Dell PowerEdge M820 Systems Quick start guide

PowerEdge M820
Technical Guide
The PowerEdge
M820 full-height
blade delivers
exceptional
performance and
scalability.

ii PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
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December 2013 | Version 6.0

iii PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Table of contents
1System overview..................................................................................................................................................................5
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................................5
New technologies ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
2System features ...................................................................................................................................................................7
Comparison of PowerEdge systems ...............................................................................................................................7
Specifications ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
3Module views and features.............................................................................................................................................. 11
Module views.....................................................................................................................................................................11
Module features ................................................................................................................................................................13
4Processors ..........................................................................................................................................................................15
Processor features............................................................................................................................................................15
Supported processors......................................................................................................................................................16
Chipset................................................................................................................................................................................16
5Memory...............................................................................................................................................................................17
Supported memory ..........................................................................................................................................................17
Memory configurations ...................................................................................................................................................18
Memory speed ..................................................................................................................................................................19
Memory RAS features.......................................................................................................................................................19
6Storage ................................................................................................................................................................................21
Internal storage .................................................................................................................................................................21
Storage controllers.......................................................................................................................................................... 22
7Networking and mezzanine cards ................................................................................................................................ 24
Select Network Adapters................................................................................................................................................ 24
Mezzanine cards .............................................................................................................................................................. 26
8Power, thermal and acoustics ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Power consumption and energy efficiency................................................................................................................ 27
Power supply units .......................................................................................................................................................... 28
Thermal and acoustics.................................................................................................................................................... 28
9Operating systems and virtualization ........................................................................................................................... 30
Supported operating systems........................................................................................................................................ 30
Supported virtualization ..................................................................................................................................................31
10 Dell OpenManage systems management.................................................................................................................... 32
Systems management solutions................................................................................................................................... 32
OpenManage systems management ........................................................................................................................... 33
Dell server management operations............................................................................................................................ 37
Appendix A. Additional specifications..........................................................................................................................40
Module dimensions and weight....................................................................................................................................40
Video specifications ........................................................................................................................................................40
Environmental specifications .........................................................................................................................................41
USB peripherals................................................................................................................................................................ 42
Appendix B. Standards compliance ............................................................................................................................. 43
Appendix C. Additional resources................................................................................................................................. 45
Appendix D. System board block diagram.................................................................................................................. 47

iv PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Tables
Table 1. New technologies ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge M910 and M820 ..................................................................................................7
Table 3. Technical specifications...................................................................................................................................... 8
Table 4. Module features...................................................................................................................................................13
Table 5. Supported processors ........................................................................................................................................16
Table 6. Memory technologies supported.....................................................................................................................17
Table 7. DIMMs supported................................................................................................................................................18
Table 8. Memory speed capabilities ................................................................................................................................19
Table 9. Memory RAS features ........................................................................................................................................ 20
Table 10. Hard-drive backplane options ..........................................................................................................................21
Table 11. Supported hard drives ........................................................................................................................................21
Table 12. RAID controller feature support ...................................................................................................................... 22
Table 13. Supported Select Network Adapter options and features .......................................................................... 25
Table 14. Supported mezzanine cards............................................................................................................................. 26
Table 15. Power tools and technologies ......................................................................................................................... 27
Table 16. M820 acoustical performance......................................................................................................................... 29
Table 17. Primary operating system support .................................................................................................................. 30
Table 18. Virtual guest operating system support ......................................................................................................... 30
Table 19. Virtualization support .........................................................................................................................................31
Table 20. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller functions and benefits........................................................................... 33
Table 21. Feature comparison for iDRAC7 Enterprise and iDRAC7 Express for Blades .......................................... 34
Table 22. One-to-one and one-to-many operations .................................................................................................. 38
Table 23. Supported video modes....................................................................................................................................40
Table 24. Environmental specifications ............................................................................................................................41
Table 25. Industry standard documents .......................................................................................................................... 43
Table 26. Additional resources .......................................................................................................................................... 45
Figures
Figure 1. M820 front view .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 2. M1000e chassis enclosure with M820 blades ...............................................................................................12
Figure 3. M820 internal module view...............................................................................................................................13
Figure 4. QRL code located on module ..........................................................................................................................14
Figure 5. Blade network daughtercard............................................................................................................................ 24
Figure 6. Dell systems management solutions.............................................................................................................. 32
Figure 7. Systems management server lifecycle ........................................................................................................... 38
Figure 8. Module dimensions............................................................................................................................................40
Figure 9. M820 system board block diagram ................................................................................................................ 47

