IDE Promise RAID on K8V SE slows system down

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

K8V SE, Athlon 64 3200, 1GB RAM, Windows XP

I connected one WD800JB (80GB, 8M cache) to the standard IDE controller, and
it did WinBench 99 tests, then connected it to the Promise RAID controller,
added another IDENTICAL drive, had the controller build a mirror, then
re-booted and re-ran the WinBench tests. The results were disappointing

Standard IDE, one drive
Business = 7020
High End = 24500

Promise RAID 1, two drives
Business = 9220
High End =19500

There's a slight increase in the business benchmark, but a significant
decrease in performance for the High End benchmark. I attribute this to the
fact that there is only one (parallel) IDE RAID connector, so you've got to
have the two drives connected to the same cable, therefore in RAID 1 write
operations the controller has to write the data twice--once to each drive
(since the IDE interface can't handle two commands simultaneously).

I've performed this experiment with two IDE drives on Promise controllers in
the past, but each drive had it's own IDE channel, and I have seen
increases, rather than decreases in performance. But as I said, there is no
second parallel IDE connector on this board.

Does anyone have any comments?

Dave in Colorado

 

[Centurion]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

On Thu, 27 May 2004 18:30:44 +0000, David Pipe wrote:

> K8V SE, Athlon 64 3200, 1GB RAM, Windows XP
>
> I connected one WD800JB (80GB, 8M cache) to the standard IDE controller,
> and it did WinBench 99 tests, then connected it to the Promise RAID
> controller, added another IDENTICAL drive, had the controller build a
> mirror, then re-booted and re-ran the WinBench tests. The results were
> disappointing
>
> Standard IDE, one drive
> Business = 7020
> High End = 24500
>
> Promise RAID 1, two drives
> Business = 9220
> High End =19500

SNIPPED

> I've performed this experiment with two IDE drives on Promise controllers
> in the past, but each drive had it's own IDE channel, and I have seen
> increases, rather than decreases in performance. But as I said, there is
> no second parallel IDE connector on this board.
>
> Does anyone have any comments?
>
> Dave

I know the K8V Deluxe allows you to create a RAID set as either 2xSATA and
1xPATA or visa versa, alternatively you should be able to create a RAID
with 1xPATA and 1xSATA which should solve the problem for you (I've never
tried this but I know someone who said they have it working). All you need
is a PATA->SATA adapter.

Not sure if this is applicable to the K8V SE though. If not, sorry for
wasting your time.

Cheers,

James
--
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher
esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
-- Nietzsche