How to dial back the Transmit strength of the SATA TX of a SSD (s3710 or S3700)?

[rmare2]

Is there a mechanism with the Intel S3710 and/or S3700 SSDs to adjust the drive strength of the TX SATA Link?

We would like to tune the SSD TX strength to further optimize the measured eye diagram.

[jbenavides]

Hello wlrm04,

Features and capabilities of these drives are found in the Product Specifications for the http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-specifications/ssd-dc-s3700-spec... Intel® SSD DC S3700 Series and http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-specifications/ssd-dc-s3710-spec... Intel® SSD DC S3710 Series. Both drives are compliant with International standards and should work fine according to SATA specifications.

The only tool supported to manage the Intel® Data Center SSD's ishttps://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/23931/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Data-Center-Tool Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Tool, in the website link, you will be able to download the tool and also the User Guide.

I am not sure I understood you question correctly, however, the only configurable option I found related to burst power and average power is the Power Governor Mode. Please check pages 5, 14, 20 and 53 of the Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Tool User Guide for details.

[rmare2]

Hello Jonathan_intel,

Thank you for your quick reply and the link to the Data Center tool.

The Power Governor Mode is interesting, but I am looking for a way to adjust the actual signal integrity or link drive strength. In reading the document the "PHY Configuration" setting may be promising.

From the user guide:

"Setting PHY configurations:

o 0 (Default Enterprise Settings)

o 1 (Client Settings)

o 2 (Alternate Enterprise Settings)"

Could you explain what the "Client" and "Alternate" settings correspond to? Is there another document explaining these?

[jbenavides]

We checked with our additional resources and confirmed that the Phy configuration manages the SATA signal layer, which has a direct impact in the eye diagram.

At this time we do not have any public document with details about the PhyConfig property. Here is some additional information for your reference:

0- Default: Generally good for most purposes and systems

1- Client: Tighter for shorter signal routes (such as laptops). You might want to try this setting as it may be better for smaller systems with less trace length.

2- Alternate Enterprise: Will result in a a larger eye with better use in some servers. It may work well for systems that have long signal paths and multiple connections.

To change this configuration, you can run the following commands (ISDCT requires Administrator privileges):

List devices and ID: C:\folder\isdct.exe show -intelssd

Phy command (Client settings 1): C:\folder\isdct.exe set –intelssd X phyconfig = 1

See that the Phyconfig value has changed. C:\folder\isdct.exe show –a –intelssd X

[jbenavides]

Hello wlrm04,

Please let us know if the Phyconfig setting and the information provided helped you achieve the optimizations you required.