ACARD RAM Disk 9010 series

[JasonACARD]

Dear XtremeSystems Forums community members and admin,
My name is Jason Shek, I am charged with the responsibility of Marketing and Community Relations in ACARD Technology, US.
It is an honor to be accpeted as a member here.
Should the admin find this post inappropriate or being posted at the wrong section, please feel free to move/remove my thread.

It is exciting to see that our 9010 RAM Disk series have generated much enthusiasm.
We are receiving calls on a daily bases inquiring about the release date of this product.
And this leads to my main purposes here: to provide access for community regarding product information, evaluation, as well as development, while collecting community feedbacks.

I went through the threads on 9010 and I'd like to provide some answers here:

Models
Two official Ram Disk model will be released:

1. RAM Disk 9010

• 240-pin DDRII DIMM module slots x 8
• Support ECC/Non-ECC DDRII 400/533/667/800
• Support up to 64GB of total storage
• 2 x SATA 3.0Gbps port, 1.5G downward compatible (Yes, you can RAID the two SATA ports)
• CF socket in front panel
• IOPS 20,000 per SATA port
• Automatic data backup/restore between DDRII memory and CF card
• Built-in Lithium Battery(Stand by 2Hr , backup 1Hr)
• LED indicators for battery capacity, power status, SATA ports activity, backup status

2. RAM Disk 9010B

• 240-pin DDRII DIMM module slots x 6
• Support up to 48GB of total storage
• Support ECC/Non-ECC DDRII 400/533/667/800
• One SATA 3.0Gbps Interface port
• CF socket in front panel
• IOPS 20,000 per SATA port
• Automatic data backup/restore between DDRII memory and CF card
• Built-in Lithium Battery(Stand by 2Hr , backup 1Hr)
• LED indicators for battery capacity, power status, SATA ports activity, backup status

Initially, 9010 is designed for enterprise grade equipments and HD content markets.
9010B is designed for extreme workstations, SMB servers, and game machines.

A lot of members here are experts in storage and memory usage so I'd leave the application part to your imaginations.
What I can say with confidence is that, as a PC gamer myself, I am thrill to see a drive that finally breaks my system bottleneck.

Release Date
The official launch is scheduled in mid October, exact date of release is pending to be announced.

Pricing
I see a lot of questions in this part. While the final MSRP is not confirmed, I can confirm that the MSRP will be below the $500 mark.
I will have a confirmed MSRP in a week.
Thank you for all your support and feedbacks.

Jason Shek
ACARD Technology, US.

[Eternalightwith]

Dear XtremeSystems Forums community members and admin,
My name is Jason Shek, I am charged with the responsibility of Marketing and Community Relations in ACARD Technology, US.
The official launch is scheduled in mid October, exact date of release is pending to be announced.

Pricing
I see a lot of questions in this part. While the final MSRP is not confirmed, I can confirm that the MSRP will be below the $500 mark.
I will have a confirmed MSRP in a week.
Thank you for all your support and feedbacks.

Jason Shek
ACARD Technology, US.

Awesome. Thanks for stopping by and annoucing this upcoming product. I'm very excited about a new RAM disc competitor to the current market.
And it's coming out right after my birthday in the first week of October
One question, is the MSRP of below $500 for both models or only the 9010B?

Thanks,

David

[dinos22]

good to see ddr2 based ram drives mate
good luck with it all

[tiro_uspsss]

WOW!

*very* interested!

& a big

[tiro_uspsss]

*psst*

could u post a web addy?

also could u tell us what exactly the CF card is for? - back-up?
& how does it 'mount' in the PC? slot? drive-bay?

thank u!

[Polizei]

• Automatic data backup/restore between DDRII memory and CF card
• Built-in Lithium Battery(Stand by 2Hr , backup 1Hr)

If the card has automatic backup, one shouldn't have to worry about how long the batter lasts, right? As long as the battery has enough juice to get all the data out of the RAM and onto the CF card, battery life isn't a problem?

