AS SSD Benchmark

[AnalyticalGuy]

My goal is to minimize the time it takes to:
1) Boot Windows 7, plus
2) Load anti-virus (AV), plus
3) Allow the AV to scan startup files, plus
4) Allow the AV to download updates, plus
5) Load several applications into RAM.

Question: Would this be faster with:
A) One Intel 160GB G2 SSD, or
B) Two independent (i.e., no RAID involved) Intel 80GB G2 SSDs -- One for Win 7 and the other for AV and applications?

 

[lsquare]

My goal is to minimize the time it takes to:
1) Boot Windows 7, plus
2) Load anti-virus (AV), plus
3) Allow the AV to scan startup files, plus
4) Allow the AV to download updates, plus
5) Load several applications into RAM.

Question: Would this be faster with:
A) One Intel 160GB G2 SSD, or
B) Two independent (i.e., no RAID involved) Intel 80GB G2 SSDs -- One for Win 7 and the other for AV and applications?

Contrary to what some people have speculated, SSDs does not dramatically increase your boot time. It's probably going to shave off a couple of seconds at max.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

Contrary to what some people have speculated, SSDs does not dramatically increase your boot time. It's probably going to shave off a couple of seconds at max.

If u have a few mins to shave u have another prob

 

[AnalyticalGuy]

While thinking about this, I remembered Anand mentioning "queue depth" in the context of SSD benchmarks. I did a search on the site for "queue depth." I came across the second post below from a user named GullLars in the comments of one of Anand's articles. Then I did a search for GullLars and came across this comment as well...


Good test, now RAID by GullLars, 10 days ago
This was a good test, and one i've been waiting for a while. I'm a bit disappointed a 32GB Indilinx Barefoot drive wasn't included. I have a 30GB Vertex in my laptop that performs better sequentailly than these numbers, and has better random performance than the Kingston V 30GB. The price is slightly higher though.
Ref screenshot: http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?ap...tach_id=339908 CDM 3.0 + WEI for my laptop.

Now the next thing I hope Anandtech will do regarding SSDs is a comparison of RAID of low-capasity cheap SSDs VS single high capasity SSDs. This is something no other reckognized tech site has done yet, but enthusiasts have done for years now. Example: http://www.nextlevelhardware.com/storage/battleship/

I'll also mention Nizzen, an enthusiast on a forum i frequent, who set a WR i PCmark vantage last spring with his 24/7 setup, and is still on top5 with the same setup (updated in august with 4GB RAM on the Areca). The key was an Areca 1680ix-12 with a RAID-0 of several (7 i think) OCZ Vertex.
ORB result page: http://service.futuremark.com/result...eResultType=18
24740 PCmarks, WAY ahead of the highest score in your benchmark lists. The same level of disk performance is possible to get with an LSI 9211-8i with 8 30-40GB SSDs in RAID-0 for about $1000 (less than 2 256GB SSDs).

Suggested lineup for such an article: RAID-0 of 4 Kingston V 30GB, Intel x25-V, and Indilinx Barefoot 32GB (Vertex?). 2 RAID-0 SF-1200/1500 50GB, Kingston SSDNow V+ 64GB, Indilinx Barefoot 64GB, Intel x25-M 80GB. And single 100/128/160 GB SSDs of various controllers.

Regarding performance degrading in RAID whitout TRIM, increased reserved area can help negate the performance degrading (Ref IDF whitepaper on spare area). Increasing the spare area to ~20-25% from the default 7% (on most SSDs) will make sure degrading will not be noticable by users in normale usage models.


Additional note on SSD RAID, IOPS, and QD by GullLars, 31 days ago
Just thought I'd add a link to a couple of graphs i made of IOPS scaling as a function of Queue Depth for 1-4 x25-V in RAID 0 from ICH10R compared to x25-M 80GB and 160GB, and 2 x25-M 80GB RAID 0. These are in the same price range, and the graphs will show why i think Anands reviews don't show the whole truth when there is no test beyond QD 8.
link: http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?ap...tach_id=348638
The tests were done by 3 users at a forum i frequent, the username is in front of the setup that was benched.

