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BIOS optimization questions

A

APOLLO

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - March 2009
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Sep 17, 2000
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I'd normally ask this question in the motherboard forum, but my focus is in F@H optimization. I have a Xeon motherboard and there are certain BIOS settings that I don't know if I should enable or disable. I'm more familiar with Opteron hardware, so bear with me if the settings might seem obvious to some with more experience.

Specifically, certain memory related options, and there seems to be a bewildering array of them, need elaboration.

Which if any regions of the memory should be cached? Currently, I only have the Extended Memory Area cached as 'wright back.'

What's Discrete MTRR Allocation and should I enable this?

What option should I select for SERR signal condition (none, single bit, multiple bit, or both)?

What setting should I set for Memory Branch Mode? Sequential, Interleave, Mirror, Single Channel 0? I currently have two modules but intend to install 4 modules, just waiting for responses here first. The interleave mode should be set at what ratio, 1:1, 2:1, 4:1? What about Branch Rank Sparing, disabled or not?

Should I enable or disable the snoop filter and Enhanced x8 Detection? What about the Clock Spectrum Feature, enabled or not? High precision Event timer, yes or no?

In the CPU section I have the Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch and the Hardware Prefetcher both enabled since I assume that's best for overall performance. What about the Intel Virtualization Technology? Do I need to enable this for installing VMs?

Some of these BIOS settings are probably familiar to anyone who has a Core2 processor-based motherboard, whereas others must be Xeon specific. If anyone can advise me on any of these settings with regard to F@H only, it would be immensely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 
Having 5 computers, I can definitely say none of those sound at all familiar. I think that has to do with that being a server mobo. Have you tried googling the terms?

Good Luck

 
Sunin said:
Having 5 computers, I can definitely say none of those sound at all familiar. I think that has to do with that being a server mobo. Have you tried googling the terms?
Click to expand...
Yes, and I have spent a good amount of time reading through the manual as well. I have answered some of my questions, but not all. For example, Discrete MTRR Allocation is useful only in Linux for graphics when there is 4GB of memory or more. The SERR Signal Condition configures ECC error conditions, and the Enhanced x8 Detection is also related to memory error detection.

Anyway, the main reason I am inquiring about the BIOS is due to the fact my system is nowhere near the performance level it should be. I have two Xeon engineering sample E5340 processors. Total production with 8 cores @ 2.7GHz is comparable to a stock Q6600, about 3700PPD. Very bad.

Either the processors aren't anything like the retail steppings, or something related to the motherboard is holding the performance back. Since I already tested several possible BIOS setting permutations, I am increasingly inclined to suspect the processors themselves aren't up to their specifications. I'm going to try them in another board and will find out either way.
 
How many SMP's are you running? I would think you would need 4 SMP instance to get 7-8k PPD...



 
Sunin said:
How many SMP's are you running? I would think you would need 4 SMP instance to get 7-8k PPD...
Click to expand...
Excellent question. For now, I'm running only 2 SMP clients in Windows XP because it's undergoing a testing phase for OC stability among other things. I always set up two clients in the initial run of a new system.

This might appear to be the reason for poor PPD performance, but I assure you it isn't. I have another system running nearly identically spec'd. The main difference is the processors in that other system are retail E5320s@2.7GHz - the exact same clock speed, slightly different motherboard (Blackford vs Greencreek chipset). That system easily outproduces this one by ~1500PPD with the same client configuration, same WUs and OS. Something doesn't appear right...

I'm still trying different BIOS setting combinations and if that doesn't reveal anything, I have a spare board from another manufacturer with the same chipset, so I'll know where the problem lies soon enough .
 
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