5 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
1System overview
Introduction
The Dell™PowerEdge™M820’s scalability makes it a perfect fit for core business applications or
consolidated workloads. Virtual environments supporting large numbers of sizeable virtual machines
will find the M820 a perfect choice. With up to four Intel®Xeon®E5-4600 processors and up to
1.5TB of RAM per node —12TB of memory in just a single M1000e chassis —the M820’s remarkable
computational capability and memory scalability can address even the toughest demands. With
Dell’s Select Network Adapter, you can fully customize the I/O capabilities of the M820 to match the
networking technology that’s right for your applications.
Ensure business continuity
Ensure maximum uptime with the fully redundant M-series power, cooling and networking
infrastructure designed to provide the stability and resiliency our customers demand for
enterprise-class deployments. The M820’s design matches Dell’s commitment to reliability with
features such as multiple hardware RAID choices and our unique failsafe virtualization technology,
which utilizes redundant SD media to provide failover capabilities for embedded hypervisors.
Simplified systems management, without compromise
The Dell OpenManage™ portfolio includes Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7)
with Lifecycle Controller. This embedded feature helps IT administrators manage Dell servers in
physical, virtual, local and remote environments, operating in-band or out-of-band, with or without
a systems management software agent installed. OpenManage iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller
integrates and connects to leading third-party systems management solutions (such as those from
Microsoft, VMware and BMC Software), so users can maintain a single point of control and capitalize
on an existing systems management investment. OpenManage simplifies the lifecycle of deploying,
updating, monitoring and maintaining Dell PowerEdge servers.
The PowerEdge M-series blade server line
Implement the right combination of features and performance scalability with the PowerEdge
M-series blade servers that can handle tough workloads in a data center of any size. In addition to
the world-class management features provided in all PowerEdge servers, the M820 also takes
advantage of the capabilities of the M1000e’s Chassis Management Controller (CMC). The CMC
allows M-series blades to be managed individually or as groups, in single or multiple chassis, and
within a data center or in multiple geographically dispersed locations around the globe without
requiring an agent or additional hardware. PowerEdge M-series blade servers use the redundant
power, cooling and networking infrastructure provided by the Dell M1000e blade enclosure, which
is exceptionally easy to deploy and manage and maximizes power and cooling efficiency.

6 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
New technologies
A number of new technologies are featured on the PowerEdge M820 system, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. New technologies
New technologies
Detailed descriptions
Intel Xeon processor
E5-4600 product family
This new family of Intel processors has embedded PCI Express®(PCIe) lanes for
improved I/O performance and additional new features. See the Processors
section for details.
Intel C602 series chipset
The Intel Platform Controller Hub (PCH) chip is implemented on the M820.
LRDIMM
This new memory option, load reduced DIMM (LRDIMM), is designed with a buffer
chip (or chips) to replace the register to help minimize loading. LRDIMMs can
increase overall server system memory capacity and speed. See the Memory
section for more information.
Flexible LOM
Dell’s Select Network Adapter options allow you choose the right network fabric
without using up a valuable mezzanine card slot. See the Networking and
mezzanine cards section for details.
Next-generation PERC
options
The M820 supports new Dell PERC controller cards with improved functionality
and faster performance. See the Storage section for details.
Express Flash drives
Dell Express Flash PCIe solid-state drives (SSDs) provide fast performance without
requiring processor resources or capturing DRAM. The M820 supports up to two
Express Flash PCIe SSDs. See the Storage section for details.
iDRAC7 with Lifecycle
Controller
The new embedded system management solution for Dell servers features
hardware and firmware inventory and alerting, in-depth memory alerting, faster
performance, a dedicated gigabit port and many more features. See the Systems
management section for details.
Advanced power
management
The M820 supports advanced power monitoring and power capping tools that can
help manage power consumption in the data center.
Failsafe hypervisors
The internal dual SD module enables Dell's unique Failsafe Virtualization
architecture, ensuring uptime by providing failover capability for embedded
hypervisors, such as VMware®vSphere®ESXi™.
Fresh Air cooling
Dell has tested and validated an integrated data center solution that enables you to
operate at higher temperatures or even chiller-less. See the Power, thermal and
acoustics section for details.

