SPEC CPU2017 Platform Settings for Supermicro Systems
- Determinism Slider:
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This BIOS option allows for Enable/Disable AGESA determinism to control performance.
AGESA is an acronym for "AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture."
AGESA is a bootstrap protocol by which system devices on AMD64-architecture mainboards are initialized, it responsible for the initialization of the processor cores, memory, and the HyperTransport controller.
Available settings are:
- Performance: AGESA will enable 100% deterministic performance control.
- Power: AGESA will not enable deterministic performance control.
- Auto (Default setting): Use default value for deterministic performance control.
- cTDP Control:
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This BIOS option is for "Configurable TDP (cTDP)", it allows user can set customized value for TDP. Available settings are:
- Auto (Default setting): Use the fused TDP value.
- Manual: Let user specifies customized TDP value.
- cTDP:
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TDP is an acronym for “Thermal Design Power.” TDP is the recommended target for power used when designing the cooling capacity for a server.
EPYC processors are able to control this target power consumption within certain limits. This capability is referred to as “configurable TDP” or "cTDP."
cTDP can be used to reduce power consumption for greater efficiency, or in some cases, increase power consumption above the default value to provide additional performance.
cTDP is controlled using a BIOS option.
The default EPYC cTDP value corresponds with the microprocessor’s nominal TDP. For the EPYC 7601, the default value is 180W.
The default cTDP value is set at a good balance between performance and energy efficiency.
The EPYC 7601 cTDP can be reduced as low as 165W, which will minimize the power consumption for the processor under load, but at the expense of peak performance.
Increasing the EPYC 7601 cTDP to 200W will maximize peak performance by allowing the CPU to maintain higher dynamic clock speeds, but will make the microprocessor less energy efficient.
Note that at maximum cTDP, the CPU thermal solution must be capable of dissipating at least 200W or the EPYC 7601 processor might engage in thermal throttling under load.
The available cTDP ranges for each EPYC model are in the table below:
| Model | Nominal TDP | Minimum cTDP | Maximum cTDP** |
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| EPYC 7601 | 180W | 165W | 200W |
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| EPYC 7551 | 180W | 165W | 200W |
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| EPYC 7501 | 155/170W | 135W | 155/170W* |
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| EPYC 7451 | 180W | 165W | 200W |
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| EPYC 7401 | 155/170W | 135W | 155/170W* |
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| EPYC 7351 | 155/170W | 135W | 155/170W* |
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| EPYC 7301 | 155/170W | 135W | 155/170W* |
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| EPYC 7281 | 155/170W | 135W | 155/170W* |
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| EPYC 7251 | 120W | 105W | 120W |
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*Max TDP is 170W when DDR4 is operating at 2667 MT/sec, or 155W when DDR4 is operating at lower frequencies.
** cTDP must remain below the thermal solution design parameters or thermal throttling could be frequently encountered.