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SATA Speed drop?

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by savagcl, 2005/01/25.

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  1. 2005/01/25
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Last time i'm posting about SATA (promise)!

    I am experiencing a decrease in WinXP (using Gateway OS CD's).
    Steps i have taken -
    Purchased WinXP (Full version).
    Did a clean install of XP.
    Immediately after installation finished, loaded the (correct) chipset drivers.
    Finished installing software, utilities, etc.

    Result - still not as fast as it was (guess i'll have to live with it).

    On a lighter side: (not verbatim, but close enough)
    Statement seen at Intel "If you have problems with these downloads, contact
    the seller of your system ".
    Statement seen at Gateway " These drivers have not been tested by us, if you
    experience problems, contact the creator of the driver ".
    :confused: :cool:
     
    savagcl,
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  2. 2005/01/25
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    clif,
    I hope that Your expectations of SATA weren't set too high.

    I posted a few screenshots from AIDA32 in the thread below ...... :eek: ...... not much difference between PATA and SATA!

    View Single Post

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  4. 2005/01/25
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Christer,

    Dont think i'm expecting to much about this decrease of speed.

    From an earlier test, (prior to any upgrading or reinstalls) with only 1 SATA HD, i
    was seeing 120Mb being pumped out, according to Hd-Tech test program.

    Lots of upgrades since then:
    Creative 2ZS Audugy
    Nvidia 6600 graphics card
    2nd SATA HD
    Multipass Printer
    Power supply (550W)

    Hd-Tech now shows: HD1 as 70.4Mb and HD2 as 108.4Mb.
    My real problem is trying to remember when it first happened, then i could
    probably figure out what changed. Guess thats a non-starter tho.

    I'll keep watching, searching, reading, sure something will turn up.

    Thanks Christer and have a good day,
    savagcl
     
    savagcl,
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  5. 2005/01/25
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    Hi clif,

    Suggest you run the HDD manufacturer's diagnostics. That should tell you things like if the drives are configured correctly by the BIOS, if they are partitioned correctly, etc. They should also check (raw) speeds. The problem may be due to something before Windows loads.

    Matt
     
    mattman,
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  6. 2005/01/25
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    108.4 is quite good but 120 is better! I assume it is Buffered Read?

    They are both Seagates, right but I need You to refresh my memory on the exact models.

    Christer
     
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  7. 2005/01/25
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    ST3160023AS and new one - ST3200822AS
    Buffer size is 8MB on both.

    The new drive gave me the 108.4.
    Wonder if the old drive is wearing out? I bought this sys in April 2003 and have
    really put a lot of hours on it. I'm on this PC every day, sometimes 12/15 hours.
    Probably more in the winter time.

    savagcl
     
    savagcl,
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  8. 2005/01/26
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    ST3160023AS is the same model as in my screenshots giving a buffered read of 85.1-86.3 MB/s.
    I'm convinced that the chipset and drivers play a part in this too. I have compared specific drive models running on different mobos, CPUs and RAM. There is a significant scatter in performance.

    Would it be possible to disconnect the new one and run a test on the old one as a single drive?

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  9. 2005/01/26
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Sure, just a matter of unhooking 2 cables and rebooting.

    I've been watching some of tthe other threads about HD's (mixing PATA/SATA
    and was wondering if the SATA MB connections had anything to do with HD
    drive assignments (Drive 0 vs drive 1) or is it just determined by the cableing
    and jumpers?

    Will post results here after unhooking and testing.

    thanks, Christer,
    savagcl
     
    savagcl,
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  10. 2005/01/26
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I have only assembled and installed one computer with a SATA. It is mixed with a PATA (the two in the screenshots) and two opticals.

    The PATA is in a mobile rack and the computer runs without it from time to time. When the PATA is put back, the computer doesn't boot because BIOS resets the boot order to PATA first. A detour into BIOS to reconfigure is necessary. (The opticals are connected as Master and Slave on IDE0. The PATA is connected as Slave on IDE1 but BIOS still wants to boot from it when it is reconnected.)

    During post, no devices are listed, it only says NO DEVICE but from within the BIOS, they can be seen and are detected OK.

    It seems to me like ASUS hasn't got the P4P800 quite right and I'm still waiting for a BIOS update that corrects these two issues.

