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SATA II and SAS RAID CARD ROUNDUP

RAID-0 Summary

We all know that RAID-0 is a striped array, providing the most performance and the least protection against a drive failure.  For us workstation users, RAID-0 is great as a boot drive, a scratch disk, temp drive, not storing any mission-critical or irreplaceable data.

HD Tach RW v3.0.1.0, 8MB Zones: Hardware RAID-0, Smallest stripe

RAID CARD STRIPE SIZE BURST SPEED AVE. READ SPEED AVE. WRITE SPEED RANDOM ACCESS TIME
Adaptec ASR-31605 16k 193.1 MB/s 98.1 MB/s 133.3 MB/s 11.0 ms
Areca ARC-1220 4k 681.4 MB/s 250.6 MB/s 295.6 MB/s 10.9 ms
Areca ARC-1261ML 4k 1066.4 MB/s 459.3 MB/s 615.7 MB/s 11.0 ms
Areca ARC-1680 4k 1048.1 MB/s 451.4 MB/s 622.7 MB/s 10.8 ms
HighPoint HPT-1820A 16k 481.2 MB/s 283.0 MB/s 174.5 MB/s 10.8 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 8k 385.4 MB/s 268.9 MB/s 129.2 MB/s 11.1 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8888ELP 8k 412.1 MB/s 267.0 MB/s 133.2 MB/s 11.0 ms
Promise EX16300 32k 253.1 MB/s 144.9 MB/s 94.8 MB/s 11.3 ms

The Areca cards show blistering performance here.  Truly splendid speeds with the tiniest of stripe sizes.  Adaptec falls behind here, but is likely because of the small stripe size. 

 

HD Tach RW v3.0.1.0, 32MB Zones: Hardware RAID-0, Smallest stripe

RAID CARD STRIPE SIZE BURST SPEED AVE. READ SPEED AVE. WRITE SPEED RANDOM ACCESS TIME
Adaptec ASR-31605 16k 147.6 MB/s 91.4 MB/s 79.0 MB/s 11.0 ms
Areca ARC-1220 4k 679.5 MB/s 398.2 MB/s 282.0 MB/s 11.0 ms
Areca ARC-1261ML 4k 1063.0 MB/s 609.3 MB/s 587.4 MB/s 11.0 ms
Areca ARC-1680 4k 1004.9 MB/s 548.5 MB/s 562.4 MB/s 11.1 ms
HighPoint HPT-1820A 16k 510.7 MB/s 291.4 MB/s 151.1 MB/s 10.9 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 8k 403.7 MB/s 270.7 MB/s 103.3 MB/s 10.8 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 8k 414.5 MB/s 271.5 MB/s 102.8 MB/s 10.9 ms
Promise EX16300 32k 254.6 MB/s 150.6 MB/s 112.2 MB/s 11.4 ms

Again, Areca is on top, and Adaptec suffers. 

 

ATTO Disk Benchmark: Hardware RAID-0, Smallest stripe

Write Speed, KB/s   Read Speed, KB/s

Length RAID Card
Stripe size
ASR-31605
16k		 ARC-1220
4k		 ARC-1261ML
4k		 ARC-1680
4k		 HPT-1820A
16k		 8708ELP
8k		 8888ELP
8k		 EX16300
32k
0.5 21129 29773 32461 33485 7440 8644 7277 10867
24779 33682 32973 34706 13636 11756 11815 11629
1.0 44647 66656 64096 67108 10104 18131 18267 19033
48087 67108 65888 69156 36024 32077 32333 23885
2.0 80927 130437 126341 134021 31584 42967 43155 39698
58645 134217 130437 138825 72048 64864 66745 44171
4.0 131644 257802 250834 262094 84698 98173 88343 66745
55313 261070 255754 267214 143272 125319 125597 74555
8.0 205422 373194 509460 524189 209518 142054 187241 112865
72527 484294 522141 522141 268469 213811 216285 116951
16.0 271851 393085 1027506 1048379 381583 242466 231811 77275
120631 721223 972881 981270 482246 303807 309408 104759
32.0 332851 404773 326959 335347 476762 238892 247745 153433
186223 779943 553451 545062 523055 382808 390166 175525
64.0 374677 410016 359810 369098 536870 237916 242662 247939
237336 811665 594105 595591 527164 431888 416308 268435
128.0 388438 413231 369098 385875 499569 288054 349698 265777
262528 820033 602473 610841 506638 441286 444596 278936
256.0 394264 415277 368178 385875 498333 365444 317792 315610
332222 820033 603979 594105 553648 426752 424634 334707
512.0 394264 416308 376545 385875 537201 354506 305791 344568
383003 820033 602473 594105 556472 415277 419430 369180
1024.0 390360 418404 384913 394264 465110 363644 363644 324720
436949 822083 602473 594105 553730 412216 410016 384913

