Raptor performance on Raid0 (strip)?

[powerbaselx]

How's the performance with 2 Raptor 36GB SATA configured in RAID0 (strip) ?
Is it superb as said?
How's Windows boot? Really fast?

 

[PCcashCow]

It all depends on what your comparing it to, so there is a large performance gain to be had depending on what your strip size is, as well your use for the technology.

The Windows boot is fast when tweeked, in a VMware enviorment you can get instant boots. Personally i think 320 15k Seagates are way faster.

 

[powerbaselx]

Personally i think 320 15k Seagates are way faster.

ok, but they (still) don't have SATA interface. For SATA maybe the Raptors are still the fastest, no?

 

[DaddyLyuLyu]

I don't have Raptors but I have something that is equal if not better. I have 3 x 80GB Hitachi SATA in raid 0 w/ 16k stripe size. For example, windows boot (not even a fresh install, mind you) with the blue progress bar in less than half a bar. From the time I turn on my PC to desktop loading, it takes 20 sec. I spent $50 ish per drive on Hitachi and I get about on par if not better performance than dual raptor (74gb ones). Granted, seek time and access times are a LITTLE slower, but seriously, can't notice much. Plus you'll save a HUGE amount of money. I have no comparisions against the raptor X, but I'm sure it will kill my setup....if you have that drive, you wouldn't worry about what us common joe-sixpack worry about....

To PCcashCow...I've had 2 x 74GB SCSI U320 in raid 0 on an LSI Elite 1600 hardware raid w/ 128mb ECC RAM onboard the controller. Honestly, ONCE you boot into windows, that thing screams for more. However, in terms of BOOTING into windows, it takes a little longer. I think it's because of the controller recognizing the drives and the BIOS recognizing the controller that takes a "long" time. I've had the Seagate drives and although they were damn fast, they served me no real purpose for a home-use. I put them in my file server and had probably 20+ people accessing it at one time during a LAN party and that thing didn't break a sweat on a pure gigabit switch.

To powerbaselx.....if you have the money to burn, go w/ raptor x 150, screw the 36 raptor....old school. if you don't have the money, get some sata drives, raid them and you will see what i mean by "fast!" boot times. Mechanical stuff is always the bottleneck, no doubt. But once you can optimize that part, then the rest of your system flies.

Here is my spec:

CPU - P4 3.2 OC'd to 3.9 Northwood w/ HT
MOBO - Abit IC7-Max3 w/ OTES
RAM - 2GB PC3200XL Pro XMS
VIDEO - Sapphire 9700 Pro Ultimate Edition
HD - 3 x 80GB Hitachi SATA
DVD - 16x Lite-ON
DVDRW - NEC 3550a Dual Layer
CASE - Chenming BX1040 Black
PSU - Aspire 520 Watt

TTFN

 

[maury73]

Sorry to beat you, but I have one single Raptor 740WD and it takes 15 seconds to boot Windows XP from powerup.

3 RAID0 drives are really fast only if you transfer large amount of contiguous data, like an entrire ISO image, but for every day use it's much more better a device like the Raptor that has 8ms average access times compared to nearly double of standard SATA or PATA drives.
Take on account that with RAID0 access times get 10-15% worse, even with fast SCSI 15k drives.

Anyway I think a normal user (I use this PC for DBA developing) can go better with 2 high capacity drives in RAID0: it costs the same, but you can get over 200GB for the same price!

 

[rHy0]

Sorry to beat you, but I have one single Raptor 740WD and it takes 15 seconds to boot Windows XP from powerup.

What the hell!!? I have a 150Gig Raptor and it takes my system over 30 secs to to boot to windows from powerup!! :? and it takes bout 10 secs at windows load screen!? Im dam sick and tired of not getting what i pay for!!

 

[DaddyLyuLyu]

rHy0, i'm sure it's what you've go setup in the bios and your startup that's causing those delays. 30 sec to boot still isn't bad. I've optimized my bios and have nothing on startup. Shut off certain windows services that are non-essential and made sure i don't have some resource-hogging wallpaper...


TTFN

 

[rHy0]

I could give it a try but i wouldnt know what to tamper with so would you recommend what main things in BIOS i should optimize? Thanks for ur reassurance.

 

[DaddyLyuLyu]

in the bios, you can disable any unused ports and make sure you have the boot sequence set to your HD and not your cdrom or other things. do a msconfig and disable all startup items. i don't have all the services to disable in windows but you can get a list by googling it. Defrag often. make sure to run fsb and mem in synch to maximize performance. i'd disable bios cachable and other cacheable services in the bios as well.

I'll look tonight and let u know what else I've got going on.

TTFN

 

[rHy0]

Alright thanks, your a great help.

 

[rHy0]

Hi again, lookin in the BIOS i still dont really understand what i need and what i dont need so i wanna know is there anything in the BIOS that is commonly disabled by PC users and yourself? I just dont want to disable something important that i need or that keeps windows going! Anything at all that you recommend i disable?

 

[bmouring]

A RAID 0 2x 74'er here. Honestly, so many other things slow my boot that that as a metric is useless, besides I tend to leave my system running. As such, I definately agree with DaddyLyuLyu here

Honestly, ONCE you boot into windows, that thing screams for more.

My system flies like the wind when I use it, it just takes a while to boot (mainly due to a boot loader so's I can dual boot Linux for work and Windows for play)

 

[rHy0]

Yeah but its just really annoying cause half the time i boot up, or especially when i restart after a system tweak or download, it can take up to 5 mins for windows to load

 

[mdd1963]

"I have a 150Gig Raptor and it takes my system over 30 secs to to boot to windows from powerup!! "

There are numerous options in the BIOS that can add (or subtract) seconds before actual boot-up begins, fast mem test, floppy seek, boot order, etc...

 

[mdd1963]

"it can take up to 5 mins for windows to load
"

Surely you jest....!!!!!!!!!!

5...minutes???

Malware!!!!!!!

 

[mdd1963]

you can disable long mem test (or skip it altoether), disable floppy seek, and set boot order to the correct hard drive so it doesn't waste 3 seconds determining the CD/DVD installed is not bootable...

 

[rHy0]

Yeah thats right, sometimes it takes windows 3-5 mins to load, and then other times it will load fine. It kinda seems like it hangs cause it never seems like my computer is loading anything at all during the time until just at the end when loading lights flash and it starts up.... So what is this a serious problem!?