Build log: storage-oriented SR-2

[AceNZ]

I ordered a new MB today. The main factors were:

-- 47% scalability for 4K random with 8R0 on one controller (146K IOPS measured with FP vs. 200K target vs. 307K @ 100% scalability)
-- 40% scalability for 4K random with 8R0 on two controllers (16 drives)
-- 41% improvement in sequential throughput for Solaris72 with the change to a non-NF slot
-- 17% less for 4K random with 6 drives and no FP, compared with Anvil
-- Results from Tilt and others with non-NF boards that are showing much better scalability (a demo at Intel with a direct 5520-based MB showed close to 100% scalability for 28 SSDs)

Latency is clearly the performance killer: on the controller itself we can see it when the FP key is added: 78% improvement for 8R0 on one controller--and at the MB level from the NF200.

I'm disappointed to lose to the ability to OC (an easy 25% gain in CPU perf), but I'm not willing to lose 40 to 60% of my I/O performance in exchange; I'd rather buy a faster CPU or add a second CPU instead.

My feelings about the SR-2:

-- The support for OC-able dual Xeons is really at the heart of the board
-- Seems like it would be great for quad-SLI, with 2 to 4 SSDs on the ICH10R
-- Great as a OC'd cruncher
-- Nice to have support for eSATA, SATA 6.0, USB 3; although their presence isn't a make-or-break factor for me
-- Great to have 6 RAM DIMMs per CPU, including ECC support
-- Some issues with MB layout are a pain: the audio cable's location blocking one of the I/O slots, non-standard mounting holes (the plastic standoffs don't cut it), a non-standard power LED connector (2 pins instead of +/NC/-).
-- It would also be nice if the next version of the MB was about a cm or so narrower, so that it doesn't block the I/O cage for large add-ons like the 5-drive bay I'm using; I'd be willing to give up any or all of the extra add-on devices in exchange
-- And of course the key thing for me is that I would love to see the dual-NF200s replaced by dual 5520s