IBM Power Systems Performance Capabilities Reference
IBM Power Systems Performance Capabilities Reference
October 2022
This document is intended for use by qualified performance related programmers or analysts
from IBM, IBM Business Partners and IBM customers using the IBM Power TM platform
running the IBM i operating system. Information in this document may be readily shared with
IBM i customers to understand the performance and tuning factors in IBM i operating system
version 7.5 and earlier where applicable.
For the latest updates and for the latest IBM i performance information, please refer to
the Performance section in IBM i 7.4 IBM Documentation:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.4?topic=performance
Requests for use of performance information by the technical trade press or consultants should
be directed to the Power performance team.
Before using this information, be sure to read the general information under “Special Notices.”
The February 2017 version of this document is available at: IBM Power Systems Performance Capabilities Reference (Forty-
sixth Edition February 2017)
The document is viewable/downloadable in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format and is approximately 0.8 MB in size.
Adobe Acrobat reader plug-in is available at: http://www.adobe.com .
The following terms, which may or may not be denoted by a double asterisk (**) in this publication, are trademarks
or registered trademarks of other companies as follows:
TPC Benchmark Transaction Processing Performance Council
TPC-A, TPC-B Transaction Processing Performance Council
TPC-C, TPC-D Transaction Processing Performance Council
Intel, Intel Inside (logos), MMX and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.
Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both.
Other company, product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
All Power8, Power9 and Power10 results in this document reflect performance with firmware and
Operating System updates to mitigate Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue numbers CVE-2017-
5715, CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5754 known as Spectre and Meltdown.
The wide variety of applications available makes it extremely difficult to describe a “typical” workload.
The data in this document is the result of measuring or modeling certain application programs in very
specific and unique configurations and should not be used to predict specific performance for other
applications. The performance of other applications can be predicted using a system sizing tool such as
IBM Systems Workload Estimator.
IBM Developer
IBM Developer provides a wide variety of information on topics for IBM i including performance. Refer
to the website: IBM Developer
CPW Rating
The CPW rating of a system is generated using measurements of a specific workload that is maintained
internally within the IBM i Systems Performance group. The CPW rating is designed to evaluate a
computer system and associated software in the commercial environment. It is rigidly defined as a
relative capacity metric for rough model comparisons and relative CPU consumption. It is NOT
representative of any specific environment, but it is generally applicable to the commercial computing
environment.
What the CPW rating is:
Test of a range of database applications, including various complexity updates and various
complexity queries with commitment control and journaling
Test of concurrent data access by users running a single group of programs.
Reasonable approximation of a steady-state, database oriented commercial application’s
relative performance.
Public benchmarks typically do not require full security, but since IBM customers tend to run on secure
systems, Security Level 50 is specified for the CPW rating.
Public benchmarks are super-tuned to obtain the best possible results for that specific benchmark,
whereas for the CPW rating we tend to use more of the system defaults to better represent the way the
system is shipped to our customers.
Public benchmarks can use different applications for different sized systems and take advantage of all of
the resources available on a particular system, while the CPW rating has been designed to run as the same
application at all levels with approximately the same disk and memory resources per simulated user on all
systems
Public benchmarks require extensive, sophisticated driver and middle tier configurations. In order to
simplify the environment and add a small computational component into the workload, all the required
components to drive the CPW rating have been included as a part of the overall workload.
The net result is that the CPW rating is an application model that IBM believes provides an excellent
indicator of multi-user transaction processing performance capacity when comparing between members
of the IBM i system families. As indicated above, the CPW rating is not intended to be a guarantee of
performance, but can be viewed as a good indicator for multi-user transaction processing workloads
The COPR workload accesses the database tables using a higher level query language (e.g., SQL, JDBC)
and stored procedures.
COPR acts primarily as a database server with a set of jobs - “Job Sets” in COPR nomenclature - acting
independently to drive the random high-level database requests. The number of jobs accepting such input
The types of transactions executed by COPR tend to be of light to moderate complexity in comparison to
many customer workloads, with an emphasis on database transactions. COPR spends much of its
processing time doing what you would expect it to be doing, executing within the IBM i componentry
supporting such database accesses.
The COPR workload allows IBM to be effective in providing CPW rating information. The nature of the
COPR workload also helps IBM better leverage performance insights for our operating system and
firmware development teams.
