Poor HD Tach numbers on SCSI 15K drive?!

[Parabellum27]

Hello,

I have set up my SCSI machine and I am currently trying to benchmark it against my current ATA100 drive. OK, I'll describe my current set up and methodology for you to have a clear view on what it going on.

Ok, here is my setup:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ @ 2.083GHz
Thermalright SLK-800 & Panaflo FBA08A12U1A
EPoX EP-8K3A+ V1.2
512mb Mushkin High Performance LEVEL 2 PC2700
Antec SX840 cooled by Panaflo
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128mb
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy Gamer
3com 3C905-TX
Adaptec ASC-29160N SCSI Ultra160
Seagate Cheetah X15 36LP 36.7gb SCSI Ultra160
IBM Deskstar 180GXP 120gb

Well, I decided to have a better look on "how much" my HDD has increased. I don't know numerous benchmarks for HDD so I used HD Tach 2.61 to begin with. This benchmark gives me horrible results! I cannot link a copy clip of the results so I will write them down.

Here they are:

Seagate Cheetah X15 36LP 36.7gb SCSI Ultra160

Read speed

Maximum: 34961.0 kps
minimum: 14305.0 kps
average: 34680.1 kps
Access time: 5.9ms
Read burst speed : 34.1 mbps

CPU utilization: 52.9%

If I look the graph, the layout is maxed at 34000 kps...


IBM Deskstar 180GXP 120gb

Maximum: 60492.0 kps
minimum: 15425.0 kps
average: 45182.8 kps
Access time : 12.8ms
Read burst speed : maxed out at 80 mbps

CPU utilization: 16.1%


As you can see by the results, there is something that goes wrong! When my IBM was my windows boot drive, the results were the same except the CPU utilization which was about 60%. At that time, I was thinking that maybe a VIA based motherboard could the problem. Now, this drive is only used for plain storage so that may explain the difference in CPU utilization. What I don't understand is WHY the SCSI drive seems to top at 34 mbps?!? My controller is a U160 based so it may not be the problem.

Is this benchmark accurate or is my system needs more tweaks? I am using WinXP SP1 actually and I know that there is still a debate regarding the "XP cache filter thingie"... The answer isn't clear as some people says that there is no problem with XP while other argue that XP sucks with SCSI drives. Anyway, I don't understand why there is a so large gap in performance between those 2 drives.

If someone has expenrience with such setups, please, give me a hint because it sucks badly when you see the performance "loss" while having so much invested in CA$H. Frustrating..

Thanks in advance,

Parabellum

 

[mechBgon]

Firstly, describe your SCSI cable/termination setup. You should have a U160 or U320 cable and an LVD terminator. The SCSI card should be at one end of the cable, the terminator should be at the other, and the drive should be on the plug closest to the terminator. Is the 29160N showing the drive operating at U160 protocol?

Secondly, try the card and drive on an nForce or nForce2 motherboard. My own Adaptec/KT333 combo was very disappointing due to bad PCI performance, but nForce and nForce2 worked well. There is also usually an optimal way to deploy your PCI slots, and with several PCI devices, you might want to do that too. I'm downloading the 8K3A+'s manual to see if I can offer a suggestion on that...

My own X15-36LP hits peaks of around 58MB/sec in sustained throughput. If your Adaptec card came with Adaptec EZ-SCSI, install it and run SCSIBench, same-sector reads, 224kb block size. I'm guessing you'll see 50-70MB/sec throughput on your KT333-based board, and around 120MB/sec on nForce or nForce2.

 

[Pariah]

You're running in UW mode. When the system boots see what the SCSI card boot screen detects as the SCSI protocol. If it says 40MB/s, that's the problem. Make sure the SCSI ID the drive is on is set to 160MB/s. If that doesn't work check the termination and the cable, both could be the source of the problem.

Also, the 29160 is not a RAID card. So if something in your system is detecting it as RAID, you have a wrong driver installed.

 

[mechBgon]

Ok, got the manual... try the SCSI card in PCI slot #2, the Audigy in slot #3, and the NIC in slot #4. Go into the mobo BIOS and disable the onboard AC'97, onboard gameport and onboard MIDI so the Audigy has its IRQ to itself. PCI slot #1 is the top one, btw.

