PERC 5/i RAID Card: Tips and Benchmarks - Overclock.net

DuckieHo · 4 Weeks Ago

PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller (PERC) 5/i
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=341-3742

Intel IOP333 Processor (11w TDP, 110Tj(max))
256 MB of ECC DDR2 memory (upgradable to 512MB)
RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50
PCIe x8
2 (SFF-8484) SAS internal connectors (support for 8 drives)
LSI Manufactured (and flashable)
Xp, Vista 32/64 Supported

Awesome thing is that this $700 card can be found on eBay regularly for $100. Since they are so common, there are usually 2-10 on sale at any given time. If you are looking for RAID5 or improving your RAID performance, this is card to get. The next closest card is going to cost $300+ unless you get lucky. Since SAS is downwards compatible with SATA, you just need the correct cable. A SAS SFF-8484 to 4xSATA cable runs for $10. (http://www.wiredzone.com/itemdesc.as...paign=10016794)

================================================== ===========================
SMBus Issue with Intel Chipsets

These cards are known to have some compatibility issues with Intel chipsets. However, they are known to work with NVIDIA motherboards fine. The issue stems from a System Management Bus (SMBus) conflicting with the motherboard's memory detection. SMBus is simple signal to provide the motherboad some basic device information and control. Symptoms of the conflict includes improperly reported RAM sizes and POST errors.

The trick is just to physically disable the SMBus signal. It is composed of just two pins B5 (SMCLK, SMBus clock) and B6 (SMDAT, SMBus data). These two pins need to be covered by tape or nail polish. On the top side of the card, they are the 5th and 6th PCIe pins from the left. You can see the pins covered as seen below:

================================================== ===========================
Forced Airflow is Required
Intel thermal specifications: http://download.intel.com/design/iio...s/30663002.pdf

The Tj maximum temperature is 110C. However, do NOT run the IOP333 passively. The heatsink needs force airflow. Intel's thermal analysis used a heatsink of the same size but with more fins (hence better). However, they require a minimum of 200LFM with there heatsink. Over the surface the PERC stock heatsink, that is at least 4CFM. Do realize that if you used a 80mm fan, you would need a higher CFM rating of around 16CFM. This is assuming that the 80mm fan is next to the HS.

Bottom Line: Make sure to force air cool the PERC 5/i CPU. The card is designed for Dell servers with forced air.

================================================== ===========================
How to Flash the Dell PERC 5/i with LSI MegaRAID SAS 8480E Firmware

The LSI version of this card is kept more up to date with bug fixes. Also, the LSI version has more software features so might as well get the better model.

8480E Drivers: http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/prod...ex.html#Driver
8480E MegaRAID Storage Manager: http://www.lsi.com/storage_home/prod...#Miscellaneous

The Windows version is the easiest to use so I'll provide those steps:
1) Download and extract the LSI flashing utility "MegaCLI - Windows"
2) Download the and extract the latest 8480E firmware
3) Place the .ROM file in the MegaCLI folder
3) Open a command prompt window
4) Navigate to the MegaCLI directory
5) Run the command: MegaCli -adpfwflash -f [firmware name].rom -a0

================================================== ===========================
Adapter to Convert Loop-Mounts into Screw-Mounts

This IOP heatsink is mounted using via the spring-loop mount. This type of mount was used on older chipset and is not common today. In addition, the older chipsets used 3" loop spacing but this card uses 2.5" spacing. Therefore, it is almost impossible to find a low profile heatsink that will fit on this cards.

However, there is this $5 kit that will convert the loops into screws to increase chipset HSF compatability: http://www.epowerhousepc.com/microco...ole-p-101.html

================================================== ===========================
How to Disable Battery Backup Unit (BBU) Warning

The card will display the following message if a battery unit is not used/working. These batteries power the card and the RAM in case of system power loss. It lets the card clear out the RAM to prevent data loss/corruption before shutting down the HD.

The battery hardware is missing or malfunctioning, or the battery is unplugged. If you continue to boot the system, the battery-backed cache will not function. Please contact technical support for assistance. Press 'D' to disable this warning (if your controller does not have a battery).

Just press D and the message should not appear again. If it does, update your firmware.

================================================== ===========================
Benchmarks of PERC 5/i vs ICH9R

Test System
Q6600@3.7GHz
4GB DDR2-1095
Vista 64 (Defrag and SuperFetch Disabled)
OS HDD: Seagate 7200.10
Test HDD: 3x WD Raptor 8MB WD740GD-00FLC0
HDTune using 64KB Sectors.

Terminology
Read Ahead: system tries to predict what part of files will be needed and preloads them into memory. This boost sequential performance but hurts random performance.
Adaptive Read Ahead: Read Ahead when memory and I/O avaliable with prioritization. Balances sequential and random read performance but takes processing power.

