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Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7) Version 1.50.50 User's Guide

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Optimizing System Performance and Power Consumption

The power required to cool a server can contribute a significant amount to the overall system power. Thermal control is the active management of system cooling through fan speed and system power management to make sure that the system is reliable while minimizing system power consumption, airflow, and system acoustic output. You can adjust the thermal control settings and optimize against the system performance and performance-per-Watt requirements.
In the iDRAC Settings Utility, you can change the following settings:
  • Optimize for performance
  • Optimize for minimum power
  • Set the maximum air exhaust temperature
  • Increase airflow through a fan offset, if required

To do this:

  1. In the iDRAC Settings utility, go to Thermal. The iDRAC Settings Thermal page is displayed.
  2. Specify the thermal, user option, and fan settings:
    • Thermal Base Algorithm — By default, this is set to Auto, which maps to the profile settings selected under System BIOS > System BIOS Settings. System Profile Settings page. You can also select a custom algorithm, which is independent of the BIOS profile. The options available are:
      • Maximum Performance (Performance Optimized) — Minimizes the thermally driven performance impacts at the expense of increased fan power. When performance is critical and system operation may occur at high temperatures, the maximum performance setting provides improved performance.
      • Minimum Power (Performance per Watt Optimized) — Reduces the fan speed response in high ambient environments. This reduces the total system power that may have less performance impacts. Minimum Power setting provides a balance of performance and power, and is the Thermal Base Algorithm setting mapped to the Performance per Watt system profile. It balances component cooling requirements against performance and system power constraints.

        Thermally-driven performance impacts are not expected for setting the typical data center ambient temperatures (18 -30°C).

    • Cooling Options – You can select Default, Max Exhaust Temperature, or Fan Speed Offset as the cooling option.
    • Max Exhaust Temperature (in C) – Allows the system fan speeds to change such that the exhaust temperature does not exceed 50 C. It uses several discrete exhaust temperature sensors with fan speed control and power management to make sure that maximum exhaust temperatures are maintained at 50 C or lower at the rear of a server.
    • Fan Speed Offset (Default = None) – Specify the fan speed offset when increased thermal margin is required for custom high-power PCIe cards or for reducing system exhaust temperatures for adjacent equipment such as switches. A fan speed offset causes fan speeds to increase (by the offset % value) over baseline fan speeds calculated by the Thermal Control algorithm. By default, the value is None. You can select:
      • Low Fan Speed Offset - Drives fan speeds to a moderate fan speed (approx. 50%)
      • High Fan Speed Offset - Drives fan speeds close to full speed (approx. 90-100%).
  3. Click Back, click Finish, and then click Yes. The thermal settings are configured.

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