Performance Degradation When BIOS Hardware Prefetcher is Enabled

Hardware prefetchers work well in workloads that traverse array and other regular data structures. The hardware prefetcher options are disabled by default and should be disabled when running applications that perform aggressive software prefetching or for workloads with limited cache. For example, memory-intensive applications with high bus utilization could see a performance degradation if hardware prefetching is enabled.

Workaround

To disable the hardware prefetcher options:

1. Reboot the server.

2. Press F2 when prompted during the boot process to enter the system BIOS setup program.

3. Use the left/right arrow keys to highlight the Advanced menu.

4. Do the following to disable the hardware prefetching options:

   1. Use the up/down arrow keys to select Hardware Prefetcher and press Enter.

   2. Use the +/— keys to change the option to “disabled.”

   3. Repeat the process to disable other prefetcher options listed (such as Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch and L1 Data Prefetcher, if available).

5. Press F10 to save and exit the BIOS setup program.