PERC 5/i RAID Card: Tips and Benchmarks - Page 172 - Overclock.net

dingo1 · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam86

This does a lovely job, is easy to fit and sticks really well with the adesive whats pre applied and its cheap : http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa_english...pec_ak_210.htm

Just use the latest Dell Firmware for the card and the LSI MegaRAID manager, works perfectly.

+1, Yep thats exactly what I've done, works a charm ! Cooller with heatsink cost £4. added VGA RAM heatsinks to the ARM chip. Didn't have spare backplate, tied card to my back spacers with a spare wire/bag twist tie to stop it flapping around.

I tried for hours to find stable LSI firmware, 51 was stable but no better than latest DELL firmware, later LSI firmware performed better but had warm boot issues.

In the end I went back to DELL firmware and drivers. I don't think its always safe to use the wrong drivers even with identical hardware, numerous people on here seem to have various issues with the LSI drivers.

The MegaRAID manager works well with DELL drivers and firmware.

My only complaints are that my 4 SAS drives only give around 240MB's max in HD Tune. I don't know if this is a bottleneck or if they are slow drives, not benched one individually. They are this sorta thing :-

http://www.fujitsu.com/global/servic...may2073rc.html
http://www.scsi4me.com/fujitsu-may20...-repaired.html

Anyone got any ideas ?

According to here (In German):-
http://tweakers.net/benchdb/testcombo/868

It appears max read transfer is 57,36 MB/s ? Is this poor ?

Also the DELL drivers result in a jagged read performance where the later LSI drivers were smooth.

Heres where I got my cable :-
http://www.span.com/catalog/product_..._id=17114&rr=1

Heres where I got my cooler :-
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Akasa...Chipset-Cooler

Clean the old thermal compound off with some alcohol and a ladies cotton face pad !

I have an ASUS P6T Deluxe (X58 chipset), no SMbus conflicts or whatever they are, save your nail varnish for your toes !

utnorris · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam86

This does a lovely job, is easy to fit and sticks really well with the adesive whats pre applied and its cheap : http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa_english...pec_ak_210.htm

Just use the latest Dell Firmware for the card and the LSI MegaRAID manager, works perfectly.

FYI, you can get it at Sidewinders.com:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/akakchco.html

ounderfla69 · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by dingo1

My only complaints are that my 4 SAS drives only give around 240MB's max in HD Tune. I don't know if this is a bottleneck or if they are slow drives, not benched one individually. They are this sorta thing :-

You dont have your system in your signature but my best guess is that the PCIExpress slot on your board is only running at 1X. Do you have a picture of your results? Is the graph straight?

error10 · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by kolyan

have we found a way to monitor the SMART system and the Temperatures on the PERC??

Quote:

Originally Posted by devsk

Also, how do people access the SMART data on the drives which are on the card?

You don't.

If there is a SMART error with the drive, the card will take it offline and mark it as Failed, and MSM will notify you (you did install it, right?). Go to Tools > Configure > Monitor to put in your email address if you want it to email you, otherwise it will just pop up on the screen.

At that point you can remove the drive, check its status elsewhere, and RMA it.

dingo1 · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by ounderfla69

You dont have your system in your signature but my best guess is that the PCIExpress slot on your board is only running at 1X. Do you have a picture of your results? Is the graph straight?

Its here :-

http://www.overclock.net/hard-drives...ml#post5828893

I think 4 * 60MB/s comes out 240 so it seems to make sense.

The jagged graph makes less sense, its an ASUS P6T Deluxe, can't find any PCI slot config options, I think the slot is an 8x speed slot. I've only got one other card its a Geforce 290 XFX 1 GB in the slot nearest the processor which I think is 16x.

Like I said with LSI BIOS (v64) I got a MUCH smoother graph, I guess there must be something wrong with the DELL firmwares Adaptive Read Ahead ? The LSI (v51) was also MUCH smoother but not as good as (v64), at this point I could stay on old LSI (v51) or go to new DELL, I chose the new DELL firmware as it seemed easiest and less likely to result in stability issues.

Vric · 03-21-09

Here's my result.

3x1TB (2x WD Green 32Mb and 1x Hitachi 16Mb)

Raid 5, 128kb stripe ARA and WB..

Everything look normal but I have an error when I reboot: Drive is not certified.. It do it for my 3 drive.

any idea?

uberjon · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vric

Here's my result.

3x1TB (2x WD Green 32Mb and 1x Hitachi 16Mb)

Raid 5, 128kb stripe ARA and WB..

Everything look normal but I have an error when I reboot: Drive is not certified.. It do it for my 3 drive.

any idea?

i have the same error usually.. i just ignore it.

im more worried about your actual results? your average should be higher i think??

my single 7200.10 250GB seagates from like nearly 3 years ago, push like 65-70 average.. i would "think" 3 modern 1TB's could outdo two of mine easily?

error10 · 03-21-09

You can ignore the "Drive is not certified" message.

dingo1 · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by uberjon

i have the same error usually.. i just ignore it.

im more worried about your actual results? your average should be higher i think??

my single 7200.10 250GB seagates from like nearly 3 years ago, push like 65-70 average.. i would "think" 3 modern 1TB's could outdo two of mine easily?

Well its RAID5, 2*70 MB/s ~= 140 doesn't it ? The extra drive just gets used for parity, not parallelism.

Here has your drives as around 75 MB/s peak read.
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article...oundup-Update/

New 2TB greens and the blacks are around 100MB/s.

uberjon · 03-21-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by dingo1

Well its RAID5, 2*70 MB/s ~= 140 doesn't it ? The extra drive just gets used for parity, not parallelism.

Sounds like should be slightly faster according to this :-
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1738/print/index.html

Has read for WD 2TB Green between 80-100MB/s so that would mean your RAID setup if your drives are similar should be around 180MB/s. Maybe the Hitachi is slowing it down, what speed is that ?

yea, 2 x 70MB = 140MB.. but i would assume 1 vs 1 a 1TB drive would tear my 250GB drive a new SATA port

could be, since the cache is lower etc on the one drive? might be causing issues with the raid?

03-21-09	#1716 (permalink)
Vric New to Overclock.net Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 17 Rep: 0 Unique Rep: 0 Trader Rating: 0	Here's my result. 3x1TB (2x WD Green 32Mb and 1x Hitachi 16Mb) Raid 5, 128kb stripe ARA and WB.. Everything look normal but I have an error when I reboot: Drive is not certified.. It do it for my 3 drive. any idea? Attached Thumbnails

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PERC 5/i RAID Card: Tips and Benchmarks

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