Intel 8124m board compatibility

[eftimio]

Thanks for the reply. So, in Dell 7820 there is also the PXE1610C? Are you used the primarion USB dongle and PowerCode software? If so, what was the cost for the bundle?
The Dell motherboards have specific jumper pins for the dongle?
As for the R740 because of the phases missing it isn't possible (from the hardware side) to change the ICC_MAX? I just wonding if it is worthing a try.

 

[RolloZ170]

Thanks for the reply. So, in Dell 7820 there is also the PXE1610C?

yes. as in 7920 and T640 so i expect the same in R740.

Are you used the primarion USB dongle and PowerCode software? If so, what was the cost for the bundle?

yes. the dongle is about $62usd (PX-DNGL-01 currently out of stock, order time 8 weeks)
The Dongle is a HID Device and uses a C8051F320, the Vendor/Device ID is VID_16C0&PID_06ED
you have to ask Infineon for the activation key.
you hace to disable the idrac somehow because it makes heavy access to the VRM controller.
there are 3 holes in the PCB for the PMBus header, but the header is missing.

As for the R740 because of the phases missing it isn't possible (from the hardware side) to change the ICC_MAX?

unknown, the other VRM controllers can do that because i don'r know what power stages they use.
you can not set ICC_MAX to 255A with 5x 50A phase power stages, or just with OCP set to 50A per phase.

 

[eftimio]

Thanks again. A clarification about activation key. Is it free of charge? I am just asking because if the cost is very big eg 200-300$+ I think that it is now worthing.
As for the R740, do you know if the other rack mounted dell models have also 5 phases? (eg r640, r940).

 

[RolloZ170]

Thanks again. A clarification about activation key. Is it free of charge? I am just asking because if the cost is very big eg 200-300$+ I think that it is now worthing.

no money, but i can not guarantee you get it as a normal person(no company background).

As for the R740, do you know if the other rack mounted dell models have also 5 phases? (eg r640, r940)

unknown, replacement boards have 5+1 phase(one missing). but there are r440 with 3+1, depends on the max. TDP usage.

 

[eftimio]

Thanks for the detailed info. Do you have any experience with HP servers? eg DL360/380G10. What is the PWM controller and if they have enough vrm phases for the ICC_MAX change?

 

[RolloZ170]

Thanks for the detailed info. Do you have any experience with HP servers? eg DL360/380G10. What is the PWM controller and if they have enough vrm phases for the ICC_MAX change?

i have checked some HP WS boards and decided to keep my hands away.
single socket Z6/Z8 G4 uses 4+1 phase and the second CPU gets the hot air of the first like in Dell 7920.
HPE Gen10 is a better platform, but i can't get my hands on those. what i see is 6+1 phase.
may be someone can check the PCB for the VRM vendor.

 

[RolloZ170]

What is the PWM controller and if they have enough vrm phases for the ICC_MAX change?

i think that can be done. but keep in mind 2nd gen is allowed to draw up to 288Watts continous power, can you cool that in a HPE Gen10 chassis ?
of course you can try to limit the power in the BIOS, most important is the CPU to support.

 

[eftimio]

So, do you mean that the CPU is drawing power up to 288W even if the CPU TDP is lower? For example I have available two 8259CL (reporting 210W as TDP) that I want to use them in a dell R640 or on an HP DL. I tried to install the CPU on R640 but it is not POSTing (black screen).

 

[RolloZ170]

So, do you mean that the CPU is drawing power up to 288W even if the CPU TDP is lower?

yes. all CPU draw more than TDP, even AMD Ryzen/Epyc under heavy load.
210W is allowed TDP x 1.25 = 262W (set by BIOS if not specified)
edit: the PL2 of the 8259CL is 252W
check the wattage of a 165W 2nd gen under cinebench.

 

[eftimio]

So, is there any way to check the max TDC supported on a server? How is it calculated? Is it based on VRF phases that are available? eg the 8273CL (165W TDP) has 228A TDC but in comments on ebay the buyer states that is not supported eg with DELL servers.
Is the PL2 the value that shows the max power draw?

 

[RolloZ170]

eg the 8273CL (165W TDP) has 228A TDC but in comments on ebay the buyer states that is not supported eg with DELL servers.

this SKU does not work i.e. on X11SPA with latest BIOS(stuck at code 79), but with early 3.0x BIOS.
the 8273CL is strange the other way, still unknown by me whats going on.

