Intel onboard SATA RAID compare

To answer the question on what raid choice is the better onboard raid to use.

Here is a HDTach from my quad 150GB raptors in raid 0 from the Marvell raid controller. stripe size 64k. All tests were run with the same hard drives in raid 0

Marvell quick

http://fugger.netfirms.com/xbx2hdtach.jpg

Marvell long Same drives raid 0

http://fugger.netfirms.com/xbx2long.jpg

AW9D Max ICH7R long Same drives raid 0

http://fugger.netfirms.com/max/hdtachlong.jpg

EVGA 680i quick Same drive in raid 0

http://fugger.netfirms.com/680i/hdtach.jpg

There seems to be something wrong with your benchmarks on the 975 board at least.. Did you use the new intel matrix raid drivers?

Yep, I am about to set it up again to confirm. I want to run a quick and get back onto the matrix that is noticibly faster in apps and booting.

This Marvell raid 0 is very slow booting, I see the white bar at the start before the splash screen. It prompted me to dig up the other hdtachs with these drives.

You should try ICH8R.
This is just with 2 320GB 7200.10

http://shintai.ambition.cz/pics/hdtachraid.jpg

This is from a crappy Seagate SATA (Bad Axe 2) [2x80GB RAID-0]

http://sleektech.nl/~dm/temp/raid/sa...matrixraid.jpg

Edit Note: Added hdtach
http://sleektech.nl/~dm/temp/raid/hd...matrixraid.jpg

http://www.techzine.nl/f/g/47128php96O0pu.JPG


AS u can see, ICH8R, raid0 , raptors,

and just 122MB/s

Those seagates kick ass compared to raptors.

(note= old raptors, not the new ones)

Ya thats fast. I can't wait to see what 6 raptors @ Raid 0 and the areca card can do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kakulukia

http://www.techzine.nl/f/g/47128php96O0pu.JPG


AS u can see, ICH8R, raid0 , raptors,

and just 122MB/s

Those seagates kick ass compared to raptors.

(note= old raptors, not the new ones)

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*lol* yeah ;)...it's just that it's my slowest storage among mh hard drives =)

Seems rather slow, see my sig for drives and stripe size, using 6.2.0.2002 drivers.

I would have thought four 150GB Raptors would push some extreme numbers, 140MB/s ?...i get 141MB/s on a fresh install with two 74GB Raptors, ADFD 16MB cache.

64K stripe...if i drop the stripe to 32K i push another 10-12MB/s.

If you notice on my benches they dont trail off at the end, they go up.

Shape of the graph dosen't matter, it's the raw numbers. A 4 drive RAID 0 with a 64K stripe should be pushing higher numbers...despite the ICH7R used.

Also note my ICH8R bios ROM is old, 6.0.0.1022....and Gigabyte will soon update to the latest 6.2.0.2002 in an upcoming bios update. So performance should increase further.

Even my own numbers are average compared to what i have seen others display.

I was getting ready to take some sata controllers performance measurements for a motherboard review when I noticed this thread.
I thought I should post them here aswell :)

32mb Zones ( Long Bench ) tests
Configurations:

Controllers:
Intel ICH7R
Jmicron JMB363
Asus EZ Backup ( Silicon Image 4723 )

Drivers:
Intel Chipset Drivers v8,1,1,1010
Intel Matrix Storage Manager v6,2,0,2002
Jmicron from Asus's CD ( Don't have the cd here atm )

Single HDD Tests:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 3,1GHz
Asus P5W DH Deluxe ( BIOS v1602 )
Maxtor MaXLine III 300GB ( 7V300F0 ) [ SATA II ]

RAID Tests:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 3,1GHz
Asus P5W DH Deluxe ( BIOS v1602 )
2* Maxtor MaXLine III 300GB @ RAID 0 [ 128k Stripe ]

----------------------------------------------------
Single HDD Tests

Asus EZ Backup ( Silicon Image 4723 )
http://i17.tinypic.com/3y30arl.png

Intel ICH7R
http://i17.tinypic.com/2mg14pu.png

Jmicron JMB363
http://i14.tinypic.com/42klqao.png

----------------------------------------------------
RAID 0 Tests

Asus EZ Backup ( Silicon Image 4723 )
http://i17.tinypic.com/2r3ia28.png

Intel ICH7R
http://i14.tinypic.com/2wd0ayf.png

Had no eSata cable here to check out RAID 0 on the Jmicron controller :(

Areca 1210 on PCIe 8x - Raid 5 with 4 x 7200.10

Just for comparison ok? Don't flame me. :p:



http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/8435/areca3at4.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by qwerty69

Areca 1210 on PCIe 8x - Raid 5 with 4 x 7200.10

Just for comparison ok? Don't flame me. :p:

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:slobber: How much did you bought this controller?........

