Slow hard drive access times, gets slower with time!

[SCSIraidGURU]

If you want fast hard drives, get SAS instead of SATA on a decent cached controller

I went with the LSI Logic MegaRAID 8708EM2 128MB DDR667 cached PCIe SAS RAID controller and a pair of Seagate 146GB 10K 2.5 inch Savvio hard drives.

Vista x64 Ultimate installs in 18 minutes.

Benchmark Results
Drive Index : 104.84MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.
Random Access Time : 1ms
Results Interpretation : Lower index values are better.

Windows Experience Index
Current Drive : 5.9
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Performance Test Status
Run ID : LSI MegaRAID 8708EM2 146GB (RAID, NCQ)
Platform Compliance : x64
System Timer : 3.58MHz
Operating System Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
I/O Queue Depth : 4 request(s)
Test File Size : 16GB
File Fragments : 4
Block Size : 1MB

Detailed Benchmark Results
Buffered Read : 1.01GB/s
Sequential Read : 119.73MB/s
Random Read : 128.25MB/s
Buffered Write : 679.29MB/s
Sequential Write : 31.91MB/s
Random Write : 31.21MB/s
Random Access Time : 1ms

Drive
Drive Type : Hard Disk
Total Size : 54.69GB
Free Space : 37.55GB, 69%
Cluster Size : 4kB

Physical Disk
Manufacturer : LSI
Model : MegaRAID 8708EM2
Version : 1.12
Interface : RAID
Removable Drive : No
Queueing On : Yes

 

[ssabripo]

Crucial, Corsair and Kingston have memory finders to match to a board. I also recommend not getting faster ram than your CPU needs. My E5430 Xeons on my workstation are DDR667. I went with the RAM matched to their speed. This way the board does not do strange things with memory timing. Vista x64 and XP x64 require tight memory timing. They don't like overclocking or mismatched ram. I went with 8 x 2GB Kingston sticks on my X7DWA-N board. It is a bit slower than some RAM but extremely stable.

thanks Michael. As of right now, I'm running DDR2-800, which is what the e8400 c2d cpu likes. here is the memory sticks I'm using:
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
BL2KIT12864AA80A

Another thing is make sure the board has the voltage properly set for the RAM. Some boards do strange voltage settings that can cause timing issues.

correct....I've read all the Asus boards, and they unanimously tell you to set the timings and Vram values manually, so that the board is feeding them enough power.

In my BIOS, I manually set it to: 4-4-4-12, DDR2-800mhz

also, I put the Vram = 2.04v (instead of 2.00, because of Vdroop on the board).

running memtest with these settings work perfectly.



also, unless there is something I don't know, memory usually either works or doesn't....so if it is working OK in one account and not OK in another, and if over time if affects all used accounts, this points more towards controllers, HD's, Mobo imcompatibility, or perhaps even something wrong in the software (virus, etc), no?

 

[ssabripo]

ok...looks like the board was delivered to my house, so I should be able to play with it this afternoon.

what should be the exact procedure? here is what I'm thinking:

prelim work:
* Run CHKDSK in the current install, and make sure nothing is wrong with the disks

New mobo:
* connect just the basic HW which includes:

• 2 sticks of RAM only
• One HD only, the one I will isntall the OS on
• DVD drive (to install the OS)

* Make sure I format the drive before installing
* goto BIOS and manually set RAM timings and Voltages, no OCing
* Set SATA drives to IDE compatible mode
* Install Vista 64bit
* Install only the necessary drivers (LAN, Audio, Intel P45 chipset, etc), no additional stuff or drivers.
* create just two accounts, Main and Test1, and monitor them...using Main as the usual one and see if it starts behaving this way.


any other things to watch out for?

 

[ssabripo]

quick question:

do you recommend I install the AHCI drivers and then vista, or just stick with plain ol' IDE and try it that way? I'm wondering if forcing the ICH10R drivers will make things work better or not.

 

[NormCameron]

Thanks Michael.

 

[ssabripo]

the new mobo is here...I'll start the installation shortly.