7 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
2System features
Compared to the previous generation of Dell PowerEdge blade servers, the M820 has more memory,
processor cores and networking options than ever before. Features include DDR3 memory, PCIe 3.0,
a network daughtercard (NDC), dual internal SD module and Dell’s next-generation iDRAC solution
known as iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller.
Comparison of PowerEdge systems
The PowerEdge M820 is a replacement for the M910 system. Table 2 compares the features of both
systems. For the latest information on supported features, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge M910 and M820
Feature
PowerEdge M910
PowerEdge M820
Chassis; enclosure
Full-height blade;
PowerEdge M1000e Blade Enclosure
Full-height blade;
PowerEdge M1000e Blade Enclosure
Processors
Intel Xeon processors 6500 and 7500
series, Intel Xeon processors
E7-2800, E7-4800 and E7-8800
product families
Intel Xeon processor E5-4600
product family
Internal interconnect
Intel QuickPath Interconnect
Intel QuickPath Interconnect
Memory
32 x DDR3 RDIMM and UDIMM
48 x DDR3 RDIMM and LRDIMM
Hard drive bays
(hot plug)
2 x 2.5”
4 x 2.5”
Embedded NIC
4 x 1GbE LOM
2 Dual Port Select Network Adapters:
3 options of 4 x 10GbE
RAID controller
PERC H200, H700
PERC H310, H710, H710P
Express Flash drives
Not supported
Up to 2
I/O slots
4 PCIe 2.0 x8 mezz card slots
4 x PCIe 3.0 x8 mezz card slots
Optional SD port
Yes
Yes (redundant hypervisor with vFlash
media)

8 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Feature
PowerEdge M910
PowerEdge M820
Dell OpenManage
Systems Management
Dell OpenManage
Lifecycle Controller 1.x
iDRAC6 (Express or Enterprise) with
Lifecycle Controller 1.x, CMC 3.x
OpenManage Essentials
OMSA Agent
OpenManage Power Center (requires
iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
OpenManage Integrations and
Connections
iDRAC7 Express for Blades with
Lifecycle Controller (standard option)
Specifications
Table 3 lists the technical specifications for the PowerEdge M820 blade server. For the latest
information on supported features, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 3. Technical specifications
Feature
Technical specification
Form factor;
enclosure
Full-height blade;
Dell PowerEdge M1000e Blade Enclosure
Processors
Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family
Internal interconnect
Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI): 6.4GT/s, 7.2GT/s, 8.0GT/s
Cache
2.5MB per core; core options: 4, 6, 8
Memory1
Up to 1.5TB (48 DIMM slots): 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB DDR3 up to 1600MT/s
Chipset
Intel C602
Video
Integrated Matrox®G200
Primary storage
Hot-plug hard drive options:
Up to four 2.5” SAS, SSD, or up to two Express Flash PCIe SSD
External storage:
For information about Dell external storage options, visit Dell.com/Storage
USB ports
3 front

