Got a RAID Setup or Thinking Of One? - Read This

Associate
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
278
Location
Sol System
I recently set up a raid 0 array using to raptors .


2xraptor raid 0 32k
Was surprised to see very poor performance in 3d games , with the screen stuttering every second or 2 as the raid was accesing data.

rebuilt array on 16k and prob disapeared .

weird .
 
Associate
Joined
24 Jul 2003
Posts
571
I'm probably going to be getting 2 x 80GB Maxtor Plus 9's for a RAID 0 setup.

What's the best stripe setup for general games and in particular Flight Simulator with it's large texture loads.

Thanks!
 
Associate
Joined
25 Jul 2003
Posts
950
Location
ar y mynydd
Originally posted by Magic Man
I'm probably going to be getting 2 x 80GB Maxtor Plus 9's for a RAID 0 setup.

What's the best stripe setup for general games and in particular Flight Simulator with it's large texture loads.

Thanks!

Got that setup, get around 53000 in sandra
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2003
Posts
23,607
Originally posted by Shane5578
i just like to note that raid-0 when using 4 or more drives is very slow

raid -5 would be much better

Um that depends on the controller. If the controller can pre-move the heads to the correct position concurrently whilst reading from the other drives then it'll be very quick.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
292
Originally posted by Shane5578
i just like to note that raid-0 when using 4 or more drives is very slow

raid -5 would be much better

Sorry don't agree mate. i have seen a bench from 4 raptors and they get 90000+ in sandra. that is as good as you can get from a top end SCSI setup in a workstation environment.

on another note. here a benchy i just took from my new raptor array.
310703-raidbench2.JPG


16k stripe. Also 16k cluster format, dont forget that!
 
Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,591
Location
Farnborough, UK
Originally posted by ColdFusion
16k stripe. Also 16k cluster format, dont forget that!
Isn't the general rule of thumb that cluster size should be double the stripe size? So a 16k stripe would have 32k clusters for optimum performance?

Also remember the benchmarks do not reflect every day use. Although a 16k stripe blows away 128k in benchmarks, it may actually give worse performance if you are a gamer.


-A
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2003
Posts
23,607
Originally posted by ColdFusion
Sorry don't agree mate. i have seen a bench from 4 raptors and they get 90000+ in sandra. that is as good as you can get from a top end SCSI setup in a workstation environment.

on another note. here a benchy i just took from my new raptor array.

16k stripe. Also 16k cluster format, dont forget that!

Using 16Kb stripe already :p (but only because it was the default size :)) and as said best test with real applications.

Anyway of forcing windows to format a cluster size on install?

When I get the chance I'll play with the stripe size - I'll test it with a 42Mb Java compile and test :)
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,591
Location
Farnborough, UK
Originally posted by NickK
Anyway of forcing windows to format a cluster size on install?
I'd like to know this also. The only way I know of doing it so far is to use Partition Magic boot floppies and format the drive before installing Windows. You can also use PM to change the cluster size after install.


-A
 
Associate
OP
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
292
unfortunately there is no way to change the default cluster size during install of any ms OS :(

i had to use the array in another machine and format it via disk management in win2k to give me the 16k cluster size.

Andy, i used to think that but after having tested many configs i have ended up always installing a cluster size equal to the stripe size.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
278
Location
Sol System
Andy C

i had a problem with gaming , when i set up two raptors on a raid 0 with stripe of 32 .

really poor 3d performance with stuttering .

rec created array , at 16 k and problem went away .

I recall i had the same issue , a few years ago on a ide raid stripe 0 set up using a promise raid controller and two deathstars . 32k =bad stuttering in 3d games . 16 k stripe . problem goes away .

hope this helps
 
Back
Top Bottom