Accusys 7500 - Hot Swap RAID Device :: Performance

Test Setup

• Motherboard: ABIT TH7II-RAID
• CPU: Intel Pentium 4 1.7 GHz 478 Pin
• Cooler: Intel Boxed CPU Fan (Sanyo Denkin)
• Memory: 256 MB SAMSUNG PC800 RAMBUS
• Chipsets: Intel I82845 and I82850 North Bridge (MCH), Intel I82801BA South Bridge (ICH2)
• Video: Cardex GeForce3 64 MB DDR
• DVD: Pioneer 16X DVD Player
• Hard Drives: 2 x IBM IC35040AVER07 and Maxtor 91024U4
• Sound: Creative SoundBlaster Live Player
• Power Supply: Sparkle FPS350W
• Monitor: 24" Sony FW900
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional
• Chipset Driver: Intel 3.20.1008
• IDE Driver: Intel Application Accelerator 1.12
• VGA Driver: Detonator Version 23.11 for XP
• Desktop Resolution: 1024x768 32 Bit @85 Hz Vsync:Off

To analyze the performance of the AccuSYS, I used industry standard Winbench 99 Business and High-End Disk Winmark tests. I tested 4 kinds of systems to show the performance difference.

1. Single drive connected to directly motherboards standard controller - Intel 82801BA
2. Single drive inside Accusys 7500 connected to directly motherboard standard Intel 82801BA controller
3. Mirrored two disks connected to ABIT TH7-II onboard HPT370 IDE RAID controller. All drives master configuration.
4. Mirrored two disks inside Accusys 7500 connected to directly motherboards IDE motherboards standard controller - Intel 82801BA

First two tests were to show, if there is a performance difference between connecting the drive directly to Intel controller on board, and connecting the drive inside Accusys. We saw a negligible performance decrease.

Third and fourth tests were to show if there is a performance difference between mirrored drives connected to IDE Raid controller which you can find on most of the top motherboards, and mirrored drives inside Accusys. Accusys is outperformed HPT370 IDE Raid controller dramatically. Even it was faster than single drive configurations on Business Disk Winmark. It is logical because it can read from both drives simultaneously instead of one. Business Disk Winmark results highly depending on disk reads. High Disk Winmark is mostly focused on disk writes. So performance is less than single drive configuration for High End Disk Winmark.

I uninstalled AccuSYS to see what is inside the box. The RAID controller integrated in the back of the box. Power and IDE connections combined to one socket to make system hot swappable.