Wanted to see if anyone else has seen anything like this. We have been purchasing R720 servers since their release and recently one of our testing teams has noticed a performance difference in the older R720 vs. the newer R720 systems. In looking at configurations, almost everything is the same. The only differences we can find are with the motherboard version/hardware numbers and BIOS versions.
We did initial tests using sisoft tools but we see performance issues with own software as well.
Essentially the older server is performing better than the newer ones, and we cannot tell why. RAM/Processor/hard drive controller/config are all the same. BIOS versions were different, but it did not matter what versions we changed on the poorer performing R720s (we have 2 we are using to compare to the faster, older one), it did not make an impact.
Any help would be appreciated. Not sure if it does make a difference, but the sisoft tools see the Main motherboards as indicated below –
Mainboard : Dell 0X6H47 (Older/Fast R720)
Mainboard : Dell 0C4Y3R (Newer/Slower R720)