LSI 9260-8i FastPath SAS RAID Card & OCZ Onyx 8 SSD RAID Performance Testing Linus Tech Tips
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Description
Honestly I'm a little disappointed at how the Onyx performs on this controller, but these are still some pretty cool read/write speeds compared to a single drive setup. Remember that while TRIM doesn't work in RAID, garbage collection will, so as long as you leave the array idle sometimes, performance should not degrade.
Linus Tech Tips explores the performance of eight OCZ Onyx SSDs configured in a RAID 0 array using an LSI MegaRAID FastPath SAS RAID controller, the 9260-8i. The video demonstrates how FastPath enhances SSD operations and highlights the card’s capabilities, including caching and encryption features, while also allowing SSDs to be used as a cache for a hard drive array. Linus walks through the setup process and shows how quickly a RAID 0 array can be configured, emphasizing the ease of use of the controller interface. The demonstrated read speeds reach around 700 MB/s in the tested configuration, but the write speeds peak around 450 MB/s, which Linus notes are impressive for this SSD model but not fully leveraging the controller’s potential with these particular drives. The discussion then shifts to real-world implications, noting that while reads scale down with additional drives under certain conditions, writes scale much more efficiently as more drives are added, with strong 4K random performance that remains competitive even as the array grows. Linus concludes that for higher overall performance, using fewer, higher-end SSDs (such as Vertex 2) would likely yield greater gains than eight Onyx drives in RAID 0, and he demonstrates how quickly an SSD RAID array can be rebuilt or reconfigured, pointing out that tweaking cache settings and read-ahead can further influence results. Overall, the video provides a practical assessment of the tradeoffs between drive count, drive quality, and RAID controller features when building an SSD-based storage array.
Topics · hardware · storage · ssd · raid · performance testing · hardware review
Questions answered
- What is the effect of FastPath on SSD performance in a RAID 0 array with multiple drives?
- FastPath enables SSDs to perform more efficiently, improving certain operations such as reads in the tested RAID 0 setup and allowing features like encryption and caching to be utilized for better overall performance.
- Should you use eight Onyx SSDs in RAID 0 for maximum speed, or would fewer higher-performance drives be better?
- The test suggests that while eight drives can provide strong sequential write improvements and decent reads, higher performance SSDs in fewer numbers would likely yield greater overall performance, especially for reads and random 4K writes.