How much is the influence of the stripe size?
On the p5b-d, 128k is the highest, so that should be the fastest, right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shintai

You should try ICH8R.
This is just with 2 320GB 7200.10

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I don't think he should, here is with the same drives on ICH7R :

http://users.skynet.be/sb251196/hdtach.JPG

Arh, I just wasn´t sure if it was a ICH7R limitation issue.

this is what I am getting with my 2 X 150 raptors on 680i mobo:

http://s2.supload.com/thumbs/default...1209113410.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shintai

Arh, I just wasn´t sure if it was a ICH7R limitation issue.

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Its not!

Fugger should see 330+
http://www.sspmustang.com/OT/x6800/3...dtach-run1.JPG

For ICHxR Raid, enable the Write Back Cache to gain some speed especially at boot time :

Attachment 53687


Regarding stripsize on Intel Raid 0, these are the result from 2 X Seagate 250GB 7200.10 raid 0 with 20GB slice in matrix raid, just watch the CPU usage and ignore the burst rate since it varies on each run and should be considered equal.

Attachment 53686


2 X 7200.10 250GB , P5B-Dlx with D805 (not C2D), 20GB raid 0 slice

Attachment 53688

i have a 7200.10 seagate 250GB sata2 on port 2 on ich7 and i can't enable it's write cache. do you have any idea why? on ports 0 and 1 i have raid0 2x80GB sata1 and my board is abit aw9d-max. my O.S. is win 2003 with sp1.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hipro5

:slobber: How much did you bought this controller?........

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http://www.preisroboter.de/ergebnis1869074.html

Around 350 Euro.

Just to add to the mix. This is running a 16K stripe on 2 150GB Raptors in RAID 0, interesting part is the first 60GB is at windows default cluster size and after that I made it 16K cluster sizes. Running a e6600 at stock 2.4Ghz speed on evga 680i board using SATA ports 1&2, currently.


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...HDTachtest.jpg


Quicktest version with same setup.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...hQuicktest.jpg


Pretty happy with that result, based on what I see here. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grinch

this is what I am getting with my 2 X 150 raptors on 680i mobo:

http://s2.supload.com/thumbs/default...1209113410.jpg

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yours is on point, usually 150-155 is about right for dual. I dont know why fugger's seems kinda low on the 680i. I had raid on nforce before, I thought it was pretty decent. It was consistent with short or long test. The 680i should be better than its previous. :confused:

I was hoping the abit/dfi 680i would be better or close to this.

short:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...raid_short.jpg

long:
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1..._raid_long.jpg

my areca 1220 8 port and nvraid nforce4 both are using 64k stripe in 2xWD raptor 74GB.

areca 1220
http://home.comcast.net/~lbjm/raid/H...e64K_areca.jpg

nforce4
http://home.comcast.net/~lbjm/raid/H...4K_nforce4.jpg

there's also a raid thread here in the amd section.

Damn!...she started out at 600MB/s...that's like SATA 3.0 speed.

here's NapalmV5's 4x 74GB raptor raid0 array on an areca 1210 controller
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=228

edit: average read is 304.9MB/s

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...1&d=1148676378

OK, after doing some tweakage to the controller settings I picked up 20MB/s in average read speed and dropped my CPU util. by 2%, burst speed went up by 22+MB/s too! All other settings the same stripe size 16K and cluster sizes as I posted in post #24. Very happy with gains from tweaking thanks to those who suggested them!!! :woot:

New settings, Let BIOS select transfer mode (enabled), Enable write caching (enabled), Enable read caching (disabled), Enable Command queuing (disabled)

What I noticed is with read caching enabled I would take a speed hit to both average read speed and to burst and with Command queuing enabled the speed (burst and average) would be the same but CPU utilization would jump up to 10-12%(is extreme end with read caching disabled and all other 3 enabled)!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...-writeONLY.jpg

Ubrak.. what hard drivers are you using? did you try the tweak I posted here?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by safan80

Ubrak.. what hard drivers are you using? did you try the tweak I posted here?

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Running 2 150GB Raptors in RAID 0. The 150mb/s average read speed seems to be what they do. Yes, I actually got the idea for trying different controller settings from you in that thread. I see where someone else in this thread is running 64k stripe size with same motherboard 680i and 2 150GB raptors and has at or slightly worse performance than me. I am spot on with the link you posted http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...150raid&page=5

Only thing I am getting smoked in is the burst rate, but then they are usind a dedicated RAID controller and not onboard. :)

Grinch has same setup(drives, evga 680i MB, and o/c speed) as me. Mine is about 5mb/s faster in average read speed.

Richard Dower has almost same setup just different board.

Hey Safan80 how do you like that 30" dell? Nice sharp picture? Any problems running games maxed out at the resolution? Like Oblivion?

What's the best stripe size for average use anyway? I'm using 128K now, but I used 64K on my Nf4 board. Gonna format and set up the array again soon, so I might as well change stripe size then.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jagt

What's the best stripe size for average use anyway? I'm using 128K now, but I used 64K on my Nf4 board. Gonna format and set up the array again soon, so I might as well change stripe size then.