    Said computer isn't mine but if I remember correctly, the harddisks appear in Disk Management - PATA first, next SATA and finally the opticals.

    The behaviour is strange and I'm afraid that my friend has to live with it until he buys a second SATA and ceases to use the PATA (which is for backwards compatibility with older computers/harddisks).

    (I wonder if all MB's behave in the same way?)

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  11. 2005/01/26
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    You may be right about the BIOS,( a subject about which i'm really lacking in
    knowledge). If so, i agree, your friend is stuck until an update comes along.

    I was under the impression that XP, device manager would assign drives and
    everything else by their location (top to bottom) within the device manager and
    that the BIOS just passed the info to XP (saying i found 2 HD's). With both
    disk mounted, which one shows as first in device manager?

    Of course, the primary partition location has to have some bearing on disk
    assignments i would think.

    It is a strange one!!!!! Either way, we learned something - dont mix the HD's.

    :rolleyes:
    savagcl
     
    savagcl,
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  12. 2005/01/26
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Giving it a second thought (trying to remember):

    The SATA has C: (primary) and D: (logical)
    The PATA has E: and F: (both logicals)

    In Disk Manager, Disk0 is the SATA and Disk1 is the PATA

    In the Defragmenter, the partitions are listed from top to bottom - E: - F: - C: - D:

    I'm not sure that I remember correctly but something is weird about those two HDDs.

    How they are displayed in Disk Manager and the Defragmenter doesn't matter but the real bug is the changing of the bootdrive.

    Christer
     
    Last edited: 2005/01/26
    Christer,
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  13. 2005/01/26
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Very strange that the defragger should list them backwards - unless the OS
    has already switched the disk.....

    In device manager, under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, does it show anything like:

    Intel(R) 82801En Ultra ATA Storage Controllers (this should be the SATA controller(s)).
    And under that: Primary IDE Channels and Second ary IDE Channels???

    Or - let me say it this way- It sounds like the PATA (once its found) is being
    given a higher priority than the SATA! If so, I think he's out of luck until the
    software (BIOS, etc) catches up to the hardware.

    Of course, a second SATA drive would fix it now, at the cost of another HD tho.

    savagcl
     
    savagcl,
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  14. 2005/01/26
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    clif,
    I will not visit my friend who owns the computer anytime soon, maybe in a couple of weeks so, I can't verify anything.

    I don't know what drivers they are but You're right that the PATA seems to be given priority over the SATA.

    I actually talked to him over the phone tonight and he told me that the computer had been taken to the shop after a failure of the motherboard.

    What surprized me is that the MB had been sent to Taiwan for examination and repair ...... :eek: ...... from Sweden ...... :eek: ...... don't ASUS have a "local" shop in Europe?

    I will do some investigating into that matter and if other brands have a "local" shop in Europe ...... :) ...... then I have recommended the last ASUS MB!

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  15. 2005/01/26
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Taiwan > Sweden and back!!!

    Postage and handling and repair charges will be more than the cost of the board.
    :confused:
    Not worth it. You did right in advising to buy a new board.

    savagcl
     
    savagcl,
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  16. 2005/01/27
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Nope, that would make me taiwaneese ...... :D ...... the other way around the globe!

    I agree, it's not the cheapest MB but still not worth it. The problem is that, according to the shop, the MB has been phased out. I don't remember the exact model designation (the shop has several similar MB's) but they may be telling the truth.

    Well, I didn't. That was a note to myself for the future to not use ASUS. The MB is still under warranty and in my opinion, a warranty issue shouldn't take weeks/months to solve.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  17. 2005/01/27
    savagcl Lifetime Subscription

    savagcl Geek Member Thread Starter

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    HD-Tech with only the old drive installed.

    Previous reading was 70.4 with both drives installed.
    Unhooking the new drive and running the HD-Tech shows:89.7.
    A difference of 19.3 MB.
    Which leads me to believe that there is some contention for resources going on
    with a 2nd HD installed. Also this does not rule out some other device within
    the system being where the bottleneck is happening.....

    savagcl

    My next HD will be the Western Digital "Raptor ", a much faster drive and was
    named as "Best of Year" for 2004 (of course its a while off so maybe better
    Tech will be around by then.
     
    savagcl,
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  18. 2005/01/27
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    ...... :eek: ...... the plot thickens ...... :p ...... !

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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