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    Maximum SATA RAID bandwidth of HM57 chipset

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010.

  1. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    Hi,

    I would like to ask for your help. What's the maximum theoretical/real-life SATA RAID bandwidth of the HM57 chipset?

    Thanks in advance.

    OzB
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  2. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    Maximum real-world bandwidth on a single SATA 2 channel is just under 300MB/s.
     
    Trottel, Apr 28, 2010
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  3. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks. So in a 2 drives RAID-0 setup the max bandwidth would be just under 600MB/s? Is a 4 drives setup equal to 1,200MB/s? Is there an upper limit?

    I understand HM57 uses Intel Rapid Storage Technology for RAID (software one). What are the pros and cons of a software RAID?

    TIA
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  4. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    your questions would probably be better answered by reading the white papers available at intel.com.
     
    newsposter, Apr 28, 2010
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  5. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    In this case of software/hardware RAID the only difference is that the processor does the work and not a RAID chipset, not to be confused with RAID done entirely in software with no hardware support. Each SATA port operates independently and has available the full bandwidth, so yes, it would stack like that. The limiting factors are the amount of SATA ports, bandwidth between the chipset and the processor and memory, and limitations of the controller in handling that much work load. RAID 0 scales very well up to 4 fast SSD's, but beyond that I'm not sure, at least on chipset integrated solutions.
     
    Trottel, Apr 28, 2010
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  6. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    I see. I note the link between HM57 chipset and the processor is a 10Gb/s bidirectional conduit called DMI ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Media_Interface). So if each SATA channel in a RAID array can support up to 300MB/s then the optimal number of drive in a RAID-0 setup would be 4.17 (10Gb/8/300MB). Do you think it's a reasonable guess?
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  7. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    nope.

    the only reasonable guess is what Intel has documented.
     
    newsposter, Apr 28, 2010
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  8. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    Possibly due to my poor search/google skills I couldn't find the HM57 chipset whitepaper at intel.com. I would appreciate if you could give me a hint re where to find it. TIA
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  9. Trottel

    Trottel Notebook Virtuoso

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    Trottel, Apr 28, 2010
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  10. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    I have read the same documents. Where did you find such information re RAID 0?
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  11. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    Sorry found it.

    5.16.6

    RAID Level 0 performance scaling up to 4 drives, enabling higher throughput for data intensive applications such as video editing.

    But why only up to 4 drives? What's keeping RAID-0 from using all 6 SATA channels?
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  12. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    just curious; which laptop are you looking at that uses the hm57 chipset in raid mode?
     
    newsposter, Apr 28, 2010
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  13. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    It's the VAIO Z.
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 28, 2010
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  14. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    you do know that raid 0 really means raid-nothing, yes?
     
    newsposter, Apr 29, 2010
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  15. ozbimmer

    ozbimmer Notebook Evangelist

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    You mean redundancy? Yes I know.
     
    ozbimmer, Apr 29, 2010
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