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read the tweak I posted above. you'll have to scroll down to see it.

Mobo:Gigabyte DQ6(ich8r)
Ram : 2/*1gb gskill 6400Hz
Hdd :4* 250gb seagate 620As

128k
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1677/128kwh7.jpg

16k
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4087/16kcf1.jpg

I thought a higher burst size is faster......

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kakulukia

I thought a higher burst size is faster......

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Burst speed means nothing, average read speed is what you're looking for as well as cpu utilisation and access times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tdream

Burst speed means nothing, average read speed is what you're looking for as well as cpu utilisation and access times.

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Amen....100% correct...:woot: :toast: :clap:

Areca ARC-1110 / Raid controller, PCI-X version.
4 x Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 / 230GB / Raid 0 / Stripe: 128Kb
Mainboard: Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro.
I don't go back to the Intel ICH7R. ;)

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2985/attotestsm0.png
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/209/hdtacheb9.png

If I will change my stripe size from 128KB to 64KB in my RAID 0 array all the information will lose?
And which stripe size should be better? 64KB or 128KB?
Thanks. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tush

If I will change my stripe size from 128KB to 64KB in my RAID 0 array all the information will lose?
And which stripe size should be better? 64KB or 128KB?
Thanks. :)

---

yes.İf you change the stripe size you must be formated all the raid hdds..ı think for the best performance 16k

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fenomenhaa

yes.İf you change the stripe size you must be formated all the raid hdds..ı think for the best performance 16k

---

ok...
Tanks! :)

Current setup
2 raid0 on ez-backup-boot drives
2 non-raid drives on ICH7R
and 2 on the pata
On the P5W DH DELUXE, i have these 2 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...ode=101220-12&)
in Raid0 on the ez-backup ports, how much difference would i get if i moved them to the ICH7R, considering the recent improvements for the drivers.
also if i would move those 2 drives on the ICH7R ports, i have a partition on the raid0 drives now, would i lose that partition when moving as well?i know i gotta reinstall windows,and use the intel drivers. also i have 2 other sata drives Nonraid, if i leave one of them plugged in the ICH7R ports, and unplugged all the jumpers for the ez-backup,putting one of the non-raid drivers and put it into the ez-backup ports, would i lose what i had on the nonraid that would be on the ez-raid?

im sorry if this is confusing, please let me know if i left any details out that you guys might need to give best adivce

Thanks, a ton
Brock01

bump plx

bump

My 2 320 Barracudas in Raid0 got 3xx mb/s burst.
My single 75GB Raptor 16MB cache is only 13x mb/s. =/

Current setup
2 raid0 on ez-backup-boot drives
2 non-raid drives on ICH7R
and 2 on the pata
On the P5W DH DELUXE, i have these 2 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...ode=101220-12&)
in Raid0 on the ez-backup ports, how much difference would i get if i moved them to the ICH7R, considering the recent improvements for the drivers.
also if i would move those 2 drives on the ICH7R ports, i have a partition on the raid0 drives now, would i lose that partition when moving as well?i know i gotta reinstall windows,and use the intel drivers. also i have 2 other sata drives Nonraid, if i leave one of them plugged in the ICH7R ports, and unplugged all the jumpers for the ez-backup,putting one of the non-raid drivers and put it into the ez-backup ports, would i lose what i had on the nonraid that would be on the ez-raid?

im sorry if this is confusing, please let me know if i left any details out that you guys might need to give best adivce

Thanks, a ton
Brock01

Brock01, first, your post would be a lot less confusing if you actually used proper sentence structure, capitalization and didn't write run on sentences.

Second, when you move a RAID array from one controller to another you need to rebuild the entire array and you will loose everything. Moving single SATA disks from one controller to another will not loose anything.

I have no idea what RAID controller will provide you with the best performance, someone in the P5W DH thread might be able to answer that.

Note to self: steal an Areca card.

What are the Areca drivers like? And how noisy is the SPU fan?

Cheers,

Suman

ICH8R (P5B-Deluxe)
4x 300GB 16MB Cache SATAII Seagate
Raid-0 Stripe size = 64K
E6300 @ 7x 430MHz
2GB G.Skill HZ

http://www.users.on.net/~bugeyes/ind...SATAII_004.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sumanji

What are the Areca drivers like? And how noisy is the SPU fan?

Cheers,

Suman

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Same questions... and... would it be possible to replace the Areca fan a passive heat sink?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by virtualrain

Same questions... and... would it be possible to replace the Areca fan a passive heat sink?

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You get a Passive heatsink in the box.
But you need good airflow around it.
http://faq.areca.com.tw/modules/smar....php?faqid=128
http://faq.areca.com.tw/modules/smar...q.php?faqid=17
The stock cooler is a bit noisy.

Almost every question can be found here: http://faq.areca.com.tw/modules/smartfaq/ :)