3 Things to Know About ECC RAM and Power Use

The power difference is tiny ECC RAM draws only about one extra watt compared to non-ECC RAM. A typical ECC DDR4 stick uses 5-7 watts, while non-ECC uses 4-6 watts.

Your electricity bill won’t change That one-watt difference is too small to register on your bill. The CPU, GPU, drives, and fans are what actually drive up power costs.

Don’t avoid ECC for power reasons If you need ECC RAM for stability or because your CPU requires it, the minimal power cost is not a valid reason to skip it. The power draw is practically meaningless.