Dell Perc 5/i + 4x32GB MLC JMF602B SSDs... my results!

[Miwo]

Results are all on 256KB Stripe + No Read Ahead. My SuperTalent SSDs were flashed to the latest firmware available on their site. Adaptive Read Ahead seems to lower my results and increase access times....though I suspect that might have to do with the Perc 5/i not really being suited for SSDs since its using an IOP333 processor @ 500MHz.



My original intention was to make a bang/buck SSD array. I got these SSDs before Vertex came out, so I made with what I had available.

No tweaks yet, just straight Win7 Ultimate x64 install. No stuttering from what I've seen so far, but this is going to be for OS / Games / Apps, no heavy writing...so I'm not really too dissapointed for the write results as this is going to be primarily read only. Even with JCrap drives, things are pretty damn snappy. Win7 Performance Index is 7.6.

Comments, criticisms, JMicron bashing all welcome

[Serra]

Hmm, that's actually better than I thought a Perc 5/i would have done (of course this is the first time I have seen a Perc 5 with SSD's before).

Are you on the latest Perc firmware? If so, are you on Dell or LSI firmware?

That really is a decent bang/buck setup. I think once you have had a chance to play around with stripe settings and other tweaks you will probably be pretty happy.

[jcool]

Well 4k write sucks, but that's to be expected really. Overall it's looking good, and if things are snappy & fast that's all that counts really.

I got a Perc 5 lying here too, but it's gonna get loaded up with HDDs for storage raid 5

[One_Hertz]

As long as you are happy

It always cracks me up how broken the AS SSD copy benchmark is. It produces copy speeds faster than sequential writing speeds from time to time

[Miwo]

Yep, using the latest LSI 8408E Firmware available on their website (7066 or something) , as well as their driver modified with Dell Vendor tags...

Thanks for the complement! It was my goal to make a bang/buck setup with the JMicrons, as the onboard cache of the Perc 5/i would help mitigate the stuttering issues of the JMicron drives. Keeping writes to a minimum...

As far as stripes, I've reinstalled W7 more times than I can count. 256KB seemed to give me better results than 128KB, 128KB with 16k Allocation Units, and 1024K stripe. I haven't tried 64k yet. I'm still confused on what would be optimal for games. You'd think 64k stripe or smaller, but usually game textures/graphics/maps/etc.... are all > 64k sizes. Even with any stripe, i wonder if its going to really have a tangible effect or not in real world games

The entire array + controller cost about $350 about 3 months ago, but I guess JMicron drives might be even cheaper now since they are generally undesirable

[Miwo]

As long as you are happy

It always cracks me up how broken the AS SSD copy benchmark is. It produces copy speeds faster than sequential writing speeds from time to time

I think ill be happy, since im not really aiming to smash any speed records or anything here. Just something with decent space for a few games I'm playing, and snappy read performance. I think it fits the bill fine for now...

Though definitely have some buyers remorse. I bought these drives 4 months ago, but only now is it actually in-use. Could have just bought vertexs, samsungs. JMicrons are still dirt cheap if you can find them, but I wouldnt need to use a controller with Vertexs.

But ah well. We'll see how it holds up once I start putting it to use and playing games.

[pjkenned]

Is that raid 0? I think your Perc 5/i has a bit more room before it is really limited by the IOP333 500MHz part. I was able to get over 500MB/s read using 7200.11's in raid 5 where the IOP333 has to do parity calcs. http://www.servethehome.com/?p=16

[jcool]

Yeah, the Perc 5 definitely has a lot more headroom. Miwo, if you're interested, here are my results with my new storage Raid 5 on the Perc.

[One_Hertz]

Guys, you can't compare HDDs to SSDs directly...

[Miwo]

pretty good results for the Perc5i you guys have with your HDDs. Your results are pretty nice pjkenned, must be awesome to have that much storage capacity! Jcool, your crystalmark is higher, but only on the 100mb test. but like you said too, the cache influences the results too much on small sizes, so I only did 1000mb.

As far as further potential, honestly I think I'm all capped out in terms of the Perc 5i. I don't know great detail about this stuff, but I found in a post that the Perc 5i is really a PCI-X card with a bridge that allows it to be put into PCI-E 8x slots. Here is the post http://www.overclock.net/6316677-post2514.html. To summarize, the Perc 5i should have 500MB/s theoretical maximum on Sequential writes, but its possible to have higher reads. That explains how pjkenned hit as much as 700MB/s reads on his setup.

But yeah , like One Hertz said, certain controllers handle SSDs much bettter than HDDs. This card is like... 4-5 years old and was never intended to handle SSDs I don't think. But for < $100, its not a bad card by any means, especially if you are going to have a Raid 5 parity check array with storage. I have no faith in AMD onboard RAID, which is why I got this for SSD use. If I had an Intel board, Vertex in RAID under ICH10 seems like the way to go without adding any additional costs.

[pjkenned]

Yea, I honestly think the Perc 5/i's are the best bang-for-the-buck RAID controllers out there right now. Actually, the Adaptec 3085 is pretty good too if you have an intel chipset, but then you have to do the external-internal cable connection for the internal drives. Not hard, but it is a consideration, and the BBU costs more.

Miwo, I also don't have an 8x 1.5TB Raid 5 setup anymore... since I'm now using those 8, plus another 4 or 5 in a Raid 6 + hotspare setup for the WHS. I've actually moved almost all of my storage to servers at this point save SSD's. One thing to try on the Perc is to add a heatsink to it. Nothing fancy, but I added a cheapo heatsink and temps are much lower now.

[jcool]

Jcool, your crystalmark is higher, but only on the 100mb test. but like you said too, the cache influences the results too much on small sizes, so I only did 1000mb.

I am running parity raid (raid 5) too, so of course my uncached small reads/writes suck ass

One_Hertz is right, can't be compared on any level. Just wanted to show what the Perc can do, even in raid 5.

[Miwo]

Northbridge/southbridge coolers that use the hook mounting scheme are generally compatible with the Perc 5i. I kept the standard heatsink that came with the Perc 5i, but replaced the thermal paste with some MX-2 i had laying around. For the middle chip, I added an old southbridge heatsink I had laying around. I have a 70mm thin fan covering both chips. Probably overboard, but I went with it because I thought that SSDs were going to place much more stress on my card.

Perc is definitely a great budget card for those that are thinking about it. IOP333 definitely shows its limitations with SSDs, but for cheap storage RAID 5 solutions, its tough to go wrong with it. For SSDs, I would only recommend a Perc 5i, only if you are running older SSDs (Pre-Vertex/x25), or if you have an AM3 system. I have not read very positive things about AMD onboard mobo RAID at all

[pjkenned]

Wow that is overboard! I just installed heatsinks on mine with thermal tape. Sure it isn't the best, but really just want the heatsinks to stick and get enough heat off the chips.