WD1500ADFD, running slow?

[Joeteck]

I just got a bunch of 150 raptors. Four to be exact.

I also picked up (4) 3ware 8006-2LP raid controllers.

The mobo is the p5WDG2-WS pro, with a E6400.

I setup a couple of different RAID setup to test for speed.

I have two 80 gigers in RAID 0 and on one of the 3ware cards

I have a single 150 raptor on the other 3ware card

And then I have another 150 roptor, on the SATA1 port of the mobo.

Remember, this is just for testing.

(cache off) When I run HD tach on the 80 x 2, I get a burst of 117.2, and sustained rate of 76.4. Randon access time of 13.8ms
(cache on) When I run HD tach on the 80 x 2, I get a burst of 122.5, and sustained rate of 75.9. Randon access time of 13.9ms @ 2%
Then the single 150 gig raptor on the 3ware I get 65.8 burst, and 62.1 sustained with a 8.1ms access time.
EDIT: two raptors in RAID 0 on the 3ware I get 114.9 burst, 81 sustained, 8.1ms @ 4% CPU
EDIT: two raptors in RAID 0 on the Marvel I get 184MB burst, 134.7 burst, 8.3ms @ 3% CPU.

The 150gig raptor on the SATA1 channel I get 136.6 burst and 75.5 sustained, with a random access time of 7.9.

WTF??


And what do the OPT1, OPT2, PM2 and SSC_SEL jumpers for?

[Joeteck]

three 150gig raptors in RAID 0 on the marvel, 185.2 Burst, 136.8 sustained, 8.6ms @ 2% CPU.

[Joeteck]

Two 800JD in RAID 0 on Marvel, 178.8 Burst, 103.4 sustained, 13.3ms @ 3%

[Joeteck]

two 150 gig raptors on the Matrix RAID in RAID 0, 246.2 burst, 128MB sustained, 8.2ms @ 3%.

[Joeteck]

two WD800JD on the 7R, in RAID 0, 348MB burst, 103.4 sustained, 13.3ms @ 3% CPU

[tuskenraider]

PCI bus FTL................

[g0dM@n]

PCI bus FTL................
that about sums it up...

[Vulcan]

Four 150GB raptors? wow.

I've contemplated picking up a second for my system, but 4 is nuts.

[Joeteck]

that about sums it up...


Whats FTL??

[Maviryk]

FTL = For the lose, the opposite of FTW = For the win.

Ignore the burst speed, it is for all intents and purposes, of no consequence.

[Joeteck]

Interesting

150 x 4 RAID 0 on the 7R

[Maviryk]

Joeteck, you do know 32bit PCI bus is limited to a max of ~130Mb/s yes?

[g0dM@n]

Interesting

150 x 4 RAID 0 on the 7R
why's your image white on the bottom... another SS musta not gotten attached or something...

anyway, that wave... that's odd... never seen that b4 - looks like you got some noise or something in there... maybe cuz the southbridge is saturated? who knows...

mav, what mobo would do better for him? maybe he'd wanna upgrade to something to support his leet raptorness... :D can't believe you spent the $$ for 4 150 raptors... you want some serious boot times!!! :D

[dominick32]

Matrix 20GB Slice Configuration for Comparison Shots

Three 150 Raptors in Raid 0 -

http://strippoli.com/ocforums/raid3drive.JPG


Two 150 Raptors in Raid 0 -

http://strippoli.com/ocforums/raptorraid.JPG

[g0dM@n]

wow dominick... i'm surprised there's so much of an increase in avg read between two 150s and three 150s... sustained rate is same thing as avg speed, no?

[dominick32]

wow dominick... i'm surprised there's so much of an increase in avg read between two 150s and three 150s... sustained rate is same thing as avg speed, no?

Sustained Read = Average Read and vice versa.

If you really take a look at the results they actually increase at a perfect single drive increment of 86 MB/s from 2 drives to 3 drives. Theoretically what a Raid 0 should do.

Anyway, my results on the three drive setup were not very beneficial to my setup. I actually feel that a two drive Raid 0 setup is the perfect gaming/overclocking raid setup. And anything more than 2 drives is going to negatively affect RAT, Seek, and real world performance. But on the other hand will increase Server Level IO's and large file projects.

Regards,

[jtjuska]

JoeTeck, did you by chance test the raid on the ICH7R with the write back cache enabled, or was it disabled? Also your STR's don't look all "that far off". Still seems a little odd though.

~jtjuska

[tuskenraider]

It's still showing a bandwidth cap even on the ICH7R, which it shouldn't. Definately check ou what jtjuska mentioned. I'd also see if you can disable NCQ(Native Command Queuing) in Device Manager. Should be in a tab for your RAID or disk controller just like the fast writes option is.

[jtjuska]

Fast writes option is also in Matrix Storage manager. Disabling NCQ would be a good idea though :).

~jtjuska

[Joeteck]

Joeteck, you do know 32bit PCI bus is limited to a max of ~130Mb/s yes?


I'm running 64bit PCI-X 3ware RAID card though...

[Joeteck]

JoeTeck, did you by chance test the raid on the ICH7R with the write back cache enabled, or was it disabled? Also your STR's don't look all "that far off". Still seems a little odd though.

~jtjuska


How do you enable this? I did not see it in the BIOS

[jtjuska]

There is a piece of software that should have come on the Asus CD called Matrix Storage Manager. In there under the "Advanced" mode will be the option to enable write-back cache.

~jtjuska