Performance Tuning Guide

Intel DX58SO2/DX58OG Desktop Board Performance Tuning Guide
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3.5.3.6 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 subsystems.
When processor cores are idle, the 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.
When processor stability issues occur, revising host clock frequency settings, QPI data
rates, voltage settings, multipliers, or a combination of these changes will be required.
The Intel Extreme Tuning Utility includes processor and memory stress testing
capabilities in addition to allowing the processor temperature to be monitored as
shown in Figure 3.8. Being able to stress test subsystems such as the processor and
memory with relative independence is helpful. This enables you to determine which
subsystem exhibits instability so you know which group of performance parameters to
revise. Revising processor parameters will not improve stability if memory settings
are actually causing the issue.
If processor temperature is steadily increasing or processor throttling is occurring
during stress testing, then additional tuning or improved cooling is needed.
After system stability has been established with stress testing software, confirm
stability while running the software applications (games, video editing, etc.) that you
normally use.