So, is there any way to check the max TDC supported on a server? How is it calculated?

TDC is read form CPU. ICC_MAX is read from VRM controller. if you set ICC_MAX to 255A the VRM unit must capable to deliver 255A at least
the TDC value must not higher than the ICC_MAX seting of the VRM controller. this value is also the OCP warning level, the OCP fault level is ICC_MAX * 1.25
ALL Intel standard SKU do not exceed 228A TDC. the lower TDP variants have lower TDC, the X11DPL-i has a lower TDC limit than 228A and does not start 165W and up TDP SKUs.

Is the PL2 the value that shows the max power draw?

yes.

 

[RolloZ170]

So, is there any way to check the max TDC supported on a server?

without soldering ?
read the register OCP_FAULT_LIMIT of the VRM controller, maybe the PCH/BMC or IDRAC has access to the controller.

 

[Stephan]

Can you paste the output of rasdaemon on Linux? Also "ras-mc-ctl --summary". Seen alot of "works fine in Windows" but that is because they just don't log corrected errors. To drill down deep, you really need rasdaemon on and from a modern Linux.

 

[Stephan]

What does "ras-mc-ctl --errors | grep -v nr_sector" say? grep will exclude disk errors which tend to bloat rasdaemon logs but are irrelevant here.

 

[Stephan]

Did you start rasdaemon? Is it running?

 

[Stephan]

Looks like the rasdaemon package on Ubuntu is broken. I do everything on Arch, maybe that is an option, at least for testing. Also final remark on your comment about everything working on Windows but not on Linux, I doubt but cannot substantiate that there are no such errors on Windows. It might just not show them to you. Errors collected by rasdaemon of the sort MCE you showed point to a serious problem and will affect any OS.

As a final hint, try to switch to a different microcode. To as recent as possible, or as old as possible.

 

[Stephan]

Leave the BIOS as-is, this will then be the oldest. On Arch updates are done through package intel-ucode and

$ cat /boot/loader/entries/10-default.conf
title Arch Linux
linux /vmlinuz-linux-lts54-custom
initrd /intel-ucode.img
initrd /initramfs-linux-lts54-custom.img
options root=PARTUUID=blablabla rw console=tty0 console=ttyS1,115200 spec_store_bypass_disable=prctl spectre_v2_user=prctl audit=0

 

[RolloZ170]

As for microcode, i grabbed a bios file that has the microcode but thats the only one I have

check in WIndows with HWinfo which MC was loaded by windows. linux shows rev. 146
if windwow still use 146 any update will not help/not the issue.
latest MC for SKL B1 i have is rev. 157. give me your BIOS file, i can replace the MC(flash update only with Instant flash)

 

[RolloZ170]

So latest bios flash seems to have resolved some mce errors

would be nice if we could test this with some Gigabyte MU71/MD71 boards which have official P8124/P8136 support.
SKL B1 50653 is OEM custom stepping(but PRD not ES). even intel boards BIOS don't have the microcode.

 

[kino0924]

made this on a Dell 7820
View attachment 23485
Dell uses PXE1610C (Primarion, overtaken from Infineon)
PXE1610C uses a proprietäry method to store the register to NVM(OTP2), so needed a primarion USB dongle and PowerCode software(with activation key) to change the ICC_MAX.
View attachment 23486the R740 motherboard mostly missing the 6th phase(or more) the 7820 has 6+1 phase installed.

made this on a Dell 7820
View attachment 23485
Dell uses PXE1610C (Primarion, overtaken from Infineon)
PXE1610C uses a proprietäry method to store the register to NVM(OTP2), so needed a primarion USB dongle and PowerCode software(with activation key) to change the ICC_MAX.
View attachment 23486the R740 motherboard mostly missing the 6th phase(or more) the 7820 has 6+1 phase installed.

Hi Thanks for great information.

I am very interested running 8124M( SRD1Y H0 ) on 7820
If I summarize your post, here is the requirements
1. Primarion USB dongle
2. PowerCode Software (With activation)

On the other hand, how about BIOS? does 7820 BIOS has microcode for 8124M?

I might be able to get access to PowerCode or even reverse engineer the software.
I also dont mind modifying BIOS physically
I havn't tried flashing with its own bios updater after bios repack. Not sure what "Dell BIOS Guard"

Thanks!