9 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Feature
Technical specification
I/O mezzanine card
options
1Gb/10Gb adapters:
Broadcom®5719 quad-port 1Gb
Intel I350 quad-port 1Gb
Broadcom 57810S-k dual-port 10Gb
Intel X520-x/k dual-port 10Gb
QLogic® QME8262-k dual-port 10Gb
Brocade®BR1741M-k dual-port 10Gb
Mellanox®ConnectX®-3 dual-port 10GbE KR blade
Fibre channel:
QLogic QME2662 dual-port 16Gb
Emulex®LPm16002B-D dual-port 16Gb
QLogic QME2572 dual-port 8Gb
Emulex LPe1205-M dual-port 8Gb
InfiniBand™:
Mellanox ConnectX-3 dual port FDR10 40Gb
I/O slots
Fully populated mezzanine card slots and switch modules yield 3 redundant I/O
fabrics per blade.
Dell Select Network
Adapter (network
daughtercard)
2 x 10GbE Broadcom 57810S-k 2P
2 x 10GbE Intel X520-k 2P
2 x 10GbE QLogic QMD8262-k 2P
RAID controller
Internal controllers:
PERC H310
PERC H710
PERC H710P
Power supplies and
fans
Supplied by M1000e blade enclosure
Dell OpenManage
Systems Management
(Agent-free or with
OpenManage Server
Administrator [OMSA]
Agent)
OpenManage Essentials
OMSA Agent
OpenManage Power Center (requires iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
CMC 4.x (available with the M1000e Modular Blade Enclosure)
OpenManage Integrations and Connections:
—OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft®System Center
—OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter™
—Connections for HP®Operations Manager, IBM®Tivoli®Netcool®and CA
Network and Systems Management
iDRAC7 Express for Blades with Lifecycle Controller (standard option)
—Upgrade to iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller
—Upgrade to 8GB vFlash media or 16GB vFlash media for iDRAC7 Enterprise
with Lifecycle Controller
—Trial evaluation available for IDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller

10 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Feature
Technical specification
Operating systems
Microsoft Windows Server®2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (includes Hyper-V®)
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, x64 (includes Hyper-V)
Novell®SUSE®Linux®Enterprise Server
Red Hat®Enterprise Linux
Virtualization options:
Citrix®XenServer®
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization®
VMware vSphere including ESXi
For more information on the specific versions and additions, visit
Dell.com/OSsupport.
Embedded hypervisor
Two internal SD cards dedicated for hypervisor
One dedicated for vFlash media support
For more information about the Dell blade solution, see the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide or the
PowerEdge M1000e Blade Chassis Spec Sheet .
1GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating
environment and will be less

11 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
3Module views and features
The Dell PowerEdge M820 implements a new module design that supports up to 48 DIMMS and
four processors. The M820 is a full-height blade server that requires a PowerEdge M1000e chassis
to operate. It occupies one slot vertically in the M1000e for a maximum of eight blade servers in one
M1000e chassis. The M820 can be mixed with other existing Dell blades of quarter-height, half-
height and full-height form factors.
The following sections provide external and internal views of the system and describe the module
features. For more detailed information on features and descriptions for the M820, see the Dell
PowerEdge M820 Systems Owner's Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Module views
Figure 1 shows that the M820 module supports up to four front-accessible, hot-plug hard drives and
three USB ports.
Figure 1. M820 front view

12 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
The chassis design of the M820 is optimized for easy access to components and for airflow for
effective and efficient cooling. Figure 2 shows the M1000e chassis enclosure populated with M820
modules.
Figure 2. M1000e chassis enclosure with M820 blades
The M820 module shown in Figure 3 supports up to 48 DIMMS, four processors and many other
features that are described in this guide.

13 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Figure 3. M820 internal module view
For additional system views, see the Dell PowerEdge M820 Systems Owner’s Manual on
Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Module features
Table 4 lists the modules features for the M820 system. For additional information on these features,
see the Dell PowerEdge M820 Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Table 4. Module features
Feature
Description
USB connectors
3 front-accessible USB connectors
Status indicator
Indicator for M820 power status
Hard drives
4 front-accessible, hot-plug, 2.5-inch drives; see the Storage section
for details
Hard drive activity LEDs
Indicate the status and activity
Blade handle release button
Release button on the front handle of the blade server
USB key
Internal USB connector for a USB flash memory key that can be used
as a boot device, security key or mass storage device
Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
TPM is used to generate/store keys, protect/authenticate passwords
and create/store digital certificates; it also supports the Intel Xeon
TXT functionality.

