First IOXTREME Review

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 11:16 AM

Originally Posted by One_Hertz

oh so RAM is boosting the figures near the start and the real numbers are 50% slower? If that is true, then it is a pretty big fail on the part of the reviewers of hothardware to report this. ?

I'm not sure that is the problem. Here is a 4k write. 100% random result. 64 queue depth. Stayed consistent throughout the entire test.

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by One_Hertz

edit: I wonder if you are in a used state from all the IOMeter runs. Is there some sort of secure erase option?

Thought about this. I did a 'Low Level Format' with the Fusion-io utility it comes with.

I have written over 1.2TB to the drive in the past 2 days though.

EDIT:
Another weird thing. How it is possible that it can do over twice as many 4k 100% random write IOPS than read.

**SteveRo** · 12-13-2009, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by lowfat

I'm not sure that is the problem. Here is a 4k write. 100% random result. 64 queue depth. Stayed consistent throughout the entire test.

This is looking better - with 1231ML-2G 8xacardR0 best I can get at Q64 is approx 48K @ 4KB 100@ random 100% write.

**NapalmV5** · 12-13-2009, 01:40 PM

lowfat! how fast does L4D loadup ?

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by NapalmV5

lowfat! how fast does L4D loadup ?

I don't have L4D

**XS Janus** · 12-13-2009, 04:20 PM

Get it "for testing purposes only"

**NapalmV5** · 12-13-2009, 04:33 PM

come on lowfat i didnt have it either.. i acquired it/loaded it up/posted results

what about other games ? whats your os setup on ?

**Jor3lBR** · 12-13-2009, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by lowfat

Can't say I am all that impressed w/ it so far.

Core i7 @ 4.2GHz
6GB @ 1200MHz
X58A-UD7
9800GX2

^^ He did post some game results here Napalm.

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by NapalmV5

come on lowfat i didnt have it either.. i acquired it/loaded it up/posted results

what about other games ? whats your os setup on ?

Windows 7.

I don't have a lot of games.

Crysis, Cryis: Warhead, UT3, HL2, SupCom, SoaSE, The Witcher, Far Cry 2

I don't 'aquire' games.

**NapalmV5** · 12-13-2009, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by Jor3lBR

^^ He did post some game results here Napalm.

Originally Posted by lowfat

Windows 7.

I don't have a lot of games.

Crysis, Cryis: Warhead, UT3, HL2, SupCom, SoaSE, The Witcher, Far Cry 2

I don't 'aquire' games.

apart from the 3gb copy/paste the other results seem to be loaded from x25m

come on guys x25m is fast but not ioxtreme fast

so when you buy you dont acquire ?

**Tiltevros** · 12-13-2009, 04:48 PM

did u check for any updates like firm and drivers??

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by NapalmV5

apart from the 3gb copy/paste the other results seem to be loaded from x25m

come on guys x25m is fast but not ioxtreme fast

so when you buy you dont acquire ?

The games are installed to the ioXtreme. I can't tell you why they aren't any faster than the X25-M

**NapalmV5** · 12-13-2009, 05:03 PM

ioxtreme operating @ x4 pcie ?

look in other words you should be faster then hothardwares results given your system/win7/etc

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by NapalmV5

ioxtreme operating @ x4 pcie ?

look in other words you should be faster then hothardwares results given your system/win7/etc

Don't think so. The CDM and Iometer resuts are pretty much where they should be.

**Tiltevros** · 12-13-2009, 05:09 PM

http://kb.fusionio.com/KB/a33/driver...ns-lineup.aspx
Article ID 33
Created On 15/9/2009
Modified 4/12/2009
Firmware versions 1.2.6 and 1.2.7
36867 (recommended)
24160
17350

**Tiltevros** · 12-13-2009, 05:16 PM

Tuning Techniques for Writes
Fusion-io is the only company that enables you to format solid state storage for optimal write performance. This section discusses performance tuning techniques, as well as considerations for writes.

Increased Steady-State Write Performance with fio-format
Under sustained, random writes, which are written randomly across the entire ioDrive, write performance will decrease. This decreased write performance is referred to as steady-state write performance.

There are very few real-world storage use cases that create this sort of write workload, the most common being RDBMS systems. However, the most common activity that triggers this behavior is running micro benchmarks rather than real-world applications.

Unlike drive form factor devices, the ioDrive can be tuned to achieve a higher steady-state write performance than what it is shipped with from the factory. The first line of tuning is to provide the ioDrive with additional working capacity, or reserve (storage capacity that is not visible but is usable by the ioDrive for internal optimization). Changing this reserve capacity can be done using the fio-format utility. Running fio-format changes the reserve size and affects the overall long term performance of the ioDrive. Repeated fio-formats are not required to get proper performance, unless the initial change in reserve size did not yield the needed steady-state write performance.

