SPEC CPU2006 Platform Settings for Intel-based systems

Operating System Tuning Parameters

Free the file system page cache

The command "echo 0> /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" is default, no free up the filesystem page cache, dentries and inodes.

The command "echo 1> /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" is used to free up the filesystem page cache.

The command "echo 2> /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" is used to free up the filesystem dentries and inodes.

The command "echo 3> /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches" is used to free up the filesystem page cache, dentries and inodes.

Firmware / BIOS / Microcode Settings

Boot performance mode: (Default="Max Non-Turbo Performance")

Select the performance state that the BIOS will set before OS handoff. There're three options: Max Battery, Max Non-Turbo Performance and Turbo Performance.

Operating Modes: (Default="Efficiency -Favor Performance")

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, Energy Star optimization, or maximum performance.

• "Minimal Power" mode strives to minimize the absolute 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.
• "Efficiency -Favor Power" mode maximizes the performance/watt efficiency with a bias towards power savings. 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. "Efpower 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. "Efficiency -Favor Power" mode maintains backwards compatibility with systems that included the preset operating modes before Energy Star for servers was released.
• "Efficiency -Favor Performance" mode optimizes the performance/watt efficiency with a bias towards performance. It is the favored mode for Energy Star. Note that this mode is slightly different than "Efficiency -Favor Power" mode. In "Efficiency - Favor Performance" mode, no bus speeds are derated as they are in "Efficiency -Favor Power" mode. "Efficiency -Favor Performance" mode is the default mode.
• "Maximum 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 may increase depending on the workload that is running.
• A fifth setting, "Custom", allows the user to individually modify any of the low-level settings that are preset and unchangeable in any of the other 4 preset modes.

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.

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology: (Default="")

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.

CPU C3 State Support: (Default="Auto")

Enable C3 sleep state for lower power consumption.

Intel Virtualization Technology: (Default="Enable")

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.

VT-d:

This BIOS option enables or disables I/O virtualization functions of the CPU. If the server is not used for virtualization, this option should be set to "Disabled". Default setting is "Enabled".

ICE Performance Mode: (Default="Better Acoustic Performance")

Intelligent Cooling Engine (ICE) actively monitors component temperatures in real-time and optimally adjusts the speeds of the fans to keep the system cooler and quieter. There are three options: "Better Acoustic Performance", "Better Thermal Performance", "Full Speed"

• Better Acoustic Performance: The system will run with less noise at a normal thermal level.
• Better Thermal Performance: The system will run at a better thermal level with normal acoustic performance.
• Full Speed: All fans in the system will run at full speed.