PE R 810 RAM

Some things to take note of when installing the memory.

• DIMMs must be populated in matched pairs for each CPU (A1/A2, A3/A4…). Single DIMM operation is not supported.

• If DIMMs of different speeds are mixed, all channels will operate at the fastest common frequency. (Note that R810 only supports DDR3 1067 modules)

• Memory Mirroring and Sparing configurations will be supported as follows:

○ Memory sparing will be allowed on configurations with >= 64GB populated

○ Memory Mirroring will be enabled on configurations with 32 DIMMs populated

• The first DIMM slot in each channel is color-coded with white ejection tabs for ease of installation.

• In the case of mixed-rank population, populate the DIMM with the highest number of ranks first (in sockets with white ejection tabs)

• The DIMM sockets are placed 440 mils (11.12 mm) apart, center-to-center in order to provide enough space for sufficient airflow to cool stacked DIMMs.

• DIMMs must be installed in each channel starting with the DIMM farthest from the Mill Brook buffer. Population order will be identified by the silkscreen designator and the System Information Label (SIL) located on the chassis cover.

DIMMs A1-A8 correspond to CPU1, DIMMs B1-B8 correspond to CPU2, etc. In the case where two processors and 2 memory FlexMem Bridges are installed, DIMMs C1-C8 will associate with CPU1, and DIMMs D1-D8 will associate with CPU2

Page 141 goes over how to install the FlexMem Bridge.

Page 101 starts the memory installation guidelines.

support.euro.dell.com/.../R810en.pdf

To achieve 160GB of memory I would recommend sticking with chart 3-3 and its recommendations.

But since the quantity of memory you have is a little different, I would try this out.

CPU1

A1(8)A2(8)A3(8)A4(8)A5(4)A6(4)

CPU2

B1(8)B2(8)B3(8)B4(8)B5(4)B6(4)

CPU3

C1(8)C2(8)C3(8)C4(8)C5(4)C6(4)

CPU4

D1(8)D2(8)D3(8)D4(8)D5(4)D6(4)

Keep us updated on how this works out.

Thanks.

When I installed the RAM as you indicated  the server sees all memory but I got an error " memory configuration is not optimal, see the user manual. Hit f1 to continue or F2 for setup. I have some blanks I installed them of the empty slots.

You are installing memory in a configuration that is not listed in any of the charts in the owners manual.  So it is not surprising that you are getting that message. If there is a speed difference between any of the modules, that message will appear also. The server will still run and operate though.

Thanks Daniel, I decided not to use the 4GB sticks but things just got a bit interesting. I need to explain my setup a little better. I just purchase a new PE R810 with 256 GB RAM (32 X 8GB) I remove half of the RAM and installed it on my other PE R810 ( I believe it is about 8 months old), ( I removed all existing RAM on my older R810). Now both servers have 128GB RAM. but the newer server reports the memory speed at 1066 the older server report the memory speed 888. Any idea why the speed is different? I made sure all the RAM sticks have the same part numbers!!

I tried to upload 2 pictures of the server memory speed but the system won't let me.

I know I'm a version behind on both the BIOS and DRAC/EMS. Yesterday I tried  updating the server using  the build in SBUU specifying the Dell FTP server as my source  but unfortunately the FTP server is not up to date. I tried the Dell Server update DVD but it does not include the new updates.

Is there an easy way to update the BIOS and DRAC/EMS without an OS? Thanks,

I would check the firmware on the older server, may be a revision or so out.

I would at least make sure the BIOS and DRAC/EMS are updated.

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

www.dell.com/.../DriverFileFormats

Then see if there is any difference in behavior.

Thanks

Install the DELL Repository Manager ( DRM ), current version 1.4.113, on a server and download the R810 DUPs from the DELL FTP Site.  Go to the DELL web-site and download any new DUPs.

Use the DRM to make your own SUU disks and use the Platform Update option from the BIOS to flash the system.

I was able to upgrade the BIOS and the DRAC/EMS to the latest version but the server still reporting the memory speed at 800? any other suggestions?

When additional RAM is added to R710s and R910s the system drops the speed, perhaps you server does the same ?  

For our R910s after we added 256 GB our DDR3-1600 RAM ended up showing up at  978 MHz...

Perhaps your memory configuration causes a 800 MHz speed ?

From "Optimizing DDR3 Memory Settings in new 11th Generation DELL PowerEdge Servers" - DELL Power Solutions, June 2009, pg 30.

"...By using dual-rank 8 GB RDIMMs at 1,066 MHz, administrators may enable a capacity of 72 GB per processor for high-capacity configurations.  In this case, the system is designed to automatically down-clock itself to 800 MHz because each memory channel will have three DIMMs installed."

Is this applicable to your case ?

I have a R810 with 1 CPU and 16*2GB in banks A and C.

Need to upgrade with additional 4*8GB. Having read the documentation I found out that for 1 CPU, I have to take out 4*2GB and replace them with the new 4*8GB.

The new 8GB have 2 ranks (2Rx4), the old 2GB has 1 rank (1Rx8)

I replaced A1, A2, C1, C2, but I still get "Memory configuration not optimal".

Is that normal?

BIOS is 2.7.4, tried upgrading to 2.9.0 but it doesn't work, it gives this error:

.mount: /dev/sdad already mounted or /tmp/SECUPD busy

The OS is SLES11SP3

I'm going to answer my own question.

According to memory configuration tables that I've seen from Dell support, the "not optimal" message will appear no matter what, in case of mixed size DIMMs, in one CPU configuration. You can mix if you have 2 or 4 CPUs.

But if the DIMMs are the same speed (1066 MHz), it should not mean any performance decrease.

You can configure in BIOS to disable "Hold F1 to continue" so this prompt will be skipped at reboot.