Way lower CPU performance than expected (Poweredge R720 w/ e5-2667 V2s)

[Mnky313]

I recently picked up an R720 with e5-2695 V2s but because it's mostly used for game servers (which are usually only use a few cores) I was going to buy some 2667 V2s and sell the 2695 v2s for a similar price that I bought the 2667s for,
I chose those CPUs because I checked passmark's multi CPU database and noticed that the 2667 V2s got similar (a little better) multi threaded and significantly better single threaded scores. (here is a comparison)

I checked around for cinebench scores and found that the 2695s should get ~2600-2800cb stock and the 2667s should get ~2500-2600cb.

But I tested my 2695 V2s before switching them out and got ~2600cb so on the lower end but seemed fine.
Then when I swapped in the 2667 V2s I ran cinebench and only got ~2300-2350 which was lower than I expected so I ran passmark and got ~18000 which is almost where it should be but sinle threaded performance was awful, like 1300 points instead of the ~2000 points it should be...

I know it's set to performance per watt profile in the BIOS

And before you ask, I didn't run passmark on the 2695s. If I can't resolve this I will probably just go back to those and run more benchmarks...

Any ideas?

Edit: Windows High Performance mode helped a little but not much, did nothing to cinebench but passmark is now ~19k with ~1450 single core...

[Electronics Wizardy]

what is ram speed?

 

What is clocks running at under load? Is bios set to performance?

[Mnky313]

10 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

what is ram speed?

 

What is clocks running at under load? Is bios set to performance?

RAM speed is 1333mhz
clocks seemed fine, task manager reports 3.55GHz and HWInfo shows 3.5GHz on all cores (which almost lines up with intel spec of 3.6GHz all cores)
BIOS is set to performance per watt, setting it to performance sets fan speed to max all the time...

edit: HWInfo actually shows 3.5GHz on all cores for CPU 0 but 3.6GHz on all cores for CPU 1

Edited February 6, 2020 by Mnky313
3.6 not 2.6

[leadeater]

Passmark is kinda bad to compare CPUs like that. Better off running the benchmarks you see in standard reviews. Practical usage you're not really going to see much difference between the two CPUs, you'll be able to run more server on the 2695v2 due to more cores though.

 

What you'll want to do is go in to the BIOS or iDRAC of the server and set power and performance profiles to maximum, what you're likely seeing is power capping and performance tuning on the side of efficiency.

[Mnky313]

9 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Passmark is kinda bad to compare CPUs like that. Better off running the benchmarks you see in standard reviews. Practical usage you're not really going to see much difference between the two CPUs, you'll be able to run more server on the 2696v2 due to more cores though.

 

What you'll want to do is go in to the BIOS or iDRAC of the server and set power and performance profiles to maximum, what you're likely seeing is power capping and performance tuning on the side of efficiency.

Ok, I figured a single threaded different as much as ~30% would make a real world difference, I'll try setting it to maximum performance mode and see if it makes a difference
and they are 2965 v2s not 2696s
I can't screw with it tonight, it's too loud for that :P, but I can say that HWinfo reports max power draw during cinebench at ~110-115W per CPU which is 15-20W below TDP, don't know if that means anything but ay.

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

and they are 2965 v2s not 2696s

2695v2 

[leadeater]

9 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

I can't screw with it tonight, it's too loud for that :P, but I can say that HWinfo reports max power draw during cinebench at ~110-115W per CPU which is 15-20W below TDP, don't know if that means anything but ay.

Actually just install Intel XTU and raise the power limits and boost timers on the CPU, faster and quicker and also tells you current CPU power etc. Nice tool actually, not tried it on a Xeon so not sure what limitations are imposed on locked CPUs.

[BloodKnight7]

Dumb question, but you have you made sure you are running the latest and greatest bios, idrac and firmware versions available for your server? You could use LifeCycle controller to update all in one go from ftp.dell.com. Newer iDRAC and BIOS versions could improve your overall performance. 

 

 

[Mnky313]

10 hours ago, leadeater said:

Actually just install Intel XTU and raise the power limits and boost timers on the CPU, faster and quicker and also tells you current CPU power etc. Nice tool actually, not tried it on a Xeon so not sure what limitations are imposed on locked CPUs.

tried XTU, raised max turbo power to 170W but it didn't change anything. It only gets to a max of ~120W @ 3.6GHz all core, but neither HWInfo or XTU shows single core speeds change when running a single core benchmark. Still the same scores as well.
When I get home today I'll update iDRAC/BIOS and set everything I can find to max performance,
I also need to flash my R420's PERC H310MM to IT mode to get these drives reformatted, they should have been 512B sectors but both the H310 and H710p I have refuse to do anthing with the drives, they all show up as blocked. (tried updating RAID card's firmware but that didn't help)

[BloodKnight7]

12 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

I also need to flash my R420's PERC H310MM to IT mode to get these drives reformatted, they should have been 512B sectors but both the H310 and H710p I have refuse to do anthing with the drives, they all show up as blocked. (tried updating RAID card's firmware but that didn't help)

You can do that as well from the Lifecycle controller, give me a ping if you need help we can jump into a remote session. 

[Mnky313]

1 hour ago, BloodKnight7 said:

You can do that as well from the Lifecycle controller, give me a ping if you need help we can jump into a remote session. 

Thanks for the offer but I got it figured out, but can you really do it from the lifecycle thing? all the drives weren't even exposed to the OS and I had to follow some instructions to flash the RAID card to IT mode. It's running now but it's going to take AGES, like it's been probably 60-90 minutes and the first 4 drives are at 17%, I have to do 15 drives ....

[Mnky313]

23 hours ago, BloodKnight7 said:

Dumb question, but you have you made sure you are running the latest and greatest bios, idrac and firmware versions available for your server? You could use LifeCycle controller to update all in one go from ftp.dell.com. Newer iDRAC and BIOS versions could improve your overall performance. 

 

 

 

On 2/5/2020 at 10:31 PM, leadeater said:

Actually just install Intel XTU and raise the power limits and boost timers on the CPU, faster and quicker and also tells you current CPU power etc. Nice tool actually, not tried it on a Xeon so not sure what limitations are imposed on locked CPUs.

Updated the BIOS, this fixed it I believe. It had a really old BIOS on it when I got it. Tried setting everything to max performance but the fans were pinned to max (figured out it was caused by Dell Controlled Turbo being enabled), it would even reset the iDRAC thermal fan control settings until I disabled that dell turbo thing. All running good now, got ~2450-2500cb and 2150-2200 Single core passmark!

Will update about any issues that arrise and probably about if I can get these drives working in the R720 (it has a h710p(mm)) RAID card that is on it's latest firmware and should accept any compatible drives not just Dell branded ones...

[Mnky313]

Damn, here is the passmark for anyone wondering:

that's even better than I was expecting....

Edit: and after 5-6 HOURS of formatting per group of 4 drives (my R420 is an LFF 4 Bay) they do work as expected in the R720 , now I just have to do 3 more batches

[BloodKnight7]

5 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

Damn, here is the passmark for anyone wondering:

that's even better than I was expecting....

Edit: and after 5-6 HOURS of formatting per group of 4 drives (my R420 is an LFF 4 Bay) they do work as expected in the R720 , now I just have to do 3 more batches

Congratulations my friend!

 

Always try to keep your iDRAC (takes care of power and cooling in the server) and BIOS to the most recent date you can manage, it can make a great difference. Same with the firmware on your cards, if you do the lifecycle update method it will check against the GA catalogue from ftp.dell.com or downloads.dell.com.

 

Hope you enjoy your server