 |
 |
PCI Express and Graphics/RAID drives/etc..
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: 33-37-22.350N / 111-54-37.920W
Status:
Offline
|
|
Quick question to any hardware guru's that are familiar with Apple's PCI-Express app called "Expansion Slot Utility"... I noticed while reviewing the settings that It shows that my graphics card in slot 1 is set to 16X and my RAID (external disks, thru SATA) in slot 3 are set to 4X and are showing that 8X is the maximum speed... so my question to those hardware engineer types is... should I kick down the graphics card to 8X and bump up the RAID0 to 8X? Seems to me like the graphics card is going to cycle more data thru the bus than the drive, but what do I know?? 
|
Mac Pro 3.0, ATI 5770 1GB VRAM, 10GB, 2xVelociraptor boot RAID, 4.5TB RAID0 storage, 30" & 20" Apple displays.
2 x Macbook Pro's 17" 3.06 4 GB RAM, 256GB Solid State drives
iMac 17" Core Duo 1GB RAM, & 2 iPhones 8GB, and a Nano in a pear tree!
Apple user since 1981
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Administrator  Join Date: May 2000
Location: California
Status:
Offline
|
|
What RAID card model are you using? If it's a 1x or 4x card, going higher will do nothing but slow down your graphics a bit.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: 33-37-22.350N / 111-54-37.920W
Status:
Offline
|
|
I'm not really sure if I have a RAID card per se, I thought I did but I've since figured out that it's software RAID.. I have a Sonnet Tech Tempo SATA E4P (PCI Express) card with two of These. It's an inexpensive way to store a lot of data and obtain higher speed without going into hardware RAID costs as I've figured out after the fact. I suppose I should adjust my signature to reflect this. ..
so do you think 4X is causing me any speed loss?
|
Mac Pro 3.0, ATI 5770 1GB VRAM, 10GB, 2xVelociraptor boot RAID, 4.5TB RAID0 storage, 30" & 20" Apple displays.
2 x Macbook Pro's 17" 3.06 4 GB RAM, 256GB Solid State drives
iMac 17" Core Duo 1GB RAM, & 2 iPhones 8GB, and a Nano in a pear tree!
Apple user since 1981
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status:
Offline
|
|
The Sonnet E4P only supports 4x PCIe, so there's no point in changing your setup.
Mind you 4x PCIe is about a gigabyte a second, much faster than 4 disks can hope to push.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: 33-37-22.350N / 111-54-37.920W
Status:
Offline
|
|
yeah, thanks.. after posting this I did a bunch of research... I had a tech build this stuff for us, so I didn't really pay much attention to what he did.. I've been trying to get into it more lately. I went to the Sonnet website and it was on there, 4X...
Also, the Drives, are sold as RAID drives.. so is it safe to assume they're hardware RAID (built into the iomega boxes? There is only one SATA cable between the card and each box, not a separate cable like I have in my internal drive bays..
|
Mac Pro 3.0, ATI 5770 1GB VRAM, 10GB, 2xVelociraptor boot RAID, 4.5TB RAID0 storage, 30" & 20" Apple displays.
2 x Macbook Pro's 17" 3.06 4 GB RAM, 256GB Solid State drives
iMac 17" Core Duo 1GB RAM, & 2 iPhones 8GB, and a Nano in a pear tree!
Apple user since 1981
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status:
Offline
|
|
Yes, they're probably doing hardware RAID inside the box.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
Forum Rules
|
|
|
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top
