SPEC CPU2006 Software OS and BIOS tuning Descriptions Bull Intel-based systems applications

Firmware / BIOS / Microcode Settings

Hardware Prefetch:
This BIOS option allows the enabling/disabling of a processor mechanism to prefetch data into the cache according to a pattern-recognition algorithm In some cases, setting this option to Disabled may improve performance. Users should only disable this option after performing application benchmarking to verify improved performance in their environment.
Adjacent Sector Prefetch:
This BIOS option allows the enabling/disabling of a processor mechanism to fetch the adjacent cache line within a 128-byte sector that contains the data needed due to a cache line miss. In some cases, setting this option to Disabled may improve performance. Users should only disable this option after performing application benchmarking to verify improved performance in their environment.
High Bandwidth:
Enabling this option allows the chipset to defer memory transactions and process them out of order for optimal performance.
Power C-States:
Enabling the CPU States causes the CPU to enter a low-power mode when the CPU is idle.
Turbo Boost:
This BIOS option can be set to Power Optimized or Traditional. When Power Optimized is selected, Intel Turbo Boost Technology engages after Performance state P0 is sustained for longer than two seconds. When Traditional is selected, Intel Turbo Boost Technology is engaged even for P0 requests less than two seconds.
Demand Scrub:
Demand scrub occurs when the memory controller reads memory for data or instructions and the demand scrubbing logic detects a correctable error. Correct data is forwarded to the memory controller and written to memory. With demand scrubbing disabled, the data being read into the memory controller will be corrected by the ECC logic but no write to main memory occurs. Since the data is not corrected in memory, subsequent reads to the same will need to be corrected.