Sonnet Technologies Tempo SSD 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.5' SSD Host Adapter. Mount one or two high-performance 6Gb/s SSDs in your Mac Pro, desktop PC, or Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis. Adaptec SCSI RAID 2120S Low-profile single-channel Adaptec SCSI RAID 2120S is a 64-bit/66MHz Ultra320 RAID controller designed for entry-level and high-density servers. Advanced features include Adaptec's optimized disk utilization, Online Capacity Expansion, RAID Level Migration and full OS support.
| MAIN INDEX of latest speed tests | ||||||||
Posted February 17th, 2006, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist With all the attention to Serial ATA, we haven't done much with SCSI host adapters or drives lately. But when Atto Technology announced the PCI Express UL5D host adapter for the Dual-Core and Quad-Core G5 Power Mac, we were anxious to test it. We were hoping to test the UL5D with the Seagate 146GB Cheetah 15K.4 (ST3146854LW) drive because it received a high 93MB/s low level transfer speed rating from Storage Review -- but we weren't able to shake any eval units loose from Seagate. They did, however, provide us with two 73GB Cheetah 15K.3 drives (ST373453LW) -- 76MB/s low level rating. In the graphs below, we compare the Cheetahs in single and striped pairs to the reputed fastest Serial ATA drives -- the Western Digital Raptors. We tested a single WD Raptor 10K Serial ATA 150GB (WD1500ADFD, 16MB cache) drive -- 88MB/s low level rating. Plus we tested a single and striped pair of 74GB WD Raptor 10K Serial ATA drives (WD740GD, 8MB cache) -- 72MB/s low level rating. The Serial ATA host adapter we used was the new Sonnet Tempo SATA E4P (SATA-300) PCI Express host adapter. (The Tempo SATA E4P and E4i have been announced and will soon begin shipping. Test system was a Quad-Core G5/2.5GHz Power Mac with 4GB of memory.) (Our random graphs below reflect the average of 256K, 512K, and 1024K block transfers.) ANALYSIS Ultra320 SCSI storage does have distinct advantages. You can hang multiple drives on each Ultra SCSI channel, achieving the full 320MB/s per data channel. Though the Sonnet Tempo E4P SATA-300 host adapter supports multiple drives on each port, the best real world speed we've seen is 230MB/s per data channel. The ATTO Technology UL5D PCI Express Ultra320 SCSI seemed to work fine except we were unable to test the drive using Zonebench or Disktester. For some reason those applications would freeze up without completing their run. We're checking with the usual suspects to see why that might be happening. There's a cost/performance issue when comparing Ultra SCSI to 'ultra' SATA: Other than cost, SATA has the advantage of supporting hot-swap in most cases. CONCLUSION And if you are using 15K SCSI drives comparable to the ones we used, they aren't going to be any faster than the 10K SATA drives. In fact, in sustained transfers, they won't be any faster than the impressive 7K Maxtor MaXLine III SATA-300 (7V300F0) drive. FLASH! On April 19th, 2006, Seagate announced a new Cheetah 15,000 RPM drive that's rated at 125MB/s -- the first single drive to break the 100MB/s barrier. The newest incarnation of the Cheetah, designated '15K.5,' is available with 3Gb/s SAS (Serial Attached SCSI), Ultra320 SCSI and 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel interfaces. This flagship enterprise drive features 10 times the error protection and data reliability of the previous model. And it's the first 15K drive to use perpendicular technology, doubling capacity to 300GB. QUICKBENCH RELATED ARTICLES Storage Review compares the 146GB Cheetah 15K.4 SCSI drive to others. Storage Review compares the 150GB Raptor 10K SATA drive to others. Storage Review compares the 73GB Cheetah 15K.3 SCSI drive to others. Storage Review compares the 74GB Raptor 10K SATA drive to others WHERE TO BUY THE ATTO PCI-EXPRESS UL5D ULTRA320 SCSI ADAPTER You can purchase the ExpressPCI UL5D direct from ATTO Technology's online store. You can save $120 if you order from Small Dog Electronics. Though it's not list on Other World Computing, they are an ATTO dealer. WHERE TO BUY OTHER SCSI ADAPTERS, SCSI DRIVES, and SCSI CABLES Granite Digital (cables, repeaters, terminators, and enclosures) MacGurus (adapters, enclosures, and cables.) Other World Computing (cables, adapters) Small Dog Electronics (adapters, enclosures, and drives) WHERE TO BUY SATA ADAPTERS, SATA DRIVES AND SATA ENCLOSURES FirmTek (host adapters, enclosures) Granite Digital (adapters, enclosures, drives, cables) MacGurus (adapters, enclosures, drives, cables) MaxUpgrades (adapters, enclosures, internal mounting kits) Other World Computing (adapters, enclosures, drives) Small Dog Electronics (adapters, enclosures, drives) Sonnet Online Store (SATA II PCI Express and PCI-X host adapters) TransIntl.com (enclosures, drives, internal mounting kits) Wiebetech.com (adapters, enclosures, pre-installed drives, internal mounting kits) Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats? | ||||||||
'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS' Email , the webmaster and mad scientist |
I'm getting email almost daily asking, 'When are you going to test Sonnet's $99 Tempo card?' I wasn't too excited at first about redoing the test graphs for a card that I understood to be YAAiD ('yet another Acard in disguise'). But when I used it to set up a striped array on a Sawtooth, its WRITE speed surprised me.TEST CONCLUSIONS
1. The UltraTek/66 produced higher sustained READ times than any other Ultra ATA PCI card using SoftRAID to create a striped array.