The IBM Systems Workload Estimator (WLE) is a web-based sizing tool for IBM Power. WLE is
available at: https://wle.mybluemix.net/wle/EstimatorServlet
For more information on IBM i performance, see the Performance section in IBM Documentation at the
following link:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.4?topic=performance
and the IBM Redbook End to End Performance Management on IBM i SG24-7808-00 at the following
link:
https://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/sg247808.html?Open
IBM i 7.5 Performance Capabilities Reference – October 2022
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2022 IBM i Performance Capabilities Reference 13
CPW Rating Relative Performance Values for IBM i
This reference details the relative system performance values using the CPW rating:
• Commercial Processing Workload (CPW). CPW rating values are relative system performance
metrics and reflect the relative system capacity for the OLTP workloads. CPW rating values can be
used with caution in a capacity planning analysis (e.g., to scale CPU-constrained capacities, CPU
time per transaction). However, these values may not appropriately reflect the performance of
workloads than OLTP because of differing detailed characteristics (e.g., cache miss ratios, average
cycles per instruction, software contention, I/O characteristics, memory requirements, and application
performance characteristics). The CPW rating values shown in the tables are based on IBM internal
tests. Actual performance in a customer environment may vary significantly. Use the “IBM Systems
Workload Estimator” for assistance with sizing.
1.1.1 CPW values for IBM Power S1022s with 8-cores processor (EPGR)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled
3. This processor feature has 2 sockets with 4 cores per socket
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
2.2.1 CPW values for IBM Power S1022s with 8-cores processor (EPGQ)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 1 or 2 sockets with 8 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per
IBM i partition
2.3.1 CPW values for IBM Power S1022 with 12-cores processor (EPG9)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 1 or 2 sockets with 12 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per
IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
2.3.2 CPW values for IBM Power S1022 with 16-cores processor (EPG8)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 16 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
2.3.3 CPW values for IBM Power S1022 with 20-cores processor (EPGA)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 20 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
2.4.1 CPW values for IBM Power L1022 with 12-cores processor (EPGG)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 1 or 2 sockets with 12 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per
IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
2.4.2 CPW values for IBM Power L1022 with 16-cores processor (EPGF)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 16 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
2.4.3 CPW values for IBM Power L1022 with 20-cores processor (EPGH)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 20 cores per socket and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
2.5.1 CPW values for IBM Power S1024 with 12/24-cores processor (EPGM)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per socket
2.5.2 CPW values for IBM Power S1024 with 32-cores processor (EPGC)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 16 cores per socket
2.5.3 CPW values for IBM Power S1024 with 48-cores processor (EPGE)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 24 cores per socket
2.6.1 CPW values for IBM Power L1024 with 12/24-cores processor (EPGN)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per socket
2.6.2 CPW values for IBM Power L1024 with 32-cores processor (EPGJ)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 16 cores per socket
2.6.3 CPW values for IBM Power L1024 with 48-cores processor (EPGL)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 24 cores per socket
The Power E1080 by default will have its Power Management mode set to Maximum Performance. This
mode dynamically optimizes the processor frequency at any given time based on CPU utilization and
operating environmental conditions. Please consult the "IBM EnergyScale for Power10 Processor-Based
Systems" document for a description of this feature as well as other power management options available
for this server. Power E1080 is IBM i software tier P30.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 80-core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions.
5. The 120-core system was configured as 3 40-core partitions.
6. The 160-core system was configured as 4 40-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per chip
4. The 96-core system was configured as 2 48-core partitions.
5. The 144-core system was configured as 3 48-core partitions.
6. The 192-core system was configured as 4 48-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 15 cores per chip
4. The 120-core system was configured as 2 60-core partitions.
5. The 180-core system was configured as 3 60-core partitions.
6. The 240-core system was configured as 4 60-core partitions.
The Power S922 by default will have its Power Management mode set to Maximum Performance. This
mode dynamically optimizes the processor frequency at any given time based on CPU utilization and
operating environmental conditions. Please consult the "IBM EnergyScale for POWER9 Processor-
Based Systems" document for a description of this feature as well as other power management options
available for this server.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per chip and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
The Power S914 by default will have its Power Management mode set to Dynamic Performance. This
mode dynamically optimizes the processor frequency at any given time based on CPU utilization and
operating environmental conditions. Please consult the "IBM EnergyScale for POWER9 Processor-
Based Systems" document for a description of this feature as well as other power management options
available for this server.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Dynamic Performance mode enabled.
*Note:
1. This configuration was run with SMT8 enabled.
2. This configuration was run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
5.2.3 CPW values for IBM Power S922 with 10-cores processor (EP59)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
5.2.4 CPW values for IBM Power S922 with 11-cores processor (EP5B)
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 11 cores per chip and allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip
4. The 16 core system was configured as 1 16-core partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 20 core system was configured as 1 20-core partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 11 cores per chip
4. The 22-core system was configured as 1 22-core partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 11 cores per chip
4. The 22-core system was configured as 1 22-core partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 6 cores per chip
4. The 48 core system was configured as 2 24-core partitions.
5. The 72 core system was configured as 3 24-core partitions.
6. The 96 core system was configured as 4 24-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip
4. The 64 core system was configured as 2 32-core partitions.
5. The 96 core system was configured as 3 32-core partitions.
6. The 128 core system was configured as 4 32-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 80 core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions.
