Supported Memory and Memory Population Rules for the Intel® Server Board S2600ST Family

Looking for memory population rules of the Intel® Server Board S2600ST Family.

Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) population rules require that channels that support more than one DIMM be populated starting with the blue DIMM slot or the DIMM slot farthest from the processor in a fill-farthest approach. In addition, when populating a quad-rank DIMM with a single- or dual-rank DIMM in the same channel, the quad-rank DIMM must be populated farthest from the processor. The memory slots associated with a given processor are unavailable if the corresponding processor socket is not populated.

The DIMM population requirements are listed below:

• For multiple DIMMs per channel:
  • For Registered DIMM (RDIMM), Load Reduced DIMM (LRDIMM), 3 Dimensional Stacking  (3DS)  RDIMM, or 3DSLRDIMM, always populate DIMMs with higher electrical loading in the first slot of a channel (blue slot) followed by the second slot.
• When only one DIMM is used in the channels A or D, it must be populated in the BLUE DIMM slot.
  • A maximum of 8 logical ranks can be used on any one channel, as well as a maximum of 10 physical ranks loaded on a channel.
• Mixing of Double Data Rate Type 4 (DDR4) DIMM Types (RDIMM, LRDIMM, 3DS-RDIMM, 3DS-LRDIMM, NVDIMM) within channel or socket or across sockets is not supported. This is a Fatal Error Halt in Memory Initialization.
• Mixing DIMMs of different frequencies and latencies is not supported within or across processor sockets. If a mixed configuration is encountered, the BIOS attempts to operate at the highest common frequency and the lowest latency possible.
• LRDIMM Rank Multiplication Mode and Direct Map Mode must not be mixed within or across processor sockets. This is a Fatal Error Halt in Memory Initialization.
• In order to install 3 QR LRDIMMs on the same channel, they must be operated with Rank Multiplication as RM = 2. This will make each LRDIMM appear as a DR DIMM with ranks twice as large.
• Reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) Modes Rank Sparing, and Mirroring are mutually exclusive in this BIOS. Only one operating mode may be selected, and it will be applied to the entire system.
• If a RAS Mode has been configured, and the memory population will not support it during boot, the system will fall back to Independent Channel Mode and log and display errors.
• Rank Sparing Mode is only possible when all channels that are populated with memory meet the requirement of having at least 2 SR or Dual Rank DIMM installed, or at least one QR DIMM installed, on each populated channel.
• Mirroring Modes require that for any channel pair that is populated with memory, the memory population on both channels of the pair must be identically sized. Refer to the Intel Xeon® processor Scalable family BIOS EPS for details on pairing nomenclature.

For best performance, DIMMs should be populated using the following guidelines:

• Each installed processor should have matching DIMM configurations.
• The following DIMM population guidelines should be followed for each installed processor
  • 1 DIMM to 3 DIMM Configurations – DIMMs should be populated to DIMM Slot 1 (Blue Slots) of Channels A through C
  • 4 DIMM Configurations – DIMMs should be populated to DIMM Slot 1 (Blue Slots) of Channels A, B, D, and E
  • 5 DIMM Configurations – NOT Recommended. This is an unbalanced configuration which will yield less than optimal performance
  • 6 DIMM Configurations – DIMMs should be populated to DIMM Slot1 (Blue Slots) of all Channels
  • 7 DIMM Configurations – NOT Recommended. This is an unbalanced configuration, which will yield less than optimal performance
  • 8 DIMM Configurations – DIMMs are populated to ALL DIMM Slots