14 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Feature
Description
Quick Resource Locator (QRL)
This code on the chassis can be scanned by a smartphone
application to access additional information and resources for the
server, including videos, reference materials, service tag information
and Dell contact information.
LCD control panel
The M1000e chassis enclosure LCD control panel is located on the front of the M1000e chassis to
provide user access to buttons, display and I/O interfaces. For more information on the M1000e
LCD control panel, see the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems Hardware Owner's Manual on
Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Quick Resource Locator
Dell PowerEdge 12th-generation servers feature a Quick Resource Locator (QRL) —a model-specific
Quick Response (QR) code that is located on the server (see Figure 4). Use your smartphone to
access the Dell QRL application to learn more about the server.
Figure 4. QRL code located on module
This QRL code allows you to:
View step-by-step videos, including overviews of system internals and externals, as well as
detailed, concise, task-oriented videos and installation wizards
Locate reference materials, including searchable owner’s manual content, LCD diagnostics and
an electrical overview
Look up your service tag so you can quickly gain access to your specific hardware configuration
info and warranty information
Contact Dell directly (by link) to get in touch with technical support and sales teams and provide
feedback to Dell
These codes provide an easy way to retrieve the critical support information you need when you
need it, making you more efficient and effective in managing your hardware.
For more information on the M1000e chassis enclosure features, see the Dell PowerEdge Modular
Systems Hardware Owner's Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

15 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
4Processors
The Dell PowerEdge M820 features the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family, which offer
an ideal combination of performance, power efficiency and cost. These processors provide high
performance no matter what your constraint is —floor space, power or budget —and excel on
workloads that range from the most complicated scientific exploration to crucial web-serving and
infrastructure applications. In addition to providing raw performance gains, Intel’s integrated I/O,
reduces latency by adding more lanes and doubling bandwidth. This helps to reduce network and
storage bottlenecks, unleashing the processor’s performance capabilities.
Processor features
The new Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family adds new features and improves upon many
features of the predecessor Intel Xeon processor series. A summary of what’s new and improved
includes:
Up to two additional cores and up to 8MB more last level cache
More memory —16 more DIMMs than previous-generation of full-height blade servers with
support for up to 32GB DIMMs, increasing memory capacity up to 1.5TB
Intel Integrated I/O support for up to 80 lanes of PCIe 3.0, which can reduce latency
Faster connections provided throughout the system with support for DDR3 1600MT/s memory
and 8.0GT/s QPI
Intel Data Direct I/O (DDIO) allowing I/O traffic to skip the main system memory and be directed
straight to the processor cache, which can provide a significant reduction in latency as well as
allowing memory to remain in a low-power state
Intel Advanced Vector Extensions offering up to double the floating point operations per clock
cycle by doubling the length of registers, which can be useful for addressing very complex
problems or dealing with large-number calculations that are integral to many technical, financial
and scientific computing problems
Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 delivering up to double the boost of the previous-generation
turbo technology
Continued improvements to both Intel TXT and AES-NI helping to better protect systems and
data
For more information on the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family, visit Intel.com.

16 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Supported processors
The M820 supports up to four processors with up to eight cores per processor. Table 5 lists the Intel
Xeon processors supported by the PowerEdge M820. For the latest information on supported
processors, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 5. Supported processors
For information on processor installation and configuration, see the Dell PowerEdge M820 Systems
Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Chipset
The Intel C602 chipset is implemented on the PowerEdge M820. For more information, visit
Intel.com.
Model
Speed
TDP
Cache
Cores/
threads
QPI
Turbo
E5-4650
2.7GHz
130W
20MB
8/16
8.0GT/s
Yes
E5-4650L
2.6GHz
115W
20MB
8/16
8.0GT/s
Yes
E5-4640
2.4GHz
95W
20MB
8/16
8.0GT/s
Yes
E5-4620
2.2GHz
95W
16MB
8/16
7.2GT/s
Yes
E5-4617
2.9GHz
130W
15MB
6/6
7.2GT/s
Yes
E5-4610
2.4GHz
95W
15MB
6/12
7.2GT/s
Yes
E5-4607
2.2GHz
95W
12MB
6/12
6.4GT/s
NA
E5-4603
2.0GHz
95W
10MB
4/8
6.4GT/s
NA

