SPEC CPU2006 Platform Settings for IBM Systems
- Operating Mode Selections:
-
The average customer doesn't know the best way to set each individual power/performance feature for
their specific environment. Because of this, a menu option is provided that can help a customer optimize
the system for things such as minimum power usage/acoustic levels, maximum efficiency, or maximum performance.
- "Efficiency" mode maximizes the performance/watt efficiency. It provides the best features for
reducing power and increasing performance in applications where maximum bus speeds are not critical. It
is expected that this will be the favored mode for SPECpower testing.
- "Acoustic" mode strives to minimize the acoustic level and power consumption of the system while it is
operating. The tradeoff is that performance may be reduced in this mode depending on the application
that is running.
- "Performance" mode will maximize the absolute performance of the system without regard
for power. In this mode, power consumption is a don't care. Things like fan speed and heat output of the
system may increase in addition to power consumption. Efficiency of the system may go down in this
mode but the absolute performance can go up depending on the benchmark that is run.
- A fourth setting, "Custom", allows the user to individually modify any of the low-level settings that are
preset and unchangeable in any of the other 3 preset modes.