Also, SCSI cards are not known for their sense of humor with out-of-spec PCI bus speeds, from what I've heard. What's your PCI bus speed, hopefully very close to spec?

 

[Parabellum27]

Hello,

thanks for replying. Yeah, the 29160N is not a SCSI card. It is my mistake. The card was automaticaly detected with WinXP. If I press CTRL + A to enter the card's BIOS, I see that the protocol used is U160.

Ok, I will try to swap the card. Actually, nic is in slot 2, audigy in slot 3 and the SCSI card is in slot 5. I will give a try tonight after work and post results.

Thanks again,

Parabellum

 

[Parabellum27]

Also, the cable I have is the cable I got with the card. I bought this card on Ebay and the cable + the terminator (astalavista, baby) was bundled so I don't know which grade it is. I am currently planning on buying a couple of SCSI U320 round cable on www.sidewindercomputers.com to clean the mess I have in my box. It is logical the the cable could be the problem as HD Tach shows a maximum peak of 34 mbps. I think I will buy them as soon as I can to figue out if it is cable related. My second Cheetah X15 36LP is on its way (won another one on Ebay) so I prefer come over this problem before plugging in another drive.

Thanks

Parabellum

 

[Parabellum27]

Ok, I did my homeworks. I have moved the 29160N to PCI slot 2, the Audigy in slot 3 and the NIC in slot 4. I also did disable all the onboard stuff; well, they were actually disabled. I also moved the SCSI HDD to the second connector of my SCSI cable (the one closest to the terminator). I have a 2 device cable. Ok, so I tested those change and it did not help. I also installed a VIA RAID patch as some people told me to install. It did not help too.

I checked the terminator and it is an "active terminator". The cable has the terminator built in (crimped) so I was not able remove it. I remember to have seen "LVD/SE" marked in small characters when I installed it but I'll have to double-check just to be sure.

I also cheked the IRQ and noticed that the Audigy is using the same IRQ (#11) as the 29160N SCSI card. So I decided to unplug the Audigy and reboot. It did not help neither.

I looked at the SCSI controller's post screen (when it asked you to press CTRL + A to enter card's BIOS) and it shows that the "sync" is set to 40 (which should be in mb/s). I don't know what could cause this. I suspect that the cable could possibly be in cause but if it is an LVD/SE terminated cable as I suspect, what could be wrong? My hard drive's jumpers are set to default so I suppose that the problem isn't there either.

What do you think about it?

Thanks again,

Parabellum

 

[mechBgon]

Have a look at the J2 jumper set depicted on the bottom of this page and make sure it's not jumpered for Single-Ended operation.

Also see if you can change its mode in the SCSI card's BIOS. My 19160 is at work, but if you haven't found a solution by tomorrow then I'll rummage around in its BIOS and see if that's an option.

 

[Parabellum27]

Hello again,

Thanks for your help mechBgon. It is much appreciated. I have checked the page you linked me, also checked my drive and noticed that there is NO jumpers on J2!! No jumpers at all. On the page you linked, there is NO indication about what happens when there is no jumper. Well, I will have to find a way to connect pin 1 and pin 2 to enable LVD on my HDD. I bought this drive used, on the forum so I do not have some spare jumpers. I will search in my closet to find an old hard drive that may have a jumper that could fit there. I'll let you know.

Thanks again,

Parabellum

 

[Pariah]

I looked at the SCSI controller's post screen (when it asked you to press CTRL + A to enter card's BIOS) and it shows that the "sync" is set to 40 (which should be in mb/s). I don't know what could cause this. I suspect that the cable could possibly be in cause but if it is an LVD/SE terminated cable as I suspect, what could be wrong? My hard drive's jumpers are set to default so I suppose that the problem isn't there either.

There would be your problem. Most likely it is a defective cable. I had the same problem and after troubleshooting for a while, I tracked it down to the cable being defective. I would check if the the drive is jumpered to SE mode, which would be quite unlikely. Lastly, make sure you have the cable plugged into the right connector. The LVD connector is the one closest to the back of the computer, the other one is for SE operation.