17 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
5Memory
More memory options are available than ever before with the Dell PowerEdge M820 —greater
capacities, higher frequencies and more flexibility. The M820 supports up to 1.5TB of memory
and speeds up to 1600MT/s, providing high performance in a variety of applications. High memory
density means there is no compromise when it comes to virtualization.
Increase your uptime and reduce data loss due to Dell’s focus on reliability, availability and
serviceability (RAS) features. RAS aids in the rapid and accurate diagnosis of faults that require service,
increasing your memory reliability. System uptime is reinforced with RAS features like memory
mirroring, sparing and many others.
In addition to supporting existing RDIMM technologies, the M820 supports load reduced DIMMs
(LRDIMMs), which use a buffer to reduce memory loading and allow for greater density, allowing for
the maximum platform memory capacity.
Supported memory
Table 6 lists the memory technologies supported by the M820.
Table 6. Memory technologies supported
Feature
RDIMM
LRDIMM
Register
Yes
Yes
Buffer
No
Yes
Frequencies*
800, 1066, 1333 or
1600MT/s
1066 or 1333MT/s
Ranks supported
1, 2 or 4
4
Capacity per DIMM
4, 8, 16 or 32GB
32GB
Maximum DIMMs per channel
3
3
DRAM technology
x4 or x8
x4
Temperature sensor
Yes
Yes
Error Correction Code (ECC)
Yes
Yes
Single Device Disable Code (SDDC)
Yes
Yes
Address parity
Yes
Yes
*Although the M820 supports DIMM speeds of 800MT/s and 1066MT/s, you can only purchase this system with
DIMM speeds of 1333MT/s and 1600MT/s on Dell.com/PowerEdge.

18 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Table 7 lists the DIMMs that are supported on the M820. For the latest information on supported
memory, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 7. DIMMs supported
Only
Capacity
(GB)
Speed
(MT/s)
Type
Ranks
per
DIMM
Data
width
SDDC support
Voltage
2
1600
RDIMM
1
x8
Advanced ECC
1.35
2
1333
RDIMM
1
x8
Advanced ECC
1.35
4
1333
RDIMM
2
x8
Advanced ECC
1.35
4
1600
RDIMM
2
x8
Advanced ECC
1.35
4
1333
RDIMM
1
x4
All modes
1.35
4
1333
RDIMM
2
x8
Advanced ECC
1.35
8
1333
RDIMM
2
x4
All modes
1.35
8
1333
RDIMM
2
x4
All modes
1.35
8
1600
RDIMM
2
x4
All modes
1.35
16
1600
RDIMM
2
x4
All modes
1.35
16
1333
RDIMM
2
x4
All modes
1.35
32
1333
LRDIMM
4
x4
All modes
1.35
32
1333
RDIMM
4
x4
All modes
1.35
Memory configurations
The M820 server supports flexible memory configurations ranging from capacities of 4GB to 1.5TB,
and up to 12 DIMMs per processor (up to 48 DIMMs in a four-processor configuration). Each
processor has four memory channels, with each channel supporting up to three DIMMs.
Flexible memory configuration
The M820 supports a flexible memory configuration according to the following basic rules:
Speed: If DIMMs of different speeds are mixed, all channels across all processors operate at the
slowest DIMM’s common frequency.
DIMM type: Only one type of DIMM is allowed per system: RDIMM or LRDIMM. These types
cannot be mixed.
The following additional memory population guidelines apply to the M820:
Up to two quad-rank (QR) DIMMs and up to three dual-rank (DR) or single-rank (SR) DIMMs may
be populated per channel. Although an LRDIMM is physically a QR DIMM, logic on the LRDIMM
can make it appear as a DR DIMM to the system, allowing up to three LDRIMMs per channel.
DIMMs must be installed in each channel, starting with the DIMM farthest from the processor.
DIMMs should be installed with largest rank count to smallest. For example, if DR DIMMS are
mixed with SR DIMMs, DR DIMMS should be placed in the lowest DIMM slots, followed by the SR
DIMMs.
For more information on memory configuration and population, see the Dell PowerEdge M820
Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

