Factors that affect a HD's access times?

Kaiju · 23 Jan 2007 at 23:26

I have a Raptor 74GB (old 8MB version) that should get about 8ms access times (taking into consideration all the HDtach benchies i've viewed), however i'm getting nearer to 9ms. I know it's one microsecond, however in the world of benches, it's a great deal when you want to stay ahead of the 7200RPM drives.

So far I think defragging helps with access times and the amount of free space you have also helps. When benching, keep processes to a minimum is also a must. I run 18 processes when benchmarking anything, yet despite all its might, the Raptor can't get anywhere near 8ms (8.7ms being it's best to date).

So, could this simply be out of my hands, a motherboard issue perhaps (using A8N32 Deluxe)? Maybe a different SATA port? Again, let me stress I know i'm not going to notice the difference of 1ms in my daily web browsing or fraggin' hour, but i'm adament on getting closer to that 8ms mark.

joeyjojo · 23 Jan 2007 at 23:31

As you say it's probably the mobo. I imagine different controllers behave differently.

Kaiju · 23 Jan 2007 at 23:34

joeyjojo said:
As you say it's probably the mobo. I imagine different controllers behave differently.

I was afraid so. My SATA drivers are up to date, but after reading Intel's controller is somewhat faster than nVidia's in RAID, i'm guessing this NF4 just can't take the heat compared to Intel's offerings.

Kaiju · 24 Jan 2007 at 00:52

I'm a bit confused now... my hard drives are run by two NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller each controlling two SATA ports, so what is the Silicon 3132 controller this motherboard (A8N32 Deluxe) going on about?

Are they two seperate controllers, meaning I can only use either the nForce4 controller driver or the Silicon 3132 driver?

Is the Silicon 3132 driver only RAID? Stumped.

rpstewart · 24 Jan 2007 at 09:00

The Silicon Image controller runs the eSATA port and the red internal SATA port which sits towards the back of the board by the PCIe slots. You can use both controllers simultaneously to give you 5 internal drives and 1 external. The SI controller can run in RAID or single drive modes.

Kaiju · 24 Jan 2007 at 10:14

rpstewart said:
The Silicon Image controller runs the eSATA port and the red internal SATA port which sits towards the back of the board by the PCIe slots. You can use both controllers simultaneously to give you 5 internal drives and 1 external. The SI controller can run in RAID or single drive modes.

Is there any performance gains using either the nForce controller or the Silicon controller to run your drives?

rpstewart · 24 Jan 2007 at 10:29

For RAID the NForce controller is better but there's not much in it for single drive stuff.

Kaiju · 24 Jan 2007 at 11:45

rpstewart said:
For RAID the NForce controller is better but there's not much in it for single drive stuff.

Wow, always thought the Silicon would be better for RAID. I'll be sticking with nForce then, thanks.