2. The 'A-hard' produced highest sustained READs of the Ultra ATA cards due to being true hardware based RAID0. This card is unique. By flipping a switch, you can create a striped array of two drives. SoftRAID isn't needed. The drives don't have to match either. ONE OF THE BIG ADVANTAGES is the ability to boot from this hardware array. No IDE arrays created with SoftRAID can be used as startup volumes. (FLASH: Since posting this page, Sonnet Technologies has announced they will offer this product under a joint venture with Acard. They call it the Tempo RAID66 and offer in-depth documentation and installation guide. )
Linux Scsi Device
3. All cards produced high sustained WRITE speeds when installed on a G4/Yikes, graphically illustrating the design flaw in the Sawtooth. The surprise exception was the Sonnet Tempo, which attained 37MB/sec. Not as fast as on the Yikes but significantly faster than any other card tested on the Sawtooth.
When I was briefed by Sonnet Marketing, I asked if they were tweaking the firmware knowing they were using Acard as an OEM supplier. They said, 'No.' So how do they account for the fact that it WRITES faster than the other cards on the Sawtooth? Maybe Sonnet Engineering did something and forgot to tell Marketing. ;-)
4. On the Acard and all cards based on it (TurboMAX & Tempo), I observed a strange phenomenon in single drive mode. The transfer rate drops to zero when file size reaches 8MB or larger. (What's with that???!!! Oooga boooga??) I received an email from the individual who co-authored the firmware for the TurboMAX33 and UltraTek/66. He pointed out that Finder typically breaks files down into smaller than 8MB chunks but that there is no guarantee that Finder or any application will not try to transfer larger than 8MB chunks at some point. If that were attempted, the user's data would be ruined. (Editor's NOTE: Firmware version 3.0.7 is supposed to fix this but all it does is increase the maximum file size to 8MB + 64K so the flaw doesn't show up in the ExpressPRO Tools test.)
WHERE TO BUY
The UltraTek/66 is available from VST Technology direct for a special price of $170. But Buy.Com has it for $155. It's also listed on Onvia.com. Check also with OtherWorldComputing and Small Dog. I think the VST is a great value. The price of the VST UltraTek/66 includes a copy of SoftRAID, dual cables, and brackets for extra drives. SoftRAID alone would cost you $149. It's like you're buying SoftRAID and cables but getting the card for FREE!!!
The Acard AEC-6260M Ultra ATA/66 PCI card can be ordered direct from the Acard website for $129. Check their web site for the latest firmware release for the Mac. The 'A-hard' is model AEC-6860M with Hardware IDE RAID for $199. (FLASH: Since posting this page, Sonnet Technologies has announced they will offer this product under a joint venture with Acard. They call it the Tempo RAID66 and offer in-depth documentation and installation guide. )
ProMax TurboMAX/66 is available from their web site or from OtherWorldComputing. Although it's based on the Acard, the firmware is supposedly optimized for video playback.
The Sonnet Tempo sells for $99 at Sonnet's Online Store including a cable with three connectors. (FLASH: Since posting this page, Sonnet Technologies has announced they will offer this product under a joint venture with Acard. They call it the Tempo RAID66 and offer in-depth documentation and installation guide. )
RELATED TESTSBare Feats Compares two Ultra ATA arrays to various Ultra SCSI combinations.
George Cole of OWC tested a Blue & White G3/500 with Dual 40GB Maxtors connected to a TurboMax/33 in a striped array as well as a Dual 45GB IBM 75GXP's connected to a TurboMax66.
Barney Buoy tested a G4/400 Yikes for XLR8YOURMAC with dual IBM 75GXP's in a striped array using the Acard.
TEST CONFIGURATION AND PROCEDURES
The test machines: An Apple Power Mac G4/400 Yikes and a G4/400 Sawtooth
The Ultra ATA controllers:
Built-in Ultra ATA/66 controller of Sawtooth
SmartDisk/VST UltraTek/66 (Courtesy of VST Technology )
Acard AEC-6260M Ultra ATA66 PCI and AEC-6860M 'AHARD' RAID PCI (Courtesy of Acard) (FLASH: Since posting this page, Sonnet Technologies has announced they will offer this product under a joint venture with Acard. They call it the Tempo RAID66 and offer in-depth documentation and installation guide. )
ProMax TurboMAX/66 PCI (courtesy of ProMax)
Sonnet Tempo (Courtesy of Sonnet Technology)
The Ultra ATA drives were:
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA/66+ with 2MB cache
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 46GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA/66+ with 2MB cache (courtesy of Other World Computing)
The Ultra3 SCSI controller:
ATTO ExpressPCI Dual-Channel Ultra3 or UL3D (courtesy of ATTO Technology)
The SCSI drives:
Two Quantum Atlas V 9GB drives (courtesy of Other World Computing)
Download Scsi Drivers
The sustained READ/WRITE speeds were obtained using Express-Pro Tools 2.3.2 benchmark test with 8MB maximum file size and system disk cache disabled. Sustained Rate is displayed in the charts. Peak rates can be impressive but do not reflect typical drive performance.