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Broadwell CPU (E5 2650) with two memory controllers

EBoug
Beginner
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Hello,

I have a server with one socket (E5 2650 cpu) and 128GB DRAM (8 DIMMS of 16 GB). As it can be seen from the specs the cpu has 12 cores and two integrated memory controllers. The first memory controller uses two channels(channel 0 and 1) and the second one also uses two channels(channels 3 and 4). Although the channel interleaving is disabled through bios (my setting is 1 -way channel interleaving) there is an interleaving between two channel of different controllers. The interleaving appears between channels 0 and 2 or 1 and 3. Can i disable this type of interleaving?

Thanks,

diama13

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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No, your processor has FOUR memory controllers.

...S

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EBoug
Beginner
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No my cpu is https://ark.intel.com/products/91767/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2650-v4-30M-Cache-2_20-GHz Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2650 v4 (30M Cache, 2.20 GHz) Product Specifications . It has four memory channels, two channels per controller. It doesnt have four controllers.

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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I stand corrected (you learn something every day). ARK only identifies the number of channels, not controllers. It took some heavy digging in the datasheets to discover that there were only two controllers -- and I only discovered it indirectly via the PECI interface section ).

Ok, what I found was a field in the Device 15 Function 0 section's definition for TADWAYNESS. This is defined as follows:

TAD_CH_WAY (tad_ch_way):

channel interleave wayness

00 - interleave across 1 channel or mirror pair

01 - interleave across 2 channels or mirror pairs

10 - interleave across 3 channels

11 - interleave across 4 channels

This parameter effectively tells iMC how much to divide the system address

by when adjusting for the channel interleave. Since both channels in a pair

store every line of data, divide by 1 when interleaving across one pair and 2

when interleaving across two pairs. For HA, it tells how may channels to

distribute the read requests across. When interleaving across 1 pair, this

distributes the reads to two channels, when interleaving across 2 pairs, this

distributes the reads across 4 pairs. Writes always go to both channels in the

pair when the read target is either channel.

As I read this, I can see the answer being yes if you read it as "1 channel 'or mirror pair' " or no if you read it as "1 'channel or mirror' pair".

Yes, I am now sorry I even stepped in to try answering this...

...S

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EBoug
Beginner
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Although I have read a number of manuals and also I have run different tests I cant find the answer in my original question.

Does anyone can help me?

Thanks.

Diama13

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
606 Views

Elina,

I was about to move this conversation into the Server support forum, but decided not to as there is a reasonable chance of getting an answer here. I would recommend, however, that you create another copy of this query within the Server support forum, as this will improve your chances of getting a good answer. Unfortunately, while I have the ability to move a conversation, I do not have the ability to copy a conversation, so you need to do this...

...S

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