Xeon E5-2680 V4 FPO/Patch and Performance

[Ahmed_CG]

Kindly I need to know what the first letter of FPO actually stands for ?! I have read it stands for the manufacturing country/plant if that's true I have 4 Xeons (E5-2680 V4 each 2 are in dual configuration mode) Two of them have the initial letter of the FPO "L", the other two have the initial letter of the FPO "J" what are their manufacturing country/plant?

also they are of different patches & I noticed their performance is also different, the newer patches +25 week of 2016 and 2017 perform slightly faster (2-4 min difference) than earlier patches (Although the older ones are a matched pair) while rendering a test project I made with Adobe After effects for benchmarking

I was wondering what may be the reason?!

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Ahmed_CG,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

To answer your question in regard to the Country of Origin (COO) of an Intel® Xeon® Processor please take a look at the information below and let us know if you have any questions.

What Is the Country of Origin (COO) of an Intel® Xeon® Processor?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000055716/processors/intel-xeon-processors.html

In regard to the performance/benchmarking test that you bid please take into consideration that it doesn’t matter if the 4 processors are the same model, there are a lot of different factors (Environment (location, temperature, etc.), operating system (versions), hardware(age, revisions, etc), software (versions)) that can end up affecting the final result of a test; consequently, there is always a possibility that a test on several subjects of the same model can end up with different results, and this happens because no matter what you do or how optimal the conditions can be they are always different.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[Ahmed_CG]

Hello Victor_G

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply, with regard to COO I have the sent a request but didn't receive a reply yet.

I can understand there are many variables/factors to consider while testing/benchmarking, in my case the 4 CPUs were tested on the same workstation Z840 128GB DDR4-2400, with same hardware revision, operating system and software versions.

There is a multiprocessing feature in Adobe after effects when activated the CPU usage hits 100% (All cores turbo 2.70 - 2.87 Ghz) when I run Intel processor diagonsitcs tool CPU usage hits 100% the (All cores turbo goes down to 2.66 Ghz) is that normal ?! my concern is about degraded performance !

Another thing was when I ran Intel Processor Identification Utility it only sees 1 processor and on the top menu processor is greyed out although I have ran it on other multi socket machines it can detect older Xeon processors in dual configuration.

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Ahmed_CG,

Thank you for your response.

In regard to the COO you will be receiving the reply back eventually, unfortunately, we don’t have any control over those requests; therefore, I will recommend you to wait.

In relation to the variables/factors in the system that you tested the processors in we understand your point; however, there is always a possibility of different results by the time that each test is being done no matter how many factors you think you can control there are always some that you won’t be able to; consequently, there is no such thing as a perfect environment.

Regarding the multiprocessing feature in Adobe after effects please bear in mind that we are not familiar with how this tool works what it triggers in the system when that feature is on; therefore, if you would like to know more about that it will be best if you discuss that with the developer of the tool directly.

Additionally, when we talk about the use of the Intel processor diagnostics tool bear in mind that the purpose of the tool is to verify the functionality of an Intel® microprocessor. The diagnostic tool checks for brand identification verifies the processor operating frequency, tests specific processor features, and performs a stress test on the processor, so it's normal that the results again are not always the same, but as long as no error messages are received the processors should be fine, and in regards to multiprocessor systems the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool release 4.1.5.37 is compatible with those; therefore, in case you are not using that version you can get in the link below:

Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool 4.1.5.37

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/15951/intel-processor-diagnostic-tool.html

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Ahmed_CG]

Hello Victor_G

Again thanks a lot for your detailed reply

I can understand there is no perfect environment. I know what the multiprocessing feature in Adobe after effects do but I'm concerned about the load on CPU created while rendering (100%  CPU usage) the all core turbo frequency ranges from 2.70 to 2.87 Ghz

while the load created by Intel processor diagnostics tool tests (100% CPU usage) the all core turbo frequency goes down to 2.66 Ghz which is lower than the processor specifications I'm trying to understand what might have caused that difference & if it's normal ?!

I'm using the latest version of Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool I have no problem with it but Intel® Processor Identification Utility on the other hand can't detect the 2nd CPU on my machine!

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Ahmed,

Thank you so much for your response,

In regards to the multiprocessing feature in Adobe after effects we understand that you are concerned about the load on the CPU created while rendering; however, please bear in mind that it is normal that the usage spikes when doing certain things that do require a lot of computing power, as long as the usage increases because the system is doing a heavy workload you shouldn’t worry, once the system finishes the usage should go back to normal.

In relation to what you mentioned about the processor’s frequency, you will need to take into consideration that the Intel® Turbo Boost Technology this processor has will opportunistically increase the frequency depending on the headroom available in one or more cores, workload, environment, and platform design, in other words, the maximum frequency is automatic and dependent on working conditions, so it can always be different and it doesn’t mean the chips are in a bad condition.

In respect to what you mentioned about the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool, what we were able to find on our end was that even though the tool itself is compatible with multiprocessor systems, it is essential that only one Intel® processor is tested at a time in this type of system configuration. In other words, the tool does not support multiple processors inserted into a multiprocessor system configuration; therefore, the results that you were getting are expected.

Best regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello Ahmed_CG,

I hope this message finds you well.

I was checking this thread and I would like to know if you were able to check the previous post?  

Please let me know if you need further assistance.  

Regards,

Victor G. 

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[Paul_R_Intel]

Hello Ahmed_CG,

I hope you are doing great,

I was checking this thread and I would like to know if need further assistance?  

Please let me know if you need further assistance.  

Regards,

Paul R

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[Paul_R_Intel]

Hello Ahmed_CG,

I hope you are doing great, we have not heard back from you so we will mark this thread as closed, you may re-open it by replying back. Thank you for choosing Intel.

Regards 

Paul R. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

For firmware updates and troubleshooting tips, visit: 

https://intel.com/support/serverbios