3 years
Highpoint's
management utility is not web-based, but can
be executed on different machines connected
to the same network as the machine
containing the RAID card:
Clicking on each
HDD shows information on each one, including
settings for caching, read modes, and TCQ:
When creating a
RAID_0 or RAID_5 array, the stripe or block
size can be selected here. Highpoint
provides sizes ranging from 16k all the way
up to 2048k.
Lastly, unused drives can be assigned to
the Spare Pool, allowing the controller to
use them when necessary:
Here are the test
results:
HARDWARE RAID_0
Hardware RAID_0, 8x
WD Raptor 740GD, 16k stripe size, TCQ OFF
WOW!
OMG, this is blistering
performance...
Hardware RAID_0, 8x
WD Raptor 740GD, 16k stripe size, TCQ ON
Turning TCQ on seriously
hurt performance.
Hardware RAID_0, 8x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
Diminished performance
with a larger stripe size here...
...but mostly better than
the 16k here.
Hardware RAID_0, 8x
WD Raptor 740GD, 2048k stripe size, TCQ OFF
With the largest stripe
size, we see performance drop significantly.
Hardware RAID_0, 6x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
Solid numbers here with 6
drives.
Hardware RAID_0,
4x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
Very good numbers with 4
drives.
Hardware RAID_0, 2x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
With two drives only,
numbers have gone down, but still
respectable. Overall, we see a linear
pattern between the number of drives and
average performance. This goes to show
that the design of the RAID controller is
superior to one that adapts a
previous-generation 4-channel ASIC with SATA
converters.
HARDWARE RAID_1
Hardware RAID_1, 2x
WD Raptor 740GD, TCQ OFF
These numbers are more in
line with single-drive write speeds, but
with vastly improved read speeds- an
indication of RAID_1 performance benefit.
HARDWARE RAID_5
Hardware RAID_5, 8x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
Strong number for the
8-drive RAID_5 test. These numbers are
indicative of 7 drives being used for data
and of course the eight used as parity.
HD Tach looking weird here.
Hardware RAID_5, 6x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
Again, consistent numbers
with a strange HD Tach read graph.
Hardware RAID_5, 4x
WD Raptor 740GD, 64k stripe size, TCQ OFF
Very good numbers,
consistent, and now less erratic HD Tach
figures here. It seems like the HPT
1820A is performing the RAID_5 calculations
very effectively here, with no loss of
performance compared to the RAID_0
performance scale. And that's all done
without any separate on-board cache memory.
SOFTWARE RAID_0
Software RAID_0, 8x
WD Raptor 740GD, TCQ OFF
The software RAID_0
numbers are very close to the hardware
RAID_0 numbers. This tells us that the
RAID controller is very efficient in being
just a SATA controller.
