X5DA8 + 2010S = slow SCSI performance

I am trying to debug and setup an X5DA8 board and have been extremely
disappointed in the slow SCSI drive speeds when using an Adaptec 2010S in
the green PCI-X slot. 4 Seagate ST336607LW drives only give 72.2 MB/s
(across the whole 140GB) through put in a Raid 0 array. Software Raid 0
(Win2K Server) with the 2010S still in the system gives 104 MB/s over the
whole 140GB array (a 44% improvement). That indicates there is still a SCSI
bottle neck when a 2010S is in the system. Each drive (according to
Seagate's specs.) should provide 78-43 MB/s through put from the outside to
inside tracks. I expected the outer 20GB in a Raid 0 array to show over 300
MS/s. The data comes from WinBench 99 v.2's disk inspection tests.

My next tests will be without the 2010S in the system and Win2K Server's
software Raid 0. The system board and 2010S have been flashed to the latest
versions and drivers are the latest versions also.

I don't understand why Supermicro would have anything to do with Adaptec
when the recommended Raid controller slows the performance of the hard
drives.

What are you using to measure your performance? Are these numbers read
or write numbers? You should be getting better performance, but real
world, I wouldn't expect anything sustained over 250, even in very
extreme circumstances. I've used multi-channel VERY high end RAID cards
from both LSI and Adaptec with as many as 15 drives striped, and had
trouble getting over 250 MB/sec, sustained. You might get bursts as
high as 300, but bursts would be it. I would not expect sustained much
higher than 100 with only 4 drives.

Ed

J. Sokalski wrote:
 > I am trying to debug and setup an X5DA8 board and have been extremely
 > disappointed in the slow SCSI drive speeds when using an Adaptec 2010S in
 > the green PCI-X slot. 4 Seagate ST336607LW drives only give 72.2 MB/s
 > (across the whole 140GB) through put in a Raid 0 array. Software Raid 0
 > (Win2K Server) with the 2010S still in the system gives 104 MB/s over the
 > whole 140GB array (a 44% improvement). That indicates there is still a SCSI
 > bottle neck when a 2010S is in the system. Each drive (according to
 > Seagate's specs.) should provide 78-43 MB/s through put from the outside to
 > inside tracks. I expected the outer 20GB in a Raid 0 array to show over 300
 > MS/s. The data comes from WinBench 99 v.2's disk inspection tests.
 >
 > My next tests will be without the 2010S in the system and Win2K Server's
 > software Raid 0. The system board and 2010S have been flashed to the latest
 > versions and drivers are the latest versions also.
 >
 > I don't understand why Supermicro would have anything to do with Adaptec
 > when the recommended Raid controller slows the performance of the hard
 > drives.
 >
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