The IOmeter config run was: 1GB testfile, 30 sec run, 2 sec ramp. Block sizes 0,5KB, 4KB, 16KB, 64KB. Queue Depths 1-128, 2^n stepping. This is a small part of a project from a month back mapping SSD and SSD RAID scaling by block size and queue depth (block sizes 0,5KB-64KB 2^n stepping, QD 1-128 2^n stepping).

ATTO is also nice to show scaling of sequential performance by block size (and possibly queue depth).

 

[n7]

n7 did you get this?
Do you know if this is untrue?

Anand addresses this in the RAID-0 review here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3618/intel-x25v-in-raid0-faster-than-x25m-g2-for-250

From there:

1) There is currently no way to pass the TRIM instruction to a drive that is a member of a RAID array. Intel's latest RAID drivers allow you to TRIM non-member RAID disks, but not an SSD in a RAID array.

2) Giving up TRIM support means that you need a fairly resilient SSD, one whose performance will not degrade tremendously over time. On the bright side, with the exception of the newer SandForce controllers, I'm not sure we've seen a controller as resilient as Intel's.

So in short, RAID= no TRIM.

 

[jalyst]

Thank-you for responding.....
I have seen that; others say that doesn't mean there'll "never" be TRIM support.
Just not for the moment, I hope they're right!?

 

[ulukay]

bam

normally i got 1,6gb/s seq. read (iometer)

 

[gmjimmy]

Thank-you for responding.....
I have seen that; others say that doesn't mean there'll "never" be TRIM support.
Just not for the moment, I hope they're right!?

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18859&ProdId=2101&lang=eng

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=15251&lang=eng

There is now.

 

[PClark99]

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18859&ProdId=2101&lang=eng

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=15251&lang=eng

There is now.

Unfortunately those drivers don't support Trim for SSDs in a Raid 0 array.

What those drivers allow is for an SSD to run Trim actively with a Raid array (with the SSD not being a member drive) in the system.

That is unless I read something incorrectly.

 

[gmjimmy]

I'm aware they don't support trim in a raid array. I have one ssd for my OS. I would like to know the difference between the two. I suspect they are the same?
Jim

 

[PClark99]

I am running the microsoft AHCI drivers as of yet I don't plan on using intel storage drivers until they get TRIM support in RAID figured out.

 

[jalyst]

Unfortunately those drivers don't support Trim for SSDs in a Raid 0 array.

What those drivers allow is for an SSD to run Trim actively with a Raid array (with the SSD not being a member drive) in the system.

That is unless I read something incorrectly.

That is correct...
There's still no clear indication by Intel when they intend to support pass-through in RAID.

I'm aware they don't support trim in a raid array. I have one ssd for my OS. I would like to know the difference between the two. I suspect they are the same?
Jim

Not sure personally, I'll be looking more closely soon, when I start building my system.

I am running the microsoft AHCI drivers as of yet I don't plan on using intel storage drivers until they get TRIM support in RAID figured out.

I would be using the Intel dvrs regardless of there being no RAID support.
I recall reading of decent performance improvements, along with other functionality, compared to the generic windows dvrs.

I can't recall the source right now, but it might be worth your while investigating.

 

[WillC310]

I would be using the Intel dvrs regardless of there being no RAID support.
I recall reading of decent performance improvements, along with other functionality, compared to the generic windows dvrs.

I can't recall the source right now, but it might be worth your while investigating.

When I ran my tests going from IDE -> MS AHCI, it gave me better threaded reads but going from MS AHCI -> Intel didn't yield crazy gains. It was pretty much on par for the most part, but I assume that there's more to it than just raw AS SSD #'s. Not to mention that the Intel drivers are newer so there's probably some enhancements that the MS AHCI driver doesn't have under the hood.

 

[gmjimmy]

For those interested I found this little note on an Intel page.
Intel® RST 9.6 supports TRIM in AHCI and pass through modes for RAID. A bug has been submitted to change the string that indicates TRIM is supported on RAID volumes (0, 1, 5, 10). Intel is continuing to investigate the ability of providing TRIM support for all RAID volumes in a future release.

Jim