Am I getting optimal performance from my ML350p G8?

[6BQ5]

I brought the ML350p G8 to life this weekend!

I am running Windows Server 2016 on a single Seagate Barracuda 2TB drive directly connected to a SATA port on the motherboard. The first programs I ran are CPUID HWMonitor to get insights on clock speeds and temperature, ATTO Disk Benchmark to see how fast my single SATA drive is working, and Geekbench to get an idea of CPU performance.

My Geekbench scores were bit low. The two E5-2640 V2 processors achieved a single-core score of 274 and a multi-core score of 3175. I changed some BIOS settings:

• Power Profile to Maximum Performance
• Power Regulator to Static High Performance
• Disabled QPI LInk Management
• Processor Idle Power Core is set to No C-State
• Minimum Processor Idle Power is set to No Package State
• TurboBoot is set to Optimized for Performance

My Geekbench scores improveda bit. The single-core score increased from 274 to 492 and the multi-core score increased from 3175 to 3875.

I was checking the power consumption, temperatures, and clock speed of the processors during the benchmark. According to the numbers, I think the processor is being throttled or held back somehow. Power consumption of processor 1 never exceeded 65W and processor 2 never went above 50W. The clock speed at idle never exceed 2.3 GHz. I expected TurboBoost to kick my clock rate to 2.5 GHz and power consumption should jump closer to 95W.

Looking at other Geekbench scores users submitted, I see one Windows Server 2016 score of 338 / 4307 and another of 349 / 4341. Somehow I get better single core performance but noticably worse multicore performance.

Big question : what settings do I need to set to ensure the server is running at 110%?

Thanks!

[SanjeevGoyal]

Hello,

I would like to suggest you contact to HPE technical team, they need few logs (like AHS & HPES reports) for understanding the issue.

As per your update,  your server looking healthy.

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!   

Regards,

[6BQ5]

Replying to my own thread here ...

Today I upgraded my RAM. After opening up my server I discovered one of the 2 x 8 GB DIMMs was in the wrong slot for processor 2! Maybe this was the cause of my slow benchmark speeds. I removed both DIMMs and installed a whopping 8 x 16 GB follwing the HPE Memory Configuration tool and the guide on the inside of the removable case cover. Now my Geekbench scores are really, really fast! Single core speeds stayed about the same, clocking in at 492 this time ... but multiple core speeds jumped from 4254 to a whopping 6343!

I like it!! I like it!! I like itt!

Now I just need a little bit of clarification on the E5-2697 V2 upgrade and then I should have the performance I crave here.

[SanjeevGoyal]

Hello,

Please let me know what do you mean of "E5-2697 V2 upgrade" I am not able to understand.

If you are looking for a processor upgrading, I would suggest you contact to HPE sales team.

Regards,