[tesla-dev] Project Proposal - FB-DIMM Idle Power Saving on Intel 5000P/5000V/5000Z MCH Chipsets

[Eric Saxe]

Hi Gerry,
> 	I think this power saving mechanism has little impacts on VM
> because it will be enabled only when system is idle and no other effects
> other than reduced memory bandwidth will be visible to OS.
>   
This sounds interesting. It sounds like this is something that the OS 
might want to know about (in terms of observing and controlling it being 
enabled/disabled) since there could be a performance impact...is that 
right? For example, to strike a good balance between power efficiency 
and performance (bandwidth), the OS could enable the feature only when 
it becomes idle...of it could could enable the feature only for memory 
that isn't (or is lightly) utilized. Might that be a consideration?

Thanks!
-Eric