Waiting for some benchmarks.

[tiro_uspsss]

where does one find 8GB ecc dimms?

[tiro_uspsss]

lol - kingston have a 8gb fb dimm (incompatible i presume) - with a rrp of approx. $2400

[tiro_uspsss]

is REG mem ok? cause if it is, kingston have a 2x 8GB kit of ECC+REG DDR2... for ~$3500

[naokaji]

where does one find 8GB ecc dimms?

Actica Inc has 8GB DDR2 REG ECC Dimms avalaible, good thing that no price is mentioned though link, but then its reg ecc, not just ecc, so woudnt work.

two ram disks in raid 0 each with 8 2GB dimms would definitly be nice though

[tiro_uspsss]

me has sooo many questions!

is the 20K IOPs sequential or random (i hope random )

if its random, what are the figures for sequential?

[JasonACARD]

Thanks for the questions and warm welcome guys! And here we go:

And it's coming out right after my birthday in the first week of October
One question, is the MSRP of below $500 for both models or only the 9010B?

Thanks,

David

BOTH models will come under $500 mark, I hope by then you can have yourself a birthday gift

good to see ddr2 based ram drives mate
good luck with it all

Thank you!

*psst*

could u post a web addy?

also could u tell us what exactly the CF card is for? - back-up?
& how does it 'mount' in the PC? slot? drive-bay?
is REG mem ok?
is the 20K IOPs sequential or random (i hope random )
if its random, what are the figures for sequential?

Thank you Tiro
I am not sure if I am allow to post links here so let's hold on to that.
The CF card slot is designed for backup purpose.
Both 9010 and 9010B comes in a 5.25" form factor which takes up 1 slot like your DVD burners.
About memory type that you can use, from regular inexpensive DDRII RAMs to ECC RAMs are all compatible.
Great question about the IO tiro, it does not matter for RAM disk whether it's random or sequential.
From our tests, they appeared to be the same, or a barely noticeable.
About the settings on IO meter please allow me to get back to you.
If you think 20K IOPS is fast, I would love to surprise you with our testing results on RAID 0.
I am gathering some testings results done internally, will post them in a couple of days.

:

If the card has automatic backup, one shouldn't have to worry about how long the batter lasts, right? As long as the battery has enough juice to get all the data out of the RAM and onto the CF card, battery life isn't a problem?

Waiting for some benchmarks.

The battery is in place so that any power outage or unexpected shutdowns are covered.
Correct, as long as battery last long enough to dump all data onto CF card, there will be no worries.
The battery included is more than enough in our testings.
I will be back with screen shots.

[One_Hertz]

~30bux for cheapest 2GB stick. Need at least 32GB of space to be useful at all. Two 8slot devices = under 1k. 32GB of ram in 2GB sticks = ~500. $1500 for 32GB... A little on the expensive side when looking at $/GB

4GB sticks would be cheaper. If using 4GB sticks it is ~95 bux for one. One device = $500, 32GB of Ram = $750. $1,250 for 32GB. Two times slower then the first config though...

For 64GB of space it would be 2 devices = 1k and 64GB of ram - ~$1500. Overall $2,500. Costs the same as 80GB IODrive. As far as I understood, this setup would mean 4 sata cables? So 80k random iops and 1.2GB/s read/write? Would need a very expensive card to raid two devices properly though...

Looking forward to an ATTO benchmark!

[alfaunits]

WTF would need 1GB/s for a 64GB device? Can't you wait 30 secs vs 60secs to fill it up?
IMO, we need greater capacity in a single slot thing (i.e. 2 SATA ports are more than enough for the bandwidth/IOPS), but 32 GB... it's small. Doable, but small.

[MadHacker]

this is sweet...
My question is... with better cooling... is it overclockable?

