15K u320 anyone?

flixotide · Dec 21, 2003

I'm putting specs on my up-coming sql-server / workstation comp, which will feature Xeon and 64 bit server mobo. (company pays it, for home use)

Just spotted those new U320 15K drives, totally fired up in reviews for being over twice as fast as their 10K equivalents. So my question is pretty easy, any of you have WORKSTATIONS with these?

I already have servers running with them, but, as they are in a room full of em, I can't make out the sound from them... Although my workstation case wiill feature noisekiller, I worry about the noise compared to my ultra silent 7200 fluid drives.

Is it worth the noise?

Flix

Foxie3a · Dec 21, 2003

I do'nt have them, I run on good old 5400rpm HDs..

But I wouldn't think that it would make TOO much noise, it is a very delicate peice of machinary afterall..

But I have to have noise to work, so depends on the person I'd say. And yes, if you need a workstation, then I'd say if you can get a free U320 15Krpm HD, go for it.

Th0r · Dec 21, 2003

Get a pare of U320's and put them in a RAID...i want to see some benchies

sean uk · Dec 21, 2003

seagate 10k u160 are silent

hi
i'm using some fujitsu 36gb 10k u160 drives and the are almost silent
the only noise i get is from the fans in the drive caddy

i wouldn't expect the 15k drives to be any noisier

sean uk

Xaotic · Dec 21, 2003

Yes, the speed is worth the marginal added noise. I get some seek chatter, but nothing unpleasant. The fans in the units are much louder.

donny_paycheck · Dec 21, 2003

I have a 73 gig Maxtor Atlas 15k, which was the fastest U320 drive on the market until Fujitsu's MAS3735 displaced it just recently. I'm running it with an LSI U160 card, but that doesn't make any difference because it's just a single drive and can't saturate the U160 bus in transfers.

It is very fast. Seek time hovers around 3ms. Seek noise is louder than my WD800JBs, but not annoyingly so (and I notice it because I run a Prometeia). It is definitely worth the noise, and the noise isn't much to speak of.

If you want I can post an ATTO or Sandra screenie. Don't have any other benchmarking software at the moment but I can try to get some if you're interested.

Th0r · Dec 22, 2003

Yes that would be nice thanx

Xaotic · Dec 22, 2003

I should be able to run ATTO on some other families of drives this weekend, including the MAS and back to original X15s, as well as some varied age 10K drives.

donny_paycheck- Are you running the 15K as a boot/system drive? Since that may have some effect on the benches. I do have a LSIU160 that I can use to eliminate some variables. Which OS will you be using as well?

krag · Dec 22, 2003

If you want I can post an ATTO or Sandra screenie. Don't have any other benchmarking software at the moment but I can try to get some if you're interested. [/B]

Indeed brother man! Post the ATTO benchies!!!

donny_paycheck · Dec 22, 2003

I just ran these. Does anybody know why the read leads write in ATTO until the larger data blocks? Comments/criticsm are also welcome.

Xaotic · Dec 22, 2003

Try it running a 32MB data set and a queue depth of 10. the rest of the settings the same. It should give more consistent results. With smaller data sets, the cache buffer interferes with the test results.

I'd expect the scores to be a bit higher. I had benched my 146GB IBM 146Z10 10K disk and it ran consistently about 77-79MB/s from 8K on up as a data drive. If the OS is on that drive(looked again and it is), it may be affecting the rates as well. I'll be able to run some nonOS disk testing tomorrownight or Friday.

donny_paycheck · Dec 22, 2003

Thanks. I'll bench it again later tonight and post back. I also have thought the scores seemed a bit low for a while now.

EDIT: Big difference.

Startech · Dec 23, 2003

flixotide said:
Is it worth the noise?

Flix

You ma want to look at the acousdtic specs of the 15K drives you are considering and compare them with the ones for drives you know that think are silent.

Xaotic · Dec 23, 2003

The acoustic specifications, while giving a general picture, rarely give full information. Often testing criteria and measurement methods are different between companies. Additionally, a discrete tone test would give more information than a general A-weighted emission test. It's quite common for the average emission to be an acceptable level, despite a single group of frequencies or harmonics that can be unpleasant for the operator. Read the measurements carefully as well, since they usually detail the positions that the measurements are taken from, sometimes greatly skewing the results.

CCW · Dec 23, 2003

flixotide said:
Is it worth the noise?

The drives in my opinion arent actually that loud, its the cooling that is. With 15K RPM drives you've got to make sure some airflow is going over then, at least 30CFM of air but a bit more is better.

Craig

almightyh8tr · Dec 23, 2003

Here's a Sisoft from my u320 raid 0 with Seagate 15K drives using an Adaptec u320 controller w/64MB cache.

These Seagate drives are ultra quiet, more quiet than my Maxtor and WD IDE drives.

mateo · Dec 23, 2003

I have some (well now one since my X5DAL's VRMs decided to quit) of the Fujitsu 15K U320's. I don't mind seek at all though it is noticeable, and the idle is quiet but high pitched, you just ignore it after a while, its not a bit thing in the first place. The surprising thing is that, in all aspects, my Maxtor D740X-L sounds louder.

donny_paycheck · Dec 23, 2003

almightyh8tr said:
Here's a Sisoft from my u320 raid 0 with Seagate 15K drives using an Adaptec u320 controller w/64MB cache.

These Seagate drives are ultra quiet, more quiet than my Maxtor and WD IDE drives.

Damn, what controller are you using? That's an awesome score. Can you run us an ATTO bench?

krag · Dec 23, 2003

almightyh8tr said:
Here's a Sisoft from my u320 raid 0 with Seagate 15K drives using an Adaptec u320 controller w/64MB cache.

These Seagate drives are ultra quiet, more quiet than my Maxtor and WD IDE drives.

DAAAAaaanngggg bro! Nice score!! I wonder what my new score will be when my 2 74gig Raptor 2's (raid-O) get in tomorrow.

15K u320 anyone?

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