I still need some input: should I just do IDE, or try to do AHCI and force the ICH10R drivers during install? I don;t know if it will make any difference, but would like to hear your input

 

[NormCameron]

AHCI supports hot swapping.. I am not sure you can go back to IDE from AHCI without a reinstall. As to the real benefits : - Native Command Queuing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Vista has a generic AHCI driver.

 

[ssabripo]

AHCI supports hot swapping.. I am not sure you can go back to IDE from AHCI without a reinstall. As to the real benefits : - Native Command Queuing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Vista has a generic AHCI driver.

so is it ok to go with the generic AHCI vista drivers, or go with the provided mobo stuff?

 

[NormCameron]

All i've read says the Vista drivers are better.

 

[ssabripo]

well....some good news (not counting victory yet). I installed the gigabyte mobo, and so far it is good. It has only been one day, but during the weekend will be the real test.

I really like this board, except for one major issue: S3 sleep mode does not work! (crashes the system). I posted it over at tweakforums' gigabyte thread:
GA-EP45-DS3R unstable after sending to S3(STR) sleep state - TweakTown Forums

looks like if it's not one thing, is another.

 

[NormCameron]

Well you worked hard enough mate. Took a look at the thread. That is a biggie. The sleep mode seems to be an issue for a lot of people. Have you looked at the Forum T utorials. Or you could start a new thread on this. Brink is your man for this sort of stuff. Despite the problems highlighted in the thread it may not be your motherboard. Just Vista settings.

 

[ssabripo]

Awesome! 1 day and counting, and no issues yet...the real test will come during this weekend, but I'm praying the new mobo, with AHCI mode, did the trick.

also, seems like I got S3 sleep mode to work too by upping the voltages of the MCH and southbridge manually in Bios. whew!

 

[ssabripo]

well...looks like I spoke too soon!!! it started already...small slowdown, but it's all downhill from here

it has to be the Vista disk somehow...it has to be!

 

[NormCameron]

It might be a little early to congratulate you but we all learnt something here. Hope the contribution this end was of some assistance but it seems to me you worked your way through the problem pretty well. I hope you stay with the forum and that you get a chance to contribute too.

 

[NormCameron]

Oh. OH! Do you still have the Ballistix memory?.

 

[Cyberwolf]

also, seems like I got S3 sleep mode to work too by upping the voltages of the MCH and southbridge manually in Bios. whew!

Southbridge controls SATA / PATA interactions with the CPU. Perhaps your recent "tinkering" has caused the issue to re-appear?

 

[ssabripo]

Oh. OH! Do you still have the Ballistix memory?.

yes..i still have the memory. I don't think that's the issue.

I've been watching the evenviewer carefully, and I noticed that this started to appear when searchindexer.exe is working in the background. Looks like it is reading into this location:

c:\programdata\microsoft\Search\data\applications\windows\projects\systemIndex\...

lots of activity in here when the system is idle, and this is where I noticed the problem getting worst and worst by the hour now.

I think this is a big culprit, but I don't have enough knowledge to see what it is doing.

 

[mansrm81]

That is the search indexing you can disable it by going into computer and right clicking on your drive then uncheck index this drive for faster searching.

 

[NormCameron]

Did you do a fresh install with your new mobo. And have you connected up your data drive with you old files etc on it?

 

[ssabripo]

Southbridge controls SATA / PATA interactions with the CPU. Perhaps your recent "tinkering" has caused the issue to re-appear?

I'm 99% sure that the MCH voltage had nothing to do with this. This is my fourth board, my first with Gigabyte (which has this control, unlike Asus), and they all exhibited this behavior, even prior to any tinkering.

I'm really getting to the point of thinking it is an issue with my copies of vista. All 3 copies were from the MSDN download sections (I have a subscription), so at this point I can only assume it is that.

the hardware, including drives, work fine with XP.....this only shows up in vista, so I can only think it is a Vista issue. I'm gonna see if I can buy a copy of Vista Home Premium retail and see what happens.