A recommended starting point is decreasing the drive's capacity by 25%. For example, if the drive is a 160 GB drive, you would fio-format it to 120GB

Warning: This will destroy all data on the drive!

Assuming the drive that you would like to format is /dev/fct0 (use fio-status to determine this), you would use the following commands:

$ fio-detach /dev/fct0

$ fio-format -s 120G /dev/fct0

$ fio-attach /dev/fct0

The following graph shows the effect of reserve on write performance under some circumstances. This graph shows that the larger the reserve, the better the steady-state performance achieved.

http://kb.fusionio.com/KB/a51/tuning...or-writes.aspx

**lowfat** · 12-13-2009, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by Tiltevros

http://kb.fusionio.com/KB/a33/driver...ns-lineup.aspx
Article ID 33
Created On 15/9/2009
Modified 4/12/2009
Firmware versions 1.2.6 and 1.2.7
36867 (recommended)
24160
17350

That is for the ioDrive. Not the ioXtreme. The ioXtreme has no newer firmware/drivers available.

Originally Posted by Tiltevros

Tuning Techniques for Writes
Fusion-io is the only company that enables you to format solid state storage for optimal write performance. This section discusses performance tuning techniques, as well as considerations for writes.

Increased Steady-State Write Performance with fio-format
Under sustained, random writes, which are written randomly across the entire ioDrive, write performance will decrease. This decreased write performance is referred to as steady-state write performance.

There are very few real-world storage use cases that create this sort of write workload, the most common being RDBMS systems. However, the most common activity that triggers this behavior is running micro benchmarks rather than real-world applications.

Unlike drive form factor devices, the ioDrive can be tuned to achieve a higher steady-state write performance than what it is shipped with from the factory. The first line of tuning is to provide the ioDrive with additional working capacity, or reserve (storage capacity that is not visible but is usable by the ioDrive for internal optimization). Changing this reserve capacity can be done using the fio-format utility. Running fio-format changes the reserve size and affects the overall long term performance of the ioDrive. Repeated fio-formats are not required to get proper performance, unless the initial change in reserve size did not yield the needed steady-state write performance.

A recommended starting point is decreasing the drive's capacity by 25%. For example, if the drive is a 160 GB drive, you would fio-format it to 120GB

Warning: This will destroy all data on the drive!

Assuming the drive that you would like to format is /dev/fct0 (use fio-status to determine this), you would use the following commands:

$ fio-detach /dev/fct0

$ fio-format -s 120G /dev/fct0

$ fio-attach /dev/fct0

The following graph shows the effect of reserve on write performance under some circumstances. This graph shows that the larger the reserve, the better the steady-state performance achieved.

http://kb.fusionio.com/KB/a51/tuning...or-writes.aspx

This is also for the ioDrive, not the ioXtreme. I don't have any choices when formatting the ioXtreme.

**Tiltevros** · 12-13-2009, 05:44 PM

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Fusi...Review/?page=1
at page 12 is No Mercy or Dead Air levels

**Computurd** · 12-13-2009, 08:18 PM

these are weird results lowfat, i would suggest that you keep plugging away, keep testing different configurations, make all changes that you can to find that sweet spot. you are in uncharted waters here pretty much but perseverance is the key! i see the upside down nature of the read/write benches and that really makes me feel that something is going on here....you will find it! if it writes that fast dammit it should read like a mother

!

**F.E.A.R.** · 12-13-2009, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by SteveRo

This is looking better - with 1231ML-2G 8xacardR0 best I can get at Q64 is approx 48K @ 4KB 100@ random 100% write.

I get 53k (208MB/s.)
But why are 4k-random-read resultes so bad? (only 35k)

**lowfat** · 12-14-2009, 06:34 PM

Increasing PCIe increase maximum bandwidth?

PCIe bus @ 100MHz

PCIe bus @ 110MHz

The CPU is underclocked (2.4GHz) currently as I am trying to find my max bclk. But the sequential reads are considerably higher.

**Computurd** · 12-14-2009, 06:49 PM

you might check to see if your motherboard allows the pcie packet sizes to be modified as well. the higher the packet setting the better. i have achieved great results with that one

**lowfat** · 12-14-2009, 07:08 PM

@ 115MHz for the PCIe bus I am now getting 876MB/s reads and 315MB/s writes

However my sound card isn't working.

**XS Janus** · 12-15-2009, 08:55 AM

How come the 4k scores took a dump when you clocked PCIe up?

**F.E.A.R.** · 12-15-2009, 09:44 AM

@ low

Would you buy this card again?

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