S2600GZ and S2600GL

Table Of Contents

Product Architecture Overview Intel® Server Board S2600GZ/GL TPS

3.2.5.3

PCIe Add-in card support

The PCIe sub-system of the server board has support for PCIe add-in cards that follow the PCIe Gen1, Gen2

and Gen3 specifications. However, the performance of some PCIe Gen3 cards may be forced to operate at

Gen2 speeds due to electrical signaling characteristic limitations that exist between the server board and some

PCIe Gen 3 add-in cards.

Intel has implemented the following PCIe Gen 3 support model for this generation of its server boards and

server systems.

3.2.5.3.1

PCIe Gen3 support – Systems configured with an Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 product family

For a server system configured with one or more Intel

Xeon

processor E5-2600 product family, the system

BIOS will use an embedded PCIe Gen 3 compatibility list which identifies all PCIe Gen 3 add-in cards tested by

Intel to operate reliably at Gen 3 speeds on the given server system. During POST, the system BIOS will

compare installed PCIe Gen 3 add-in cards with those included in the embedded compatibility list. If BIOS

matches an installed card to one listed on the compatibility list, the BIOS will configure the device to operate at

PCIe Gen 3 speeds. If the BIOS cannot match an installed PCIe add-in card with any device included in the

list, the BIOS will force the device to operate at PCIe Gen2 speeds.

Note: The latest available BIOS should be installed on the system to ensure the most up to date embedded

PCIe Gen 3 compatibility list is being used.

Visit the following Intel web site for a list of Intel tested PCIe Gen 3 compatible cards included in the BIOS

embedded compatibility list – http://intel.com/support/motherboards/server/sb/CS-034157.htm

3.2.5.3.2

PCIe Gen3 support – Systems configured with an Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 V2 product family

For a server system configured with one or more Intel

Xeon

processor E5-2600 V2 product family, the

system BIOS will configure all installed PCIe Gen 3 compatible add-in cards to operate at PCIe Gen 3 speeds

by default. For a list of Intel tested PCIe Gen 3 add-in cards, review the Tested Hardware and OS list (THOL)

using Intel’s Server Configurator Tool at the following web site:

https://serverconfigurator.intel.com

The following tables identify the PCIe port routing for each add-in card slot on all supported riser cards as

installed in either Riser Slot # 1 or Riser Slot #2. Note the specific processor, PCIe port ID, and number of

PCIe bus lanes supporting each add-in card slot.

Depending on the riser card installed, specific PCIe ports routed from the processor IIO module provide the

PCIe interface to each riser card slot.

For a system configuration that includes a PCIe add-in card that is not included on Intel’s THOL and/or may be

operating erratically, BIOS setup includes an option to force specified PCIe ports to operate at a different PCIe

level than the card is optimally designed to support. To configure this option, access the <F2> BIOS setup

utility.

Revision 2.4