Platform Settings for 14G Dell PowerEdge AMD based Servers

Firmware / BIOS / Microcode Settings

Memory Interleaving:

DISABLED-When memory interleave is disable 4 NUMA nodes will be seen as in the case for channel interleaving but the memory will not be interleaved yet stacked next to one another. CHANNEL INTERLEAVING-Channel interleaving is also available with all configurations and is the intra-die memory interleave option and is the default setting for Dell EMC platforms. With channel interleaving the memory behind each UMC will be interleaved and seen as 1 NUMA domain per die. This will generated with 4 NUMA domains per socket. DIE INTERLEAVING-Die interleaving is available for on all configurations and is the intra-socket memory interleave option that create one NUMA domain for all the 4 dies on socket. In a 2 processor configuration this will produce 2 NUMA domains, one domain pertaining to each socket providing customers with the first option for NUMA configuration. In a one socket platform die interleaving will be the maximum option of memory interleaving, and will produce one memory domain also producing a non-NUMA configuration. SOCKET INTERLEAVING-Socket interleaving is memory interleave option meant only for inter-socket memory interleaving, and is only available with a 2 processor configurations. In this configuration memory across both sockets will be seen as a single memory domain producing a non-NUMA configuration

Virtualization technology:

When set to Enabled, the BIOS will enable processor Virtualization features and provide the virtualization support to the Operating System (OS) through the DMAR table. In general, only virtualized environments such as VMware(r) ESX (tm), Microsoft Hyper-V(r) , Red Hat(r) KVM, and other virtualized operating systems will take advantage of these features. Disabling this feature is not known to significantly alter the performance or power characteristics of the system, so leaving this option Enabled is advised for most cases.

System Profile:

When set to Custom, you can change setting of each option. Under Custom mode when C state is enabled, Monitor/Mwait should also be enabled.

CPU Power Management:

Maximum Performance is typically selected for performance-centric workloads where it is acceptable to consume additional power to achieve the highest possible performance for the computing environment. This mode drives processor frequency to the maximum across all cores (although idled cores can still be frequency reduced by C-state enforcement through BIOS or OS mechanisms if enabled). This mode also offers the lowest latency of the CPU Power Management Mode options, so is always preferred.

Memory Frequency:

Governs the BIOS memory frequency. The variables that govern maximum memory frequency include the maximum rated frequency of the DIMMs, the DIMMs per channel population, the processor choice, and this BIOS option. Additional power savings can be achieved by reducing the memory frequency, at the expense of reduced performance.

Turbo Boost:

Governs the Boost Technology. This feature allows teh processor cores to be automatically clocked up in frequency beyond the advertised processor speed. The amount of increased frequency (or 'turbo upside') one can expect from an EPYC processor depends on the fewer cores being exercised with work the higher the potential turbo upside. The potential drawback for Boost are mainly centered on increased power consumption and possible frequency jitter that can affect a small minority of latency-sensitive environments.

C States:

C States allow the processor to enter lower power states when idle. When set to Enabled (OS controlled) or when set to Autonomous (if Hardware controlled is supported), the processor can operate in all available Power States to save power, but my increase memory latency and frequency jitter.

Memory Patrol Scrub:

Patrol Scrubbing searches the memory for errors and repairs correctable errors to prevent the accumulation of memory errors. When set to Disabled, no patrol scrubbing will occur. When set to Standard Mode, the entire memory array will be scrubbed once in a 24 hour period. When set to Extended Mode, the entire memory array will be scrubbed more frequently to further increase system reliability.

Memory Refresh Rate:

The memory controller will periodically refresh the data in memory. The frequency at which memory is normally refreshed is referred to as 1X refresh rate. When memory modules are operating at a higher than normal temperature or to further increase system reliability, the refresh rate can be set to 2X, but may have a negative impact on memory subsystem performance under some circumstances.

PCI ASPM L1 Link Power Management:

When enabled, PCIe Advanced State Power Management (ASPM) can reduce overall system power a bit while slightly reducing system performance.

NOTE: Some devices may not perform properly (they may hang or cause the system to hang) when ASPM is enable, for this reason L1 will only be enabled for validated qualified cards.