Intel SERVER CHASSIS SR2500 SR2500 User Manual

Intel® Server System SR2500AL Platform 

Memory throttling is a feature of the Intel

®

 5000 Series Chipsets to prevent FBDIMM memory 

from overheating. If the performance of the installed FB-DIMMs approaches their supported 
thermal limit for a given platform, the system BIOS will initiate memory throttling which manages 
memory performance by limiting bandwidth to the DIMMs, therefore capping the power 
consumption and preventing the DIMMs from overheating. Memory throttling can be minimized 
by operating your platform in “Performance Mode” (default) which changes the system Fan 
Control profile to run the system fans at higher speeds.  Running the platform in “Acoustics 
Mode” will cause the system fans to run slower to meet the acoustic limits for the given platform.  

System BIOS utilizes a Memory Reference Code (MRC) throttling algorithm to maximize 
memory bandwidth for a given configuration when memory throttling is initialized.  The MRC 
code relies on Serial Presence Detect (SPD) data read from the installed DIMMs as well as 
system level data as set through BIOS Setup Options and the FRUSDR Utility.   

 

System fan speed is controlled by the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) functions of 
the ESB-2 chip. During normal system operation, the BMC will retrieve information from BIOS 
and monitor several platform thermal sensors to determine the required fan speeds.   

In order to provide the proper fan speed control for a given system configuration, the BMC must 
have the appropriate platform data programmed. Platform configuration data is programmed 
using the FRUSDR Utility during the system integration process and by System BIOS during run 
time.