While putting together the trading station for our client, we did some bench testing of the Intel solid-state drives in two RAID array configurations.
The system configuration:
- Intel S5520SC Workstation Board
- BIOS 42, BMC 0.45, FRU/SDR 21
- Intel W5590 Xeon Processor (second is going into an identical setup)
- 12GB Kingston KVR1333 ECC Registered RAM
- 160GB Intel SSD -G2R5 Code pair of drives
- On Board Chipset LSI based RAID
- Intel SC5650WS Workstation Chassis with 1,000Watt PSU
- PNY nVidia Quadro NVS 450 PCI-E x16 (4 monitors)
- ATI FirePro 2450 PCI-E x16 (4 monitors)
- Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Edition
The Intel SSDs are using the factory default firmware and no trim tools have been installed. The RAID Web Console 2 was installed but the SSD trim tools built into it were not enabled either for both tests.
Here is the WinSat output for the RAID 1 configuration:
C:\Windows\system32>winsat disk
Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:03.71
> Running: Storage Assessment '-ran -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:00.31
> Running: Storage Assessment '-scen 2009 -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:55.51
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -write -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:07.55
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -seq'
> Run Time 00:00:01.42
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -ran'
> Run Time 00:00:01.37
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 4096'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 16384'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 504.89 MB/s 7.9
> Disk Random 16.0 Read 242.46 MB/s 7.9
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate 1.52 ms/IO 7.5
> Responsiveness: Grouped IOs 11.60 units 6.9
> Responsiveness: Long IOs 3.62 units 7.8
> Responsiveness: Overall 42.01 units 7.2
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor 0.0
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Write 97.07 MB/s 6.5
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes 0.997 ms 7.6
> Latency: 95th Percentile 1.791 ms 7.8
> Latency: Maximum 5.227 ms 7.9
> Average Read Time with Random Writes 0.879 ms 7.9
> Total Run Time 00:01:10.57
And here is the raw output for the RAID 0 configuration:
C:\Windows\system32>winsat disk
Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:04.13
> Running: Storage Assessment '-ran -read -n 0'
> Run Time 00:00:00.26
> Running: Storage Assessment '-scen 2009 -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:51.11
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -write -drive C:'
> Run Time 00:00:04.30
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -seq'
> Run Time 00:00:01.11
> Running: Storage Assessment '-flush -drive C: -ran'
> Run Time 00:00:01.09
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 4096'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-hybrid -ran -read -n 0 -ransize 16384'
NV Cache not present.
> Run Time 00:00:00.02
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 537.33 MB/s 7.9
> Disk Random 16.0 Read 375.88 MB/s 7.9
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate 0.76 ms/IO 7.9
> Responsiveness: Grouped IOs 8.99 units 7.3
> Responsiveness: Long IOs 1.69 units 7.9
> Responsiveness: Overall 15.21 units 7.9
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor 0.0
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Write 197.47 MB/s 7.3
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes 0.947 ms 7.7
> Latency: 95th Percentile 1.719 ms 7.9
> Latency: Maximum 5.686 ms 7.9
> Average Read Time with Random Writes 0.952 ms 7.9
> Total Run Time 00:01:02.78
Taking the above statistics we get:
- RAID 1 configuration:
- Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 504.89 MB/s 7.9
- Disk Random 16.0 Read 242.46 MB/s 7.9
- Disk Sequential 64.0 Write 97.07 MB/s 6.5
- Total Run Time 00:01:10.57
- RAID 0 configuration:
- Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 537.33 MB/s 7.9
- Disk Random 16.0 Read 375.88 MB/s 7.9
- Disk Sequential 64.0 Write 197.47 MB/s 7.3
- Total Run Time 00:01:02.78
It is pretty clear that having the SSDs in a RAID 0 or RAID 10 configuration will provide a significant performance advantage in real world usage.
The write speed more than doubled when the drives were striped and took a huge step for the random read tests as well.
So, what do the numbers translate to? They translate to extremely fast OS loads, application loads, RAM cache like behaviour for any swap file activity, and an all around great user computing experience.
For anyone that generates revenue on system setups and the speed that they accomplish their computing tasks, this is one rig to consider.
By the way, the peak power consumed by the box was 195Watts under load. The average power usage while running its various tasks was 110-120Watts as measured by the APC BR1500LCD UPS. Only the workstation was connected to the UPS.
When the components for the second workstation arrive, we will run the same tests but with an add-in RAID controller to see if that further improves disk I/O performance.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.
No comments:
Post a Comment