Common Options : Enabled, Disabled

Details

This feature enables or disables the L2 (Level 2 or Secondary) cache's ECC checking function (if available). Enabling this feature is recommended because it will detect and correct single-bit errors in data stored in the L2 cache. As most data reads will be satisfied by the L2 cache, the L2 cache's ECC function should catch and correct almost all single-bit errors in the memory subsystem.

It will also detect double-bit errors but not correct them. But this isn't such a big deal since double-bit errors are extremely rare. Therefore, for all practical purposes, virtually every data error will be detected by ECC checking and corrected. This is especially useful at overclocked speeds when errors are most likely to creep in.

There are those who advocate disabling ECC checking because it reduces performance. True, ECC checking doesn't come free. You can expect some performance degradation with ECC checking enabled. However, unlike ECC checking of DRAM modules, the performance degradation associated with L2 cache ECC checking is negligible.

Balance that against the increased stability and reliability achieved via L2 cache ECC checking and the minimal reduction in performance seems rather cheap, doesn't it? Of course, if you don't do any serious work with your system and want a little speed boost for your games, disable CPU L2 Cache ECC Checking by all means.

But if you are overclocking your processor, ECC checking may enable you to overclock higher than is originally possible. This is because any single-bit errors that occur as a result of excessive overclocking will be corrected by the L2 cache's ECC function. So, for most intents and purposes, I recommend that you enable this feature for greater system stability and reliability.

Note that the presence of this feature in the BIOS doesn't necessarily mean that your processor's L2 cache actually supports ECC checking. Many processors don't ship with ECC-capable L2 cache. In such cases, you can still enable this feature in the BIOS but it will have no effect.