does it make sense to disable processor technologies I don't use? (virtualization etc)

Question

In my server bios I've found such technologies:

Intel Virtualization Technology
Intel VT-d

I don't use them as I don't use virtualization. I'm using server for HFT trading and so I want to "win" several microseconds disabling features I don't need. If it makes sense?

Suggestion: run a CPU-intensive benchmark with those settings on and off, then compare the results to see if there's an improvement. — Indrek, Jun 21 '12 at 08:51

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 21 '12 at 08:55

Under my knowledge, that may not have performance improvement, I have never experienced a Performance improvement disabling these technologies (under my cases these technologies helped me gain performance many times but sometimes decreasing the performance). You should run a Benchmark with those technologies enabled and disabled, that would help you decide.

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 21 '12 at 06:42

3

As far as I know, those are things that your CPU has extra hardware for, so that will not help you with performance. You can disable it as a security measure though.

answered Jun 21 '12 at 06:42

Martin Ueding

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That's completely opposite. IOMMU/VTd is the security for dma attack... If you disable it, you disable the security. – Alexis Oct 23 '20 at 21:25

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 21 '12 at 09:25

2

I don't think so. Those technologies are used whenever required. They don't have any direct impact on CPU performance.

answered Jun 21 '12 at 09:25

tumchaaditya

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who talked about cpu performance? – Alexis Oct 23 '20 at 21:26

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 18 '12 at 11:03

HP provides a comprehensive set of BIOS and tuning parameters for systems intended to be used in low-latency or deterministic environments. I assume HP because you've mentioned ProLiant servers in your other posts here.

Please see:

Configuring and Tuning HP ProLiant Servers for Low-Latency Applications White Paper

In short, I set my trading application servers to disable C-States, use the highest power profile, disable Turbo Boost, and sometimes, disable processor and memory monitoring. I lower the timeouts for the integrated watchdog timer and leave the Intel Virtualization options enabled (for flexibility).

does it make sense to disable processor technologies I don't use? (virtualization etc)

4 Answers4