what advantages does ecc ram have over non ecc ram? does it make a difference when using java based trading programs?
The primary benefit of ECC memory is that you'll be notified if you have a memory error (i.e. faulty memory chip). In many cases a dead cell may only be hit from time to time, so without ECC you'll never really see the error other than maybe a corrupt file and an unexpected crash. With ECC (if configured in the bios), the system will halt upon memory error, and you'll see which memory stick threw the fault. In technical terms, the ECC algo used is so simplistic that only the simplest of simple errors can be corrected; hence I really see fault detection as the primary value. ECC memory is standard is XEON server systems. I would not consider running anything mission critical (such as trading) without ECC memory.