Performance Tuning Guide

Intel Desktop Board DH67BL Performance Tuning Guide
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3.5.2 Check Stability
Establishing stability should be done frequently during the performance tuning
process. A good initial check of system stability is to see if the system can boot into
the operating system. If the system has become unstable, refer to Section 3.4 for
recovery options.
When
the system can successfully boot into the operating system, various software
applications can be used to stress the processor, memory, and other systems. When
processor cores are idle, 2
nd
generation Intel
®
Core™ processors will operate at a
reduced multiplier value. While running in the operating system, the application of a
heavy load will bring all processor cores out of the idle and run them at the multiplier
values selected in the BIOS setup. Heavy loads can be applied by using commonly
available processor and memory stress testing software.
During stress testing, look for erratic software behavior, a blue screen or a system
hang. Any of these are indications of system instability. Solutions to instability
include revising the performance settings described in the various areas of Section 3.5.
F
or processor stability issues, revising voltage, amperage, or wattage settings upward
or revising turbo ratios and/or system clock frequency downward or a combination of
these changes will be required.
If processor temperature is steadily increasing during stress testing or processor
throttling is occurring then more tuning efforts are required to eliminate the throttling.
Solutions may include improved processor cooling capability and/or revising the
performance settings.
When system stability has been established with stress testing software, it’s
recommended that you check system stability again using your usual software
applications to confirm performance and stability for your daily use.
3.5.3 Tune Memory
A wide variety of memory timing parameters can be adjusted in the BIOS setup as
described in Appendix B.
In addition, DIMM socket population will also affect system performance. Intel
Desktop Board DH67BL has two independent memory channels which are indicated by
blue or black memory DIMM sockets. For best performance, all sockets should be
populated with memory matched by manufacturer, size, speed, and type. This
matching allows the processor to access data across each of the memory channels
concurrently.