Write Through: Writes from memory to HDs are performed only when the data is complete. Data is not accessible until written to HD.
Write Back: Writes are stored in memory and can be accessed from faster RAM. Data is written to HD when optimal. Performance increases but data is at risk in volitle memory. If power is lost, the stored data in the RAM is lost and never written to disk.

Degraded: RAID5 can operate with one HD missing. Performance is heavily impacted due to parity calculations.

Generalized Results
RAID5 write speeds went from 55MB/s to 121MB/s.
RAID5 read speeds remain about the same but much more consistent.

RAID0 write speeds went from 165MB/s to 180MB/s but less consistent.
RAID 0 read speed went from 162MB/s to 182MB/s and MUCH more consistent.

CPU usage was greatly reduced and access time generally only slightly improved.

Please remember this are artificial tests that focus more on sequential performance.

Single Raptor

RAID5

ICH9R RAID5 w/ Caching [64KB]

ICH9R RAID5 w/o Caching [64KB]

ICH9R RAID5 Degraded w/ Caching [64KB] *Occasional BSoD*

PERC RAID5 (Write-Back, Adaptive-Read-Ahead) [64KB]

PERC RAID5 (Write-Back, Read-Ahead) [64KB]

PERC RAID5 (Adaptive-Read-Ahead) [64KB]

PERC RAID5 (Write-Back) [64KB]

PERC RAID5 Degraded (Write-Back, Adaptive-Read-Ahead) [64KB]

RAID0

ICH9R RAID0 w/ Caching [128KB]

ICH9R RAID0 w/o Caching [128KB]

PERC RAID0 (Write-Back, Adaptive-Read-Ahead) [128KB]

PERC RAID0 (Write-Back, Adaptive-Read-Ahead) [1MB]

PERC RAID0 (Write-Back, Adaptive-Read-Ahead) [8KB]
The poor performance is probably due to the 64KB block sizes used in the test. The controller had to access 8 sectors to retrive each block.

PERC RAID0 [128KB]

================================================== ===========================
Extra Cooling on My Card
CPU Heatsink removed:

I used a copper RAMsink on the RAID processor and a Thermaltake Spirit HS for the EC-RAM (courtesy of s1rrah). The card does get quite hot and I am thinking about replacing the CPU's HS.

Stock heatsink routed and cut up pieces of copper from a soldering tip.

Prepping an old laptop heatpipe/heatsink (notice the copper bits underneath as gap fillers)

Arctic Silver Adhesive to hold it together.

Ghettofied.

airbozo · 4 Weeks Ago

That is a great deal!

I have used that card in a couple of customer builds and it is the same logic built into the high end Dell Workstations.

FYI: In the supermicro mobo's (and possibly others), when doing a large data transfer (500gb+) across multiple drives, that card will get errors unless it is plugged into an x16 slot. (same with the LSI cards) Still trying to find out why from Dell and LSI...

DuckieHo · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by airbozo

That is a great deal!

I have used that card in a couple of customer builds and it is the same logic built into the high end Dell Workstations.

FYI: In the supermicro mobo's (and possibly others), when doing a large data transfer (500gb+) across multiple drives, that card will get errors unless it is plugged into an x16 slot. (same with the LSI cards) Still trying to find out why from Dell and LSI...

Do these run hot? I know Intel's new dual-core IOP (found on Adeptec's cards) run VERY hot at 80C+. Aftermarket cooling is recommended on those cards since they are known to thermal shutdown. I've seen someone watercool his RAID controller b/c of this... seriously.

DuckieHo · 4 Weeks Ago

got my card! Updated pics.

Benchies coming after I get my cables.

kennymester · 4 Weeks Ago

This looks pretty sweet. I think I'm going to get one for my Home Server. The guy on Ebay is about 2 miles from where I live. Thanks Duckie!

Edit: Do you think you take some shots of the ports and such?

DuckieHo · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennymester

This looks pretty sweet. I think I'm going to get one for my Home Server. The guy on Ebay is about 2 miles from where I live. Thanks Duckie!

Edit: Do you think you take some shots of the ports and such?

In most cases, you don't need one of these for a home server. These would be over kill in most cases.

The card has two SFF-8484 ports (aka 4xSAS). You can use these cables to support 4 SATA device per port: http://www.cross-mark.com/50cm-seria...ble-p-842.html

DuckieHo · 4 Weeks Ago

Updated directions to flash it to a LSI MegaRAID SAS 8480E.

**Mootsfox** · 4 Weeks Ago

Any idea of improvement over onboard RAID setups?

DuckieHo · 4 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mootsfox

Any idea of improvement over onboard RAID setups?

With RAID5 or large arrays, performance gain is massive... I am waiting for my cables before I can start bench RAID0.

		Overclock.net - Overclocking.net > Components > Hard Drives & Storage
PERC 5/i RAID Card: Tips and Benchmarks