Good Sata 6 GB/s host controller?

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Level 1

1 points

Good Sata 6 GB/s host controller?

I'm going to upgrade my boot drive and video scratch drive from WD enterprise black 1TB's to WD Velociraptor 1TB drives to get faster transfers of video files for my video work as I finally move into HD. I've decided to wait until SSD prices come down and the Overwrite problem they have is taken care of.

The Velociraptors are the correct economic choice for me right now. In order to get the best performance bang for my buck with them, I'll need a decent 6 GB/s host controller that can handle all 4 internal drives in my Mac Pro 4,1 (early 2009). More than likely, I'll move 2 of my 4 current drives offboard into a backup raid configuration.

Given that, It would be nice if I could find a reliable Sata 6 GB/s host controller that could handle both the 4 internal drives and an off board raid with up to 4 drives that would eventually contain the Velociraptors when they get pushed out by SSD/s.

I've been looking, but haven't found anything that can do both in 1 PCIE 2.0 slot, yet. Could be I'm looking in all the wrong places.

Has anyone seen a decent quality, reliable unit that will do this?

Ken

Mac Pro (Early 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.8), 8 core, 32 GRam, 4 TB HD

Posted on Aug 8, 2013 3:07 PM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Aug 8, 2013 6:14 PM in response to kenackr

A. I think the Samsung 840 or 840 Pro or new EVO are fine for systems and scratch, along with Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD.

You can get 500GB $320 or 750GB (not sure of $$)

Yes 10K VRs have been my mainstay over the last 8-10 yrs from the very first WD Raptor 36GB (June '03 when it was still beta).

Those VRs "only" hit 180MB basically and it is their build quality, higher rpm, but they do not max out in non-stripe arrays what SATA II handles. But then so would WD Black 3-4TB or Seagate, just to mention, have 180MB range.

So I would first look at $300 range of those vs what that buys in 3-4TB enterprise drives. AND I would not wait for SSD prices or whatever you think is an issue. Unlike OWC I do not buy into the "BCG is enough" and I do use the new TRIM Enabler 3.0 for Mac.

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Answer 2

Aug 8, 2013 8:11 PM in response to kenackr

RE: SATA Bus speed:

Typical Rotating drives available today, whatever their SATA spec, can source data off the spinning platters no faster than about 125MBytes/sec.

SATA 3 is rated at 6G bits/sec, which theoretically is about 750 Mega Bytes/sec

SATA 2 is rated at 3G bits/sec, which is theoretically about 375 Mega Bytes/sec

SATA 1 is rated at 1.5G bits/sec, which is theoretically about 187.5 Meg Bytes/sec

None of the SATA Busses is a bottleneck for consumer Rotating drives you can buy today. Trying to speed up the SATA Bus will not provide any real-world performance increases for Rotating Drives.

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If The hatter says the current VelociRaptors can do 180 MegaBytes/sec, that still (just barely) fits inside SATA I. The SATA Bus will not be a bottleneck.

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Aug 9, 2013 4:25 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

SATA III is a set of features and specifications. People tend to focus only on what they perceive as 'speed' performance. It is a wider bus which can help with multi-drive arrays and over come the limitation of 10 yr old Port Multiplier which was outgrown.

SATA 3,1 is important for other reasons as well.

Even an SSD boot drive on SATA II vs III you won't notice or need to be on SATA III bus - regardless of what some synthetic test results, the real world benefits.

Using Lightroom, Aperture and other tasks on an SSD or in CS6 for scratch and editing are very much so.

The 4 drive bays in any Mac Pro are not just SATA II but share a common bus which is limited to less than 4 x 300MB/sec – something led to believe was meant by "four independent SATA II" it is one shared bus channel of more like 750-800MB/sec. Intel makes 1GB SATA II controllers often with 6 ports.

We only learned about the limits when someone tried an array of 3 x SATA II SSD's and found that it maxed out. And that was years ago.

But four 4TB drives can function nicely and if kept to 50% free, fly along just fine. So you can have 8-10TB of data on a 15TB array.

If you want speed, then 2 x 500GB SSD on PCIe will give you 900MB/sec and 1TB, and now Samsung has 750GB and 1TB SSDs... and there are people with two PCIE cards and four SSDs for 1.8GB/sec of 2TB but could become 4TB in the next month.

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Answer 4

kenackr Author

Level 1

1 points

Aug 9, 2013 11:11 AM in response to The hatter

OK,

No bump up in Sata controller needed. Good.

Forgive this old dog for trying to learn new tricks, but having just read: Tweek Town, Tom's Hardware, Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro, Samsung and a few other assorted things to try to get up to speed, I'd like to shake out some possibilities.

1) Moving to Velociaraptors for Boot & Scratch would improve HD video file transfer time over my current WD Black Enterprise drives because of higher rotational speed, correct or not? Any rough idea on percent improvement? Does it approximate a linear improvement based on ~ 30% higher rotational speed?

Since no other gear is required other than the VR's cost is pretty much capped at a little over $400 (for 2) based on current Amazon pricing.

2) If I do decide to go with an SSD approach using the Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD and a Samsung 840 EVO (or two), can I just move everything pertaining to video work (Premeier Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, etc,etc) