NOTE:
For example, if you populate socket A1 for processor 1, then populate socket B1 for processor 2, and so on.
●
Mixing of more than two memory module capacities in a system is not supported.
●
Unbalanced memory configurations will result in a performance loss so always populate memory channels identically with
identical DIMMs for best performance.
●
Populate six identical memory modules per processor (one DIMM per channel) at a time to maximize performance.
Mode-specific guidelines
The configurations allowed depend on the memory mode selected in the System BIOS.
Table 8. Memory operating modes
Memory Operating Mode
Description
Optimizer Mode
The
Optimizer Mode
if enabled, the DRAM controllers
operate independently in the 64-bit mode and provide
optimized memory performance.
Mirror Mode
The
Mirror Mode
if enabled, the system maintains two
identical copies of data in memory, and the total available
system memory is one half of the total installed physical
memory. Half of the installed memory is used to mirror the
active memory modules. This feature provides maximum
reliability and enables the system to continue running even
during a catastrophic memory failure by switching over to the
mirrored copy. The installation guidelines to enable Mirror
Mode require that the memory modules be identical in size,
speed, and technology, and they must be populated in sets of
6 per processor.
Single Rank Spare Mode
Single Rank Spare Mode
allocates one rank per channel as a
spare. If excessive correctable errors occur in a rank or
channel, while the operating system is running, they are
moved to the spare area to prevent errors from causing an
uncorrectable failure. Requires two or more ranks to be
populated in each channel.
Multi Rank Spare Mode
Multi Rank Spare Mode
allocates two ranks per channel as a
spare. If excessive correctable errors occur in a rank or
channel, while the operating system is running, they are
moved to the spare area to prevent errors from causing an
uncorrectable failure. Requires three or more ranks to be
populated in each channel.
With single rank memory sparing enabled, the system
memory available to the operating system is reduced by one
rank per channel.
NOTE:
To use memory sparing, this feature must be
enabled in the BIOS menu of System Setup.
NOTE:
Memory sparing does not offer protection against
a multi-bit uncorrectable error.
Dell Fault Resilient Mode
The
Dell Fault Resilient Mode
if enabled, the BIOS creates
an area of memory that is fault resilient. This mode can be
used by an OS that supports the feature to load critical
applications or enables the OS kernel to maximize system
availability.
NOTE:
This feature is only supported in Gold and Platinum
Intel processors.
Installing and removing system components
79