[One_Hertz]

WTF would need 1GB/s for a 64GB device? Can't you wait 30 secs vs 60secs to fill it up?
IMO, we need greater capacity in a single slot thing (i.e. 2 SATA ports are more than enough for the bandwidth/IOPS), but 32 GB... it's small. Doable, but small.

Nothing, but like you said, capacity would indeed be an issue so multiple devices would need to be stacked. 32GB is a little small...

And no you can't overclock it. For very obvious reasons.

[JasonACARD]

... As far as I understood, this setup would mean 4 sata cables? So 80k random iops and 1.2GB/s read/write? Would need a very expensive card to raid two devices properly though...

Looking forward to an ATTO benchmark!

Thank you One_Hertz

Yes, deploying 2x 9010, you can fully utilize the bandwidth with 4 SATA ports.
There are speculations on the performance with 4 port RAID 0 on motherboards.
Like I said on the previous responses, I should gather the data on RAID 0 @ 4 port or even 6, or 8 ports.

The assumptions are that:
with the mid-range/high end motherboards that most professional users own, depends on user deployment, 9010/9010B can utilize onboard SATA ports.

For server/workstation applications, compare with IODrive, RAM Disk is different on the bases of interface (PCIe vs SATA).
Depends on application, clients may see the usage differently. Preference may become a factor here, when cost and performance are similar.

There is a very basic, yet critical difference between SSD and RAM Disk made of DDRII RAMS.
The write cycle of SSD is still limited even on enterprise grade SLC SSD.
I don't think, however, they are better or worse than each other.
It will come down to the application environment.

Thank you all for the post again, your thoughts are valuable to us.

[Nanometer]

2hr stand by, ouch. Don't plan to do any long distance moving, what a pain in the arse to work with.

[Polizei]

The battery is in place so that any power outage or unexpected shutdowns are covered.
Correct, as long as battery last long enough to dump all data onto CF card, there will be no worries.
The battery included is more than enough in our testings.
I will be back with screen shots.

2hr stand by, ouch. Don't plan to do any long distance moving, what a pain in the arse to work with.

Once power is restored, the battery is recharged. It's only there to get the info from the RAM onto the CF card, nothing more. It's not needed during boot.

[NeedMoMegaHurtZ]

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with information, Jason

I'm looking forward to seeing the benchmarks.

A few questions:

1) Does Windows "see" this device as a hard drive?

2) Is this bootable?

3) Estimates on power consumption? What kind of connector is used?

[alfaunits]

How fast is the CF card? (i.e. how fast will the RAM be backed up?)

[spazoid]

I too am interested in how the system would see the drive. If you connect both connecters, logic tells me that the BIOS and therefore the OS would see two drives, but both "drives" would have the same data because there is infact only one drive.

And how do you set up a RAID then? The controller sees 2 drives of (fx) 64 GB, and it would then believe that there would be 128 GB available, but obviosly this would be wrong.


How did you go about this issue? Or am I just completely wrong?

[tiro_uspsss]

If you think 20K IOPS is fast....

well actually.... MTRON Pro 7500 model is rated @ 83K/19K : sequential/random; thats what MRTON rate them @ .. I have nooo idea how correct this is or how relevant... someone else care to step in & help me here?

it just seems 20K for this ACARD is not all *that* impressive *if* MTRONs figures are correct - yes, 20K IOPs random is *very* good, but...... any one follow my train of thought here?

[alfaunits]

I follow and agree. Sequential 20K IOPS @ 4K would be 80MB/s - that's rubbish, and probably is more. @16K, it would make sense to max out @ 20K, because it would oversaturate the SATA2 bus So seq. must be >80K IOPS @4KB block to make it useful.
For RAM, 20K Random is also too low. (depends on buffer size, of course, but I presume we're talking 4K/512b, not 16K for random )

[Eternalightwith]

Jason,

Does Acard plan to quickly release a SATA 6gbit/s upgrade?

As they are coming out next mid-year.