ECC RAM vs non-ECC RAM for simulations: ECC is overkill for local sims, essential for production trading

ECC RAM corrects single-bit memory errors, but for high-frequency trading simulations, bugs in your code or bad market data are far more likely to crash things than cosmic rays. The latency difference (a few nanoseconds per access) is negligible compared to network I/O and OS overhead. Spend the extra money on faster storage or more cores instead. ECC only matters in production systems running 24/7 with billions at stake.