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PCIe power brake

PCIe power brake (PCIe throttling) quickly reduces the power consumption of high-powered PCIe devices, such as GPU adapters.

Through the text-based Setup Utility or through Lenovo XClarity Provisioning Manager, you can control how the PCIe throttling occurs:

  • Reactive

    The system performs PCIe throttling when a power supply indicates that a momentary overconsumption or high-temperature warning is occurring. The system also proactively performs PCIe power throttling to thermally protect high-powered PCIe devices from damage in unsupported high-temperature environments.

  • Proactive (default)

    The system performs PCIe throttling based on the maximum power rating of the installed high-powered PCIe adapters. High-powered PCIe device performance is reduced when the total power from high-powered PCIe devices is greater than one third of the sum of active power supply wattages. Proactive mode also includes the PCIe throttling features of Reactive mode.

  • Disabled

    The system will not perform PCIe throttling. Proactive thermal protections for unsupported high-temperature environments are limited to those supported by the high-powered PCIe devices.

Important
Momentary power consumption peaks might occur in high-powered PCIe devices, which can cause the instantaneous power to exceed the documented maximum wattage by a factor of 2x or more. Before choosing a power brake mode of Reactive or Disabled, make the change and validate the stability of the system before making the change permanent.