Intel Speed Select Explanation (High Core vs Low Core and Profiles)

[dclz]

Dear all,

I'm writing to you because we are envisonning using the following CPU on a KVM cluster:

using Intel® Xeon® 6737P Processor.

I would need your help to properly understand the Intel Speed Select and High Priority core vs Low Proirity.

I'm reading the following document : https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/242628/intel-xeon-6737p-processor-144m-cache-2-90-ghz/specifications.html

The following statment is my current understanding of this technology :

This processor has 2.9 GHz nomial frequeny (avg. High - Low fre?)

12 High priority running at 3 G and can be adjusted up to 4GHz 

20 Low priority running at 2.8 GHz

The Intel Speed selctor can "boost" high priority core to 4 GHZ if enabled on demand 

Tun off unused lower piroty.

Looking at the profiles there are thee :

+ Base

+ Profile 1 

+ Profile 2

My question are;

- Is my statement correct ? 
- What is the default out-of-the-box status with Intel Speed selector  and related frequencies across each cores ?
- What are the profiles  ?
- Regarding a KVM  hypervisor, what is the safest option to use and the best ? 

Sincerely.

[vish1]

Hello dclz,

Greetings for the day!!

I wanted to share some clarification regarding the behavior of the Intel® Xeon® 6737P processor and how it utilizes Intel® Speed Select Technology (SST).

The Intel® Xeon® 6737P processor uses Speed Select Technology (SST) to dynamically assign cores as high-priority (HP) or low-priority (LP), with HP cores running at higher base and turbo frequencies and LP cores at lower, energy-efficient speeds. Default profiles vary slightly depending on the OEM’s BIOS (e.g., HPE, Dell, Lenovo) and software layers, offering flexibility to balance performance and power efficiency across different workloads.

For more details, you may refer to the following official Intel documentation:

• Overview of Xeon 6737P processor behavior and SST: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000101255/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html
• Explanation of High-Priority and Low-Priority cores with SST: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000094490/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html

If you have any specific questions or need further assistance for your platform, feel free to reach out we are happy to help.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician