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Intel Turbo Boost on Server 2016 running Hyper V

swill9
Beginner
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Hi

I am trying to understand the Xeon CPU turbo boost technology on Windows Server 2016 running Hyper V.

Various forum posts seem to suggest that Intel Turbo Boost Technology is only available on the host physical server and is not able to pass the benefits of the Turbo Boost technology to VM's in a Hyper V environment. Given pretty much nothing other than Hyper V runs on the physical box, this means that turbo boost speed is only available for Hyper V which will never require it.

We have a Dell T630 with 2 x E2640v4 10 core CPU's at 2.4 base freq turbo up to 3.4 freq, running Windows Server 2016 with Hyper V. Several VM's are running for the DC, applications, communications and SQL.

When we have an extremely processor intensive application running, the application VM and Host physical server CPU utilization ramps up to 100% in task manager but the CPU speed on the VM and the host physical server remains at 2.4.

What is the point of a high core count CPU with turbo boost in a virtual environment if the turbo boost technology cannot be utilized in the virtual environment? Why not just provide a E2640v4 10 core CPU with a base speed of 2.4 ghz and no turbo boost technology since it appears the turbo boost freq cannot be accessed in virtual settings.

The Intel site clearly states that the latest Xeon processes are designed for virtualization and support Intel Turbo Boost Technology. This appears to be a contradiction, as it appears the Xeon CPU only supports EITHER virtualization OR Intel Turbo Boost Technology but not BOTH concurrently.

Given the above apparent turbo boost limitation, the argument for virtualization appears to be flawed for high core count CPU's with turbo boost technology and physical non virtual servers with lower core count but faster CPU's are the correct path to follow if you have any applications requiring processing power.

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2 Replies
idata
Employee
3,454 Views

Hi shaunmw: Thank you very much for joining the Intel® Processors communities.

 

 

The Intel E5-2640 v4 does support Intel® Virtualization Technology as well as the Intel® Turbo Boost Technology:

 

http://ark.intel.com/products/92984/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2640-v4-25M-Cache-2_40-GHz http://ark.intel.com/products/92984/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2640-v4-25M-Cache-2_40-GHz

 

 

On the link below you will find additional information about the Intel® turbo boost:

 

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/processors/000005641.html http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/processors/000005641.html

 

 

In this case, that you are using a Dell OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) system and the Microsoft® Hyper V application, to get further details about how the feature of Intel® Virtualization Technology as well as the Intel® Turbo Boost Technology work on a Virtual Machine, the best thing to do will be to get in contact with Dell directly because they build the PC and customized all the features on it or with Microsoft directly, since they build and provide support for the Hyper V application:

 

http://www.dell.com/support/incidents-online/us/en/19/contactus/Dynamic http://www.dell.com/support/incidents-online/us/en/19/contactus/Dynamic

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/

 

 

Any further questions, please let me know.

 

 

Regards,

 

Alberto

 

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LDuse
Beginner
3,454 Views

Hi, I have exactly the same CPU and question, however, in my case the servers are Intel

it is 5x S2600WT intel platform with 2x E2640v4 CPU each. I am using Windows Server 2016 with Hyper-V and I worry how the Turbo boost is workign when Hyper-V is enabled.

In VM and host OS I can only see the CPU speed of the base 2,4GHZ frequency. Actually sometimes its even lower (which is good) but even if VM or the whole node is using all the CPU power it never ever goes above 2,4.

To sum up my questions: How turbo boost is working on the specified intel servers with intel CPU with Hyper-V and WS 2016.

 

Thank you
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