Confusing RAID-0 Results

[chjade84]

I recently built two almost identical computers, one for work and the other for home. I figured I would try out RAID-0 at home since I don't have anything important on that one. I ran PerformanceTest V6.1 (64-bit) to see the differences in the computers as they are slightly different. I have to say the hard drive tests are somewhat disappointing it seems. Granted, one is running Vista while the other is XP.

Here is a screenshot of the disk results with various levels of OC.



My question is, would Vista, being more resource demanding, affect the results of the test? Is PerformanceTest even a good way to test these components?

Here are the two computers

Work Computer - XP
Intel E8500
Asus P5Q-E
4GB G-Skill DDR2 1066
Pallit GeForce 9600GT 1GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 250GB (jumper removed for 3.0GB/s)

Home Computer - Vista
Intel E8500
Asus P5Q-E
4GB G-Skill DDR2 1066
EVGA GTX260
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 400GB RAID-0 (jumpers removed for 3.0GB/s)

Here is a link to the results from all the tests. It seems that using Vista results in lower ratings as compared to XP because the Vista computer scored lower than the XP computer in almost all the tests, even the ones testing the GPU which is far superior.

http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ocxa4.png
(I just left the link because the picture is large)
Oddly enough the 9600GT is much better with 2D graphics than the GTX 260, at least it seems odd to me. Although it could just be Vista...

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[malveaux]

Heya,

In your tests, how can you distinguish between the two separate RAID arrays? Anyhow, just a start, but the 400g vs the 250g HD's is something to consider because of the platter differences, one is likely a better performer than the other. A good example is how the WD640 uses two 320 platters and performs better than an old 250g one that uses a different platter setup.

By the way, turn off drive indexing. See what happens.

Cheers,

 

[chjade84]

Thanks for the reply, I'll have to try that out. I didn't think to consider the differences in the set-ups of the two. They were both 3.0GB/s and had identical avg seek times, latencies, etc.

As far as distinguishing between the two arrays, I'm not sure what you mean. I was just trying to compare the read/write speed of one HDD vs an array of two drives. Now that I think about it though it probably isn't a very good test considering as many variables as I have. I didn't set out doing this to test two systems, I just wanted to see if RAID-0 was worth it or not.

Thanks!