SPEC CPU2017 Platform Settings for Sugon Systems

Firmware / BIOS / Microcode Settings

Sugon Performance Profile:
Sugon Performance Profile is designed for customers who need an easy way to optimize BIOS settings according to their application scenarios. The option could be set as "Disabled", "Computing Throughput Mode", "Computing Latency Mode", "Memory Bandwidth Mode", "Energy Efficient Mode", "Java Application Mode", and "High Reliability Mode". Default = "High Reliability Mode".
C-States:
C-states reduce CPU idle power. There are three options in this mode: Legacy, Autonomous, Disable.
C1 Enhanced Mode:
Enabling C1E (C1 enhanced) state can save power by halting CPU cores that are idle.
Turbo Mode:
Enabling turbo mode can boost the overall CPU performance when all CPU cores are not being fully utilized. A CPU core can run above its rated frequency for a short perios of time when it is in turbo mode.
Hyper-Threading:
Enabling Hyper-Threading let operating system addresses two virtual or logical cores for a physical presented core. Workloads can be shared between virtual or logical cores when possible. The main function of hyper-threading is to increase the number of independent instructions in the pipeline for using the processor resources more efficiently.
Execute Disable Bit:
The execute disable bit allows memory to be marked as executable or non-executable when used with a supporting operating system. This can improve system security by configuring the processor to raise an error to the operating system when code attempts to run in non-executable memory.
DCA:
DCA capable I/O devices such as network controllers can place data directly into the CPU cache, which improves response time.
Hardware P-states:
This setting allows the user to select between OS and hardware-controlled P-states. Selecting Native Mode allows the OS to choose a P-state. Selecting Out of Band Mode allows the hardware to autonomously choose a P-state without OS guidance. Selecting Native Mode with No Legacy Support functions as Native Mode with no support for older hardware.
Per Core P-state:
When per-core P-states are enabled, each physical CPU core can operate at separate frequencies. If disabled, all cores in a package will operate at the highest resolved frequency of all active threads.
CPU Frequency Limits:
The maximum turbo frequency can be restricted with turbo limiting to a frequency that is between the maximum turbo frequency and the rated frequency for the CPU installed.
Energy Efficient Turbo:
When energy efficient turbo is enabled, the CPU's optimal turbo frequency will be tuned dynamically based on CPU utilization.
MONITOR/MWAIT:
MONITOR/MWAIT instructions are used to engage C-states.
Sub-NUMA Cluster (SNC):
SNC breaks up the last level cache (LLC) into disjoint clusters based on address range, with each cluster bound to a subset of the memory controllers in the system. SNC improves average latency to the LLC and memory. SNC is a replacement for the cluster on die (COD) feature found in previous processor families. For a multi-socketed system, all SNC clusters are mapped to unique NUMA domains. (See also IMC interleaving.) Values for this BIOS option can be:
IMC Interleaving:
This BIOS option controls the interleaving between the Integrated Memory Controllers (IMCs). If 2 iMCs are 2-way interleaved, the channel population behind both iMCs must be identical. For iMCs in 1-way interleave, there are no requirements for matching across iMCs.
XPT Prefetcher
XPT prefetch is a mechanism that enables a read request that is being sent to the last level cache to speculatively issue a copy of that read to the memory controller prefetching
UPI Prefetcher
UPI prefetch is a mechanism to get the memroy read started early on DDR bus. The UPI receive path will spawn a memory read to the memory controller prefetcher.
Patrol Scrub:
Patrol Scrub is a memory RAS feature which runs a background memory scrub against all DIMMs. Can negatively impact performance.
DCU Streamer Prefetcher:
DCU (Level 1 Data Cache) streamer prefetcher is an L1 data cache prefetcher. Lightly threaded applications and some benchmarks can benefit from having the DCU streamer prefetcher enabled. Default setting is Enable.
Stale A to S
The in-memory directory has three states: invalid (I), snoopAll (A), and shared (S). Invalid (I) state means the data is clean and does not exist in any other socket`s cache. The snoopAll (A) state means the data may exist in another socket in exclusive or modified state. Shared (S) state means the data is clean and may be shared across one or more socket`s caches. When doing a read to memory, if the directory line is in the A state we must snoop all the other sockets because another socket may have the line in modified state. If this is the case, the snoop will return the modified data. However, it may be the case that a line is read in A state and all the snoops come back a miss. This can happen if another socket read the line earlier and then silently dropped it from its cache without modifying it. Values for this BIOS option can be: Stale A to S may be beneficial in a workload where there are many cross-socket reads.
LLC Dead Line Allocation
In some Intel CPU caching schemes, mid-level cache (MLC) evictions are filled into the last level cache (LLC). If a line is evicted from the MLC to the LLC, the core can flag the evicted MLC lines as "dead." This means that the lines are not likely to be read again. This option allows dead lines to be dropped and never fill the LLC if the option is disabled. Values for this BIOS option can be:
Intel Virtualization Technology:
Intel Virtualization Technology allows a platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions, so that one computer system can function as multiple virtual system. Default is disable.
Hardware Prefethcer:
When this option is enable, a dedicated hardware mechanism in the processor is supported to watch the stream of instructions or data being requested by the executing program, recognize the next few elements that the program might need based on this stream and prefetch into the processor's cache. The program with good instruction and data locality will benefit from this feature when this option is enable. Default is enable.
Trusted Execution Technology:
Enable Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT). Default is disable.
Cooling Policy
The feature to configure "Cooling Policy" option is provided on BMC webpage. This option provides 4 choices: "Balance Mode", "Performance Mode", "Silent Mode" and "Manual Mode" and default is "Balance Mode".