-ECC RAM?

Posted by Alexander Shcheblikin on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Alexander Shcheblikin
Published on 2013-11-07T21:37:10Z Indexed on 2013/11/07 22:00 UTC
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memory

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motherboard

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ecc

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memory-error

According to sources, memory errors are a very probable event:

Some say the probability of a DRAM error is 95% in just 3 days of operation of a computer with just 4 GB of RAM,
others say 32% of servers experience at least one error in a month with 8% of DIMMs being at fault.

Contrary to those horrors, in my more than 10 years of personal computers use I have seen exactly none of the memory errors.

I admit I never paid special attention to the subject. However, I have ventured multi-hour memtest86 runs couple of times and never seen an error either.

Some of the factors that IMO should aggravate the memory problems:

I build my computers out of the most "bulk commodity" parts: mainstream budget motherboards and the next to cheapest memory.
also I usually max out the technology available, e.g. in the times of 32 bit OS'es I used 4 GB of RAM and with the current desktop CPUs and the newer 64 bit OS'es I use 32 GB of RAM.
memory usage is moderately heavy with lots of virtual machines up running small and big tasks 24/7/365.

But nevertheless, no memory-related problems ever found!

How's that?

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