DL580 G7 :: Above 4G Decode, Memory Mapped I/O

[TopHatPrdxns115]

I have a ProLiant DL580 G7 that is used as a hypervisor host (ESXi). The VMs on the host use GPUs for acceleration of certain tasks. One of them an older nVIDIA GPU that needs to be replaced (end of official driver support). I attempted to replace it with an AMD Radeon Pro v320, but received the following notice during POST:

"Warning: There is not enough available PCI memory to allocate to all devices installed in the system. Devices which were not allocated requested resources may not operate properly."

When searching up this notice on Google, I encountered this support article for the DL980 G7. Are there any BIOS/firmware updates that may remedy this issue? Will a card like the Radeon Pro v340 cause similar issues in this server?

Is there a BIOS setting that I need to change, to enable the v320 and/or v340?

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

As per server quickspecs, do not see video cards mentioned as supported option. 

https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04123267.html?jumpid=in_lit-psnow-red 

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=emr_na-c02826607#N10BC8 

Few recommendations on best effort basis.

-> Please ensure system BIOS is up to date. 

-> Please set the following RBSU parameters and check if any change in system behaviour. To open the RBSU, reboot the server and press F9 when prompted during the startup sequence. (Downtime required). 

- Power Management Options -> HP Power Profile -> Maximum performance.
- Power Management Options -> HP Power Regulator -> HP Static High Performance Mode.
- Power Management Options -> Advanced Power Management Options -> Minimum Processor Idle Power Package State -> No Package State
- Power Management Options -> Advanced Power Management Options -> Minimum Processor Idle Power Core State -> No C-State
- Power Management Options -> Advanced Power Management Options -> Collaborative Power Control -> Disabled

-> You can the Memory Mapped I/O Options mentioned in the advisory shared on the post. Please refer page#111 on below web-link for more details.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c00191707 

[TopHatPrdxns115]

I will address your reply, piece-by-piece. Please let me know if you have any further comments and/or suggestions.

1. Thank you for making sure to retrieve the latest version of this document. The effort taken is appreciated.
2. In this document, the following is stated (under "Additional Options"):
   

   
   HP Graphics Options

   HP DL580/DL585/DL980 Power Cable Kit
   NOTE: The HP ProLiant DL580 G7 can support up to 4 (225W) or 3(300W) Graphic Cards and/or GPGPU Accelerator Options (x16 PCIE add-in cards in slots 11 and 9 will down-train electrically to x8 PCIE which may result in reduced performance.)
   NOTE: An option kit will be required per Graphic Card and/or GPGPU Accelerator Options.
   NOTE: Depending on the number of GPGPUs required, customers will need to purchase the following I/O expansion boards: DL580G7 PCI-X / PCI Express I/O Exp. Kit: PN: 588139-B21 (Adds two PCI-E 2.0 x16, one PCI-E 2.0 x4 and two PCI-X).

   631660-B21
   
   

   This option part is clearly intended to support server/enterprise-grade graphics options. The only ones available at the time (2013-2014) would have been based on nVIDIA's Kepler arch, AMD's TeraScale 2/3 and GCN 1/2. Any GPUs from those years and newer, using 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power, should technically be comaptible. Unless HPE has implemented BIOS/firmware level device whitelisting or blacklisting (or other measures), any PCIe compatible (non-UEFI) GPU should work in this system.
3. For that document, I cite this portion (in addition to what I stated for answer 2):
   
   HPE Graphics options
   Description

   Option Part #

   HPE DL580/DL585/DL980 G7 Power Cable Kit

   631660-B21
   
   The same option part should work on any GPUs produced between 2013 and 2019, 2020.
4. I will test those configuration options this weekend if possible, and get back to you with the results.
5. The document listed here (page 111) appears to be meant primarily for the DL980 G7, and appears to match the instructions delineated here (from the OP).

The formatting was destroyed when I originally attempted to post this, so I have a screensht of the available message as well:
Please let me know if the hyperlinks don't work.

[BPSingh]

Greetings!

Thank you for your detailed reply. 

Sure, please try the recommendations mentioned and check the result. 

I would advise you to test with the video card (nVIDIA GPU) which was functional on this server and see if you get this error. Not sure on the AMD Radeon cards that you are trying to add. If the issue persists, I would advise to log a support case for further investigation/compatibility checks.