The Areca ARC-1680 crushes the competition in the smaller chunks.  Beyond 16k, the ARC-1220 and surprisingly, the HPT-1820A manage to outperform the bigger, caching controllers.  It is possible that the larger data sizes pose more of a challenge for the memory subsystem.  As for the remainder of the group, all others had respectable performance.

 

HD Tach RW v3.0.1.0, 8MB Zones: Hardware RAID-0, Largest stripe

RAID CARD STRIPE SIZE BURST SPEED AVE. READ SPEED AVE. WRITE SPEED RANDOM ACCESS TIME
Adaptec ASR-31605 1024k 502.2 MB/s 227.0 MB/s 270.4 MB/s 11.2 ms
Areca ARC-1220 128k 624.1 MB/s 335.1 MB/s 311.2 MB/s 10.9 ms
Areca ARC-1261ML 128k 1025.6 MB/s 557.4 MB/s 619.9 MB/s 10.9 ms
Areca ARC-1680 128k 1096.5 MB/s 527.3 MB/s 626.8 MB/s 11.0 ms
HighPoint HPT-1820A 2048k 187.8 MB/s 55.2 MB/s 103.7 MB/s 11.6 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 1024k 245.8 MB/s 54.6 MB/s 165.4 MB/s 11.0 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 1024k 231.6 MB/s 54.1 MB/s 166.5 MB/s 11.0 ms
Promise EX16300 128k 216.8 MB/s 125.1 MB/s 62.6 MB/s 11.1 ms

With the larger stripe size here, the Arecas still dominate.  Some cards such as the Adaptec, show a tremendous improvement with the bigger stripe setting, while Promise shows just the opposite.

 

HD Tach RW v3.0.1.0, 32MB Zones: Hardware RAID-0, Largest stripe

RAID CARD STRIPE SIZE BURST SPEED AVE. READ SPEED AVE. WRITE SPEED RANDOM ACCESS TIME
Adaptec ASR-31605 1024k 509.0 MB/s 299.6 MB/s 260.2 MB/s 11.3 ms
Areca ARC-1220 128k 621.7 MB/s 343.9 MB/s 284.3 MB/s 10.8 ms
Areca ARC-1261ML 128k 980.2 MB/s 528.7 MB/s 591.1 MB/s 10.9 ms
Areca ARC-1680 128k 1073.3 MB/s 515.9 MB/s 570.9 MB/s 10.7 ms
HighPoint HPT-1820A 2048k 179.1 MB/s 115.3 MB/s 102.8 MB/s 11.2 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 1024k 239.9 MB/s 189.9 MB/s 173.2 MB/s 11.1 ms
LSI MegaRAID 8708ELP 1024k 240.4 MB/s 189.7 MB/s 173.3 MB/s 11.0 ms
Promise EX16300 128k 220.3 MB/s 127.2 Mb/s 63.0 MB/s 11.3 ms

Areca maintains control here.  Other cards' performance is consistent with previous tests.