5. The 120 core system was configured as 3 40-core partitions.
6. The 160 core system was configured as 4 40-core partitions.
Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 11 cores per chip
4. The 88 core system was configured as 2 44-core partitions.
5. The 132 core system was configured as 3 44-core partitions.
6. The 176 core system was configured as 4 44-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per chip
4. The 96 core system was configured as 2 48-core partitions.
5. The 144 core system was configured as 3 48-core partitions.
6. The 192 core system was configured as 4 48-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Dynamic Performance mode enabled.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. S922 allows up to 4 cores per IBM i partition.
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 1-core dedicated VIOS
partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip
4. The 16 core system was configured as 1 16-core partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. These configurations were run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 20 core system was configured as 1 20-core partition.
*Note:
1. This configuration was run with SMT8 enabled.
2. This configuration was run with Maximum Performance mode enabled.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per chip
4. The 24 core system was configured with one 24-core partition.
*Note:
1. This configuration was run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. S812 allows 1 core for the IBM i partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. S822 allows up to 4 cores per partition for IBM i.
4. CPW values are for a 4-core partition with dedicated processors and a 0.5-core VIOS partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip
4. The 64 core system was configured as 2 32-core partitions
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip.
4. The 64 core system was configured as 2 32-core partitions.
5. The 96 core system was configured as 3 32-core partitions.
6. The 128 core system was configured as 4 32-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 80 core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions
5. The 120 core system was configured as 3 40-core partitions
6. The 160 core system was configured as 4 40-core partitions
12.2.3 CPW values for IBM Power E880C EPBD and EPB0
A new processor feature for The Power E880C was announced in December 2018 – EPB0. This new processor
feature can be combined with processor feature EPBD. Use the CPW ratings below as a guideline to mix and match
any combinations chosen.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per chip.
4. The 96 core system was configured as 2 48-core partitions.
5. The 144 core system was configured as 3 48-core partitions.
6. The 192 core system was configured as 4 48-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip.
4. The 80 core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions.
5. The 120 core system was configured as 3 40-core partitions.
6. This processor feature must be added to an existing 9080-MHE EPBD system so a maximum of
3x40cores can be added to the system.
IBM i 7.5 Performance Capabilities Reference – October 2022
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2022 IBM i Performance Capabilities Reference 37
13 IBM i 7.2 Addition (January 2016)
A new POWER8 processor based system model was announced in January 2016.
• IBM Power E880 EPBS
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 80 core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions
5. The 120 core system was configured as 3 40-core partitions
6. The 160 core system was configured as 4 40-core partitions
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. S822 allows up to 2 cores per partition for IBM i.
4. CPW values are for a 2-core partition with dedicated processors and a 0.5-core VIOS partition.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip.
4. Originally published October 2014.
5. Originally published October 2014.
The 64 core system was configured as 2 32-core partitions.
6. The 96 core system was configured as 3 32-core partitions.
7. The 128 core system was configured as 4 32-core partitions.
15.1.2 CPW values for IBM Power E880 EPBD and EPB0
A new processor feature for the Power E880 was announced in December 2018 – EPB0. This new
processor feature can be combined with processor feature EPBD. Use the CPW ratings below as a
guideline to mix and match any combinations chosen.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 12 cores per chip.
4. The 96 core system was configured as 2 48-core partitions.
5. The 144 core system was configured as 3 48-core partitions.
6. The 192 core system was configured as 4 48-core partitions.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled.
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip.
4. The 80 core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions.
5. The 120 core system was configured as 3 40-core partitions.
6. This processor feature must be added to an existing 9119-MHE EPBD system so a maximum of
3x40cores can be added to the system.
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip
4. The 64 core system was configured as 2 32-core partitions
16.1.2 CPW values for IBM Power E870 EPBC
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 10 cores per chip
4. The 80 core system was configured as 2 40-core partitions
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 8 cores per chip
4. The 64 core system was configured as 2 32-core partitions
IBM i 7.5 Performance Capabilities Reference – October 2022
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2022 IBM i Performance Capabilities Reference 42
17 IBM i 7.2 Addition (June 2014)
A new POWER8 processor based system model was announced in June 2014.
• IBM Power S814 - 4c offering
*Note:
1. This configuration was run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 2 cores per chip
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 3 cores per chip
4. This processor feature has 4 cores per chip
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 3 cores per chip and 2 chips per socket
*Note:
1. These configurations were run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 4 cores per chip and 2 chips per socket
*Note:
1. This configuration was run with SMT8 enabled
2. Nominal system values were used for energy settings.
3. This processor feature has 6 core per chip and 2 chips per socket
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