19 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Memory speed
The M820 server supports memory speeds of 1600MT/s, 1333MT/s, 1066MT/s and 800MT/s,
depending on the DIMM types installed and the configuration. All memory on all processors and
channels run at the same speed and voltage. By default, the system runs at the highest speed for the
channel with the lowest DIMM voltage and speed. The operating speed of the memory is also
determined by the maximum speed supported by the processor, the speed settings in the BIOS and
the operating voltage of the system.
Table 8 lists the memory configuration and performance details for the M820, based on the
population of the number and type of DIMMs per memory channel.
Table 8. Memory speed capabilities
DIMM
type
DIMM 0
DIMM 1
DIMM 2
Number
of
DIMMs
Speed (MT/s)
800*
1066*
1333
1600
RDIMM
SR
1
∞
∞
∞
∞
DR
1
∞
∞
∞
∞
QR
1
∞
∞
∞
SR
SR
2
∞
∞
∞
∞
SR
DR
2
∞
∞
∞
∞
DR
DR
2
∞
∞
∞
∞
QR
SR
2
∞
∞
QR
DR
2
∞
∞
QR
QR
2
∞
∞
SR
SR
SR
3
∞
∞
∞
SR
SR
DR
3
∞
∞
∞
SR
DR
DR
3
∞
∞
∞
DR
DR
DR
3
∞
∞
∞
LRDIMM
QR
1
∞
∞
QR
QR
2
∞
∞
QR
QR
QR
3
∞
∞
*Although the M820 supports DIMM speeds of 800MT/s and 1066MT/s, you can only purchase this system with DIMM
speeds of 1333MT/s and 1600MT/s on Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Memory RAS features
RAS features help keep the system online and operational without significant impact to performance,
and can decrease data loss and crashing due to errors. RAS aids in rapid, accurate diagnosis of faults
that require service. Table 9 describes the memory RAS features supported on the M820.

20 PowerEdge M820 Technical Guide
Table 9. Memory RAS features
Feature
Description
Dense configuration
optimized profile
Increased memory reliability can be a result from this selectable platform profile
that adjusts parameters to reduce faults regarding refresh rates, speed,
temperature and voltage.
Memory demand and
patrol scrubbing
Demand scrubbing is the ability to write corrected data back to the memory once
a correctable error is detected on a read transaction. Patrol scrubbing proactively
searches the system memory, repairing correctable errors.
Recovery from single
DRAM device failure
(SDDC)
Recovery from Single DRAM Device Failure (SDDC) provides error checking and
correction that protects against any single memory chip failure as well as multi-bit
errors from any portion of a single memory chip.
Failed DIMM isolation
This feature provides the ability to identify a specific failing DIMM channel pair,
thereby enabling the user to replace only the failed DIMM pair.
Memory mirroring:
intra-socket
Memory mirroring is a method of keeping a duplicate (secondary or mirrored)
copy of the contents of memory as a redundant backup for use if the primary
memory fails. The mirrored copy of the memory is stored in memory of the same
processor socket.
Memory address parity
protection
This feature provides the ability to detect transient errors on the address lines of
the DDR channel.
Memory sparing (rank)
Memory sparing allocates one rank per channel as a spare. If excessive correctable
errors occur in a rank or channel, they are moved to the spare area while the
operating system is running to prevent the errors from causing an uncorrectable
failure.
Memory thermal
throttling
This feature helps to optimize power/performance and can also be used to
prevent DIMMs from overheating.
For information on memory mirroring and sparing configurations, see the Dell PowerEdge M820
Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals. Memory RAID is not supported.