These drives offer fast reads... as long as you're not writing anything to the disk, it works well.
Random write performance is bad. OK for web browsing, terrible for a development machine. I bought four and thought that with an Adaptec 5805 512MB caching RAID controller in a RAID 0, I'd be able to get the manufacturer-advertised write throughput.
Man, was I wrong. My Linux system (i7 920, 12GB RAM), is rendered unusable during a Linux kernel compile, or even just while copying a large file. I can't move the mouse, and the system hangs for 10-30 seconds at a time.
No amount of tweaking has solved this problem, including the configuration of:
1.) I/O scheduling algorithm (deadline or noop).
2.) I/O queue depth (per-LUN and per-drive).
3.) Read-ahead throttling.
4.) Limit number of adapter control blocks.
5.) Adapter I/O timeout.
6.) Stripe size.
7.) Toggling AHCI.
8.) Various other driver options.
According to Adaptec, this problem is due to very slow response times from the hard disk (Google adaptec answer aacraid scsi hang, and see the first two hits). The drive does not adhere to SATA-II spec response times. If you have a high-end caching controller that expects true SATA-II compliant disks this product will not work correctly.
I have spent $1,000 on disks that were advertised as high-performance that are terrible for doing real work. Certainly with a good controller, I expected performance approaching what was advertised. I get about 1/4 of advertised write speeds, and the system can't do anything that approaches that limit. I'd be better off with one spinning SATA disk. I wish I had been warned by the manufacturer. I would have gladly paid extra to avoid one month of frustration. Now I am looking at another month of delay while I deal with the RMA/upgrade process.
I hope to RMA these drives to G.Skill and replace them with 128GB Falcons (for a price, I'm sure). If G.Skill helps me to upgrade these drives, I will be sure to let everyone know that G.Skill supports their customers 100%. Hopefully, they will respond to my RMA request soon. Otherwise, I will be sure to follow-up here.
Random write performance is bad. OK for web browsing, terrible for a development machine. I bought four and thought that with an Adaptec 5805 512MB caching RAID controller in a RAID 0, I'd be able to get the manufacturer-advertised write throughput.
Man, was I wrong. My Linux system (i7 920, 12GB RAM), is rendered unusable during a Linux kernel compile, or even just while copying a large file. I can't move the mouse, and the system hangs for 10-30 seconds at a time.
No amount of tweaking has solved this problem, including the configuration of:
1.) I/O scheduling algorithm (deadline or noop).
2.) I/O queue depth (per-LUN and per-drive).
3.) Read-ahead throttling.
4.) Limit number of adapter control blocks.
5.) Adapter I/O timeout.
6.) Stripe size.
7.) Toggling AHCI.
8.) Various other driver options.
According to Adaptec, this problem is due to very slow response times from the hard disk (Google adaptec answer aacraid scsi hang, and see the first two hits). The drive does not adhere to SATA-II spec response times. If you have a high-end caching controller that expects true SATA-II compliant disks this product will not work correctly.
I have spent $1,000 on disks that were advertised as high-performance that are terrible for doing real work. Certainly with a good controller, I expected performance approaching what was advertised. I get about 1/4 of advertised write speeds, and the system can't do anything that approaches that limit. I'd be better off with one spinning SATA disk. I wish I had been warned by the manufacturer. I would have gladly paid extra to avoid one month of frustration. Now I am looking at another month of delay while I deal with the RMA/upgrade process.
I hope to RMA these drives to G.Skill and replace them with 128GB Falcons (for a price, I'm sure). If G.Skill helps me to upgrade these drives, I will be sure to let everyone know that G.Skill supports their customers 100%. Hopefully, they will respond to my RMA request soon. Otherwise, I will be sure to follow-up here.
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