 

[mechBgon]

Hold up there You don't want SE mode, so not having a jumper on 1-2 is a good thing. I'll check my own X15-36LP tomorrow to see what jumpers it does have on it, but in the meantime, see if you can opt for full-speed operation in your 29160N's BIOS.

The cable you describe fits the description of my 19160's stock Adaptec cable, so I'm pretty sure that's ok. And there is no vacant cable beyond the SCSI card itself, right? You don't want vacant sections of cable past the SCSI card.

 

[Pariah]

You shouldn't have any jumpers on that block, so you are fine there.

There should not be any jumpers on the drive at all unless it is jumpered to an ID other than 0, then J6 will have 1 or more jumpers on it.

 

[bozo1]

Usually when the drive isn't detected at its rated speed your problem is:

SE jumper is on. (which isn't your problem)
Cable is not an LVD cable or the terminator is missing.
Using a converter to connect to an SCA type hot-pluggable drive.
Cable connected to the SE port on your host adapter. (did that one myself recently!)

 

[Parabellum27]

Ah ok. I have tried with two types of jumpers and it did not do nothing. same thing. I'll remove this jumper if it is of any help. I will check once again in my card's BIOS.

Parabellum

 

[Parabellum27]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Hold up there You don't want SE mode, so not having a jumper on 1-2 is a good thing. I'll check my own X15-36LP tomorrow to see what jumpers it does have on it, but in the meantime, see if you can opt for full-speed operation in your 29160N's BIOS.

The cable you describe fits the description of my 19160's stock Adaptec cable, so I'm pretty sure that's ok. And there is no vacant cable beyond the SCSI card itself, right? You don't want vacant sections of cable past the SCSI card.

Yes, there is a vacant section! I'll show you how it is set up.

29160N ---------- vacant connector ---------- X15 36LP ---------- terminator

No other cable are plugged in the adaptec except the diagram listed above. Isn't that ok?

Para

 

[mechBgon]

Your cable setup is proper there. If the SCSI card were on the plug that's currently vacant, then you WOULD have a problem, because there would be a vacant section of cable hanging out beyond the card.

The 29160N should only have one 68-pin internal plug, so I think he's safe from that one.

 

[Parabellum27]

Yes, it does indeed only have one 68 pins connecter. I am wondering if I will come over this problem. It must be something so stupid that I simply overlook. Dunno. I will have a last check in my card's BIOS before going to bed. Thanks for your help.

Parabellum

 

[Pariah]

You likely have everything set up properly. Both the drive and card at their default settings will run at the highest available protocol. When the card boots, it auto-negotiates the connection with the drives connected to it. If something is wrong with the signal, caused by some sort of interference or defective cable or terminator, the card will drop into SE mode for compatability purposes. That's likely what you are experiencing. If you were planning on getting a new cable and terminator anyway you should be fine when it shows up.

 

[Parabellum27]

I will try something after work... My friend has an nForce2 based motherboard (A7N8X Deluxe) in his rig so I will bring all my set up and test it in his system to see if the VIA KT333 is not the source of the problem. I will just plug it to see if the "sync" can operate at 160 instead of 40. If it works, then it is likely that my motherboard and adapter do not mate togheter. If it don't, then the cable will have to be replaced in order to attain the maximum transfer rate. I'll post feedback.

Parabellum

 

[Parabellum27]

Hello There,

I am currently at my friend's home and tested the whole SCSI setup in his rig. Well, it did not change anything. So, I assume that the cable is finally the bottleneck. I will get those fancy SCSI silver rounded cables and give them a try. But for now, I'll just stick with this cable until I buy a new one. I'll post feedback when the time comes.

Thanks for your help,

Parabellum

 

[Parabellum27]

Ordered new Ultra320 SCSI cable with Ultra320 terminator. Package is en route so I'll post feedback as soon as I can.

Parabellum

 

[Parabellum27]

Hello,

Just want to give people a heads up. I finally received my U320 terminator and cable today. Setup it up and it flies!! The problem was the cable and now everything works as it should.

thanks for all your help