HDD Bench Test

jayfella · Sep 30, 2008

OK.

I got me a pair 160GB SATAII drives last week, and went about setting them up in RAID0. I did a few benchies today and was somewhat dissapointed by the performance. Im not sure if I've done anything wrong -but it sparked a few questions such as "is a raptor better than RAID0" - "how fast is a raptor RAID0" - and most importantly - "How much faster is RAID0 than standard SATAII?" - Well im sure we all have our opinions - but now is your chance to put it down in good 'ol pixels and make it proof.

OK.

You can download the bench prog from here: HD-Tune V2.25

YOU MUST SET THE CONFIG TO: !!! ACCURATE !!!

Here are the latest results.

meionm · Sep 30, 2008

I don't know how much you spend but I post below performance of my single sata2 wd 640gb which I bought for $90 while back.

You got higher average read and probably have better write times. You could try post screen for crystaldiskmark.

jayfella · Sep 30, 2008

That seriously sucks. My setup is whack. I must be doing something wrong.

Im using the DriveXpert SATA plugs on my mobo.. maybe that has something to do with it... RAID0 should blow a single SATAII away!... ???

glock19owner · Sep 30, 2008

2x 500 Seagate 16MB cache - Raid0

jayfella · Sep 30, 2008

glock19owner - what stripe size are you using? - I've been googling around and it seems 32k is the best for the OS due to all the DLL's ... I have 128k at the min...

glock19owner · Sep 30, 2008

Not sure to be honest...

This was my first raid 0 setup so I just did everything by default...

I did see 128k on one of the options and left it at that...so I am assuming that is what it set it too...

WiSH2oo0 · Sep 30, 2008

2x 36 GB WD Raptor 8MB cache - Raid0 16k stripe

jayfella · Sep 30, 2008

The trend is strangely pointing towards bigger hard drives = better speed ... ?

WISH2000 - is that IDE i take it? or sata?

Im seriously considering getting another 2 of these drives for this raid 0 array.... hmmmm.....

tuskenraider · Sep 30, 2008

jayfella said:
The trend is strangely pointing towards bigger hard drives = better speed ... ?

Yes, because the platter density has increased dramatically over the last year and half. Looking at your graph you seem to have a bandwidth issue evidenced by the flat line you have going in first half of your graph. It should be a slopping curve downward as the others that are posted. Are the ports you're on connected via a PCI based bus? I wouldn't think so due to your new board, but I'm not familiar with it. Any reason you're not on the Intel ports that work off the ICH chipset?

Edit: Looking at the board specs, I'd get off that Silicon Image controller that those drives are on and attach to the Intel. You'll get a little boost in performance.

WiSH2oo0 · Sep 30, 2008

jayfella said:
WISH2000 - is that IDE i take it? or sata?

They're SATA Jayfella. I've had these drives since Feb 16 2004. I'm still holding out for SSD prices to come down before my next upgrade.

jayfella · Oct 1, 2008

tuskenraider said:
Any reason you're not on the Intel ports that work off the ICH chipset?

Edit: Looking at the board specs, I'd get off that Silicon Image controller that those drives are on and attach to the Intel. You'll get a little boost in performance.

I just thought it would save a bit of hassle to use the 2 dedicated RAID sata ports. I did have it on the Intel before, and looking back, you sound about right. Trouble is, ill have to re-create the partition cos it wont just let me swap ports straight over

- Guess ill have to do it some time soon.

jayfella · Oct 1, 2008

Ok, i just changed over to the intel controller as suggested by tuskenraider, and all i can say is wow. Why did Asus bother putting that load of crap "Silicon Image" controller on the otherwise fault-less P5Q... Shame on you...

Aadan · Oct 1, 2008

NAME: WD Black 1TB SATA 32MB Cache
CONFIG: RAID0
BLOCK SIZE: 64k
MOBO: P5Q-Deluxe

jayfella · Oct 1, 2008

OK.

Some graphs to show how fast our drives are.. An attemp to entice more people to bench their drives and show us your power!

HIGHER = BETTER

Aadan comes first so far, Glock19owner second, and woooo! me third! wooo! Ok, its only out of 5 people, but wooo!!! for me!

Aadan · Oct 1, 2008

Nice charts.. Im backing up right now going to change my stripe to 128k and see if theres a difference.. let you guys know shortly

jayfella · Oct 1, 2008

Your burst rate is a little slow.. maybe the 128k stripe can help with that....

JCLW · Oct 2, 2008

Name: 4x 74G Raptors
Config: RAID 0
Block Size: 64kb
Controller: ICH7R

ATTO shows write speeds as well, and makes it easy to spot stripe size (you can see it tops out at 64kb in my case)

All the details. Yes I know volume write caching is disabled - even though all my data is kept on a seperate file server reinstalling windows and apps is a pain whenever a storm blows through. Maybe I'll pick up another UPS one day...

jayfella · Oct 2, 2008

That 4 x raptor setup is killer! - but you know... i kinda expected that setup to blow the competition away. I suppose it did in access time - 7.7ms on RAID0 is pretty darn great considering its a 4-disk setup.

i'll have to go head-to-head with you when i get another 2 sataII's :argue:

JCLW · Oct 2, 2008

I don't have the density to "blow the competition away" - my drives use 37GB platters, Aadan's (for example) use either 250GB or 334GB platters. I'm also using an ICH7R controller, which is three generations older then the ICH10R most of you guys are using. And I'm using a NetBurst core, not a C2D or a C2Q.

Running 16kb stripes gains me about 10% on benchmarks (~230MB/s avg), but makes real life apps about 10% slower then 64kb.

Running RAID 5 (16kb stripes) gives me ~125MB/s avg with an ~8ms seek.

BranNutz · Oct 2, 2008

I just finished setting up my first raid0 with 2x150GB Velociraptors here is a HDTach benchmark. I will do a HDTune when I get home today for proper comparison.

HDD Bench Test

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