SPEC CPU2006 Flag Description - Platform settings

Firmware / BIOS / Microcode Settings

Utilization Profile:

This BIOS switch allows 2 options: "Even" and "Unbalanced". The default is "Even" and the best choice for all workloads utilizing the whole system. In cases where the utilization is highly concentrated on few resources of the system the performance of the application could be improved by setting to "Unbalanced".

Setting this option to "Unbalanced" may improve performance but also increase the power consumption of the system. Users should only select this option after performing application benchmarking to verify improved performance in their environment.

Energy Performance:

This BIOS switch allows 4 options: "Balanced performance", "Performance", "Balanced Energy" and "Energy Efficient". The default is "Balanced Performance" optimized to maximum power savings with minimal impact on performance. "Performance" disables all power management options with any impact on performance. "Balanced Energy" is optimized for power efficiency and "Energy Efficient" for power savings. The BIOS switch is only selectable if the BIOS switch "Power Technology" is set to "Custom".

The two options "Balanced Performance" and "Balanced Energy" should always be the first choice as both options optimize the efficiency of the system. In cases where the performance is not sufficient or the power consumption is too high the two options "Performance" or "Energy Efficient" could be an alternative.

QPI (QuickPath Interconnect) Snoop Mode:

These two BIOS switches allow the configuration of the QPI snoop mode:

- "COD"=enable, "Early Snoop"=disable: Optimized snoop mode for highly NUMA optimized workloads on E5-26xx v3 processors with equal or more than 10 cores.

- "COD"=disable, "Early Snoop"=enable: Optimized snoop mode for not fully NUMA optimized workloads

- "COD"=disable, "Early Snoop"=disable: Optimized snoop mode for remote and local bandwidth sensitive workloads

- "COD"=auto, "Early Snoop"=auto: Default snoop mode, optimized for most customer applications

CPU C1E Support

Enabling this option which is the default allows the processor to transmit to its minimum frequency when entering the power state C1. If the switch is disabled the CPU stays at its maximum frequency in C1. Because of the increase of power consumption users should only select this option after performing application benchmarking to verify improved performance in their environment.

QPI Link Frequency Select

This switch allows the configuration of the QPI link speed. Default is auto, which configures the optimal link speed automatically.