 

ATTO Disk Benchmark: Hardware RAID-0, Largest stripe

Write Speed, KB/s   Read Speed, KB/s

LengthS RAID Card
Stripe size
ASR-31605
1024k		 ARC-1220
128k		 ARC-1261ML
128k		 ARC-1680
128k		 HPT-1820A
2048k		 8708ELP
1024k		 8888ELP
1024k		 EX16300
k
0.5 22921 32205 31821 33554 6164 5971 6083 10921
24201 32973 32461 34578 12198 10538 10538 11176
1.0 37650 64864 63328 67108 13153 11716 11883 21385
47575 65888 64864 69412 23630 19288 19288 23689
2.0 81948 126853 125829 134021 28027 24906 25103 40110
92786 134021 128901 137801 40620 35090 35249 46204
4.0 141385 252682 247365 262094 54022 50135 50596 72228
161028 253706 254730 266190 57071 59595 59299 80617
8.0 217363 381583 482246 526237 84664 92928 93388 101694
261441 475906 490635 524189 78417 91166 91166 130666
16.0 265583 399460 964493 1056768 97731 112305 132694 62735
347161 713031 926842 981270 85006 117243 116371 98016
32.0 332851 409820 293404 335347 128249 201945 205915 110868
473221 777998 503119 519897 90717 133686 142054 182527
64.0 391329 415277 326339 369098 137451 266437 272062 213304
566179 805306 562036 570425 112383 192456 191501 284501
128.0 416308 418384 335544 385875 229712 360710 324197 315610
644312 815963 569002 577370 160932 247329 237336 310378
256.0 460222 418384 334707 384913 240861 548166 557852 393281
682745 813694 570425 594105 174416 310992 322320 380173
512.0 516222 420460 351442 385875 203606 594349 771751 398666
853504 813694 570425 594105 183175 420460 404967 462819
1024.0 528936 420460 352321 394264 270732 603979 878607 478171
861871 815963 570425 594105 183175 541200 527637 481722

Same story here as with the previous ATTO test.  Areca and Highpoint rule the roost, but HPT's dominance is less now. 

 

ATTO Disk Benchmark: Windows Disk Striping (Software RAID-0)

Write Speed, KB/s   Read Speed, KB/s

Length RAID Card
ASR-31605 ARC-1220 ARC-1261ML ARC-1680 HPT-1820A 8708ELP 8888ELP EX16300
0.5 22537 30797 30029 31181 7296 6459 7168 5422
24457 31437 31053 31742 12740 10358 10436 2628
1.0 45015 61382 60768 61792 14895 13916 13916 10665
47967 62816 61536 63170 25613 19849 19799 4308
2.0 84398 122048 121536 122560 29333 27451 27820 20209
91566 125632 123072 126341 51355 37878 37556 9588
4.0 137968 240001 24001 243073 48385 40120 39536 26124
156747 247770 24001 249413 92604 72048 72048 19555
8.0 217363 399410 441248 442351 115195 118599 99718 43881
259202 433963 444399 450740 154704 152661 160229 33666
16.0 282194 423526 821886 851345 213278 225731 251658 52208
355528 654114 809402 832486 251974 268238 268503 75803
32.0 424439 434923 243073 250834 469565 477954 434923 98738
491048 788332 275937 293404 448305 431964 448305 137262
64.0 514944 438025 293601 251658 549526 582831 469762 166111
589694 820033 578813 570425 520093 498333 498333 177878
128.0 520093 443487 327155 292869 553648 585738 602473 220968
652679 838860 587202 536870 537201 516222 504142 223145
256.0 524548 443487 334707 335544 612368 595591 671088 254324
674419 847249 595591 595591 577370 549526 543899 252472
512.0 524548 445193 335544 251658 619208 549526 694518 270732
682745 853504 595591 486539 556472 577370 574505 264468
1024.0 524548 446290 335544 243269 627576 582831 794930 260616
707723 857594 595591 461373 574505 577370 577370 278256

No surprise here.  Again, the pattern remains.  Areca for smaller chunk sizes, and the 1820A / ARC-1220 for the larger ones.  This indicates that Windows uses a relatively smaller stripe size.

     
  Table Of Contents Next:  RAID-1 Summary
       1.  Introduction  
       2.  Adaptec 31605  
       3.  Areca ARC-1220  
       4.  Areca ARC-1261ML  
       5.  Areca ARC-1680  
       6.  Highpoint 1820A  
       7.  LSI 8708ELP  
       8.  LSI 8888ELP  
       9.  Promise EX16300  
       10.  RAID-0 Summary  
       11.  RAID-1 Summary  
       12.  RAID-5 Summary  
       13.  RAID-6 Summary  
       14.  Other tests  
       15.  Conclusion  

 
 

 

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