Dell Intel Xeon 5600 Series Information Update

Intel Xeon 5600 Series Processors—
Information Update

Important Information

• Your system requires a BIOS and iDRAC firmware upgrade to support Intel
Xeon 5600 series processor (less than 130 W). You can download the BIOS and
iDRAC firmware for the Intel Xeon 5600 series processor at

NOTE: A BIOS and iDRAC firmware update only supports a limited feature set of

the Intel Xeon 5600 series processor.

• The following new Dell PowerEdge systems marked with the Roman Numeral
II on the chassis support the complete feature set of Intel Xeon 5600 series
processors:

–R410

–R510

–R610

support.dell.com

.

–R710

–T410

–T610

–T710

– M610

– M710

NOTE: The PowerEdge R410, T410, and R510 systems do not support 130 W

Intel Xeon 5600 series processors.

NOTE: The modular systems, PowerEdge M610 and M710, support the 130 W

Intel Xeon X5680 only in the 130 W processor category.

NOTE: The PowerEdge R610 and M710 systems need specific heat sinks to

support the 130 W Intel Xeon 5600 series processors.

• Mixing of Intel Xeon 5500 and 5600 series processors is not supported.

• Systems with the Intel Xeon 5600 series processors support memory sparing.

December 2010

Low Voltage Memory Modules (DDR3L DIMMs)

Intel Xeon 5600 series processors
operating voltage (1.35 V) that ensures memory power savings up to 20% per
DIMM. DDR3L memory is backward-compatible to Intel Xeon 5500 series and
operates at standard voltage (1.5 V) without any limitations.

Operating the system memory at a lower voltage may cause restrictions to
additional frequency and memory population capabilities. For example,
populating three memory modules per channel is not supported at 1.35 V.

Systems with
if any of the following conditions exist:

• Intel Xeon 5500 series processors

• Two 1333 MHz DIMMs per channel

• A combination of both standard and low voltage memory modules

For information on the memory configuration guidelines, see your system’s
Hardware Owner’s Manual at support.dell.com/manuals.

NOTE: BIOS setup options allow the user to control frequency and voltage

configuration within allowable limits.

1.35 V DDR3L memory

support DDR3L DIMMs enabling a lower

operates the memory modules at 1.5 V

New BIOS Setup Options

Integrated Devices Screen

Option Description

SR-IOV-Global Enable

(

Disabled

default)

Memory Settings Screen

Option Description

System Memory Voltage Displays the system memory voltage.

Memory Operating Voltage
(Auto Default)

Enables/disables BIOS configuration of Single Root
I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) devices.

NOTE: Applies to PowerEdge R410, R510, R610, R710, R910,

T410, T610, and T710 systems only.

Sets the system memory voltage selection.

Option Description

Memory Operating Mode Displays the type of memory operation if a valid memory

configuration is installed. When set to Optimizer mode, the
memory controllers run independent of each other for
improved memory performance. When set to Mirror mode,
memory mirroring is enabled. When set to Advanced ECC
Mode, two controllers are joined in 128-bit mode running
multi-bit advanced ECC. The Spare mode option is present
on systems with the Intel Xeon 5600 series processors only.

Processor Settings Screen

Option Description

Intel(R) TXT (Disabled default)

Enables/disables Trusted Execution Technology. To
enable TXT, enable & activate VT & TPM with pre­boot measurement.

C1E (Enabled default) Sets the processor performance state to minimum

when the system is idle.

Intel QPI Bandwidth Priority
(Compute default)

Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch
(Enabled default)

Sets the bandwidth priority to compute or I/O.
Recommended for HPC applications.

Enables high utilization of sequential memory access.

NOTE: Disable this option for applications that require

high utilization of random memory access.

Hardware Prefetcher

Enables or disables the hardware prefetcher.

(Enabled default)

DCU Streamer Prefetcher
(Enabled default)

Data Reuse
(Enabled default)

Enables Data Cache Unit streamer prefetcher.
Recommended for HPC applications.

Enables or disables data reuse. Recommended
for HPC applications.

New POST Messages

The following are the new POST messages for the Intel Xeon 5600 series
processors.

Message Description

System Memory Size:
X.X GB, System Memory
Speed: XXX MHz,

Displays the amount of system memory, system
memory speed, and current system memory
operating voltage.

Voltage: 1.5V or 1.35V

This CPU power rating
is not supported

Non-ECC DIMM detected
on DIMM XX

This message displays when either of the following
occurs:

• The Intel Xeon 5600 130 W series processor is
detected on an old system board (systems not marked
with roman numeral II). For a list of the supported
systems, see "Important Information" on page 9.

• The Intel Xeon X5677 130 W series quad-core
processor is detected on PowerEdge M610 and
M710.

Displays when the system detects a non-ECC
memory module.

Enabling Dell BIOS Intelligent Turbo Mode

The Dell BIOS Intelligent Turbo Mode feature allows the operating system to set
the processor performance in the turbo mode. Based on the processor utilization,
this feature delays the processor turbo mode initiation for better power
management. When the turbo mode is enabled in the Processor Settings screen
of the system setup, the feature can be enabled or disabled using the following
BIOS setup options:

NOTE: The Dell BIOS Intelligent Turbo Mode is disabled when the turbo mode is

disabled in the processor system setup screen.

Setup Screen Field Field value Intelligent Turbo

Power Management CPU Power and

Performance Management

Power Management CPU Power and

Performance Management

Power Management CPU Power and

Performance Management

OS DBPM Enabled

System DBPM Disabled

Maximum
Performance

Disabled

____________________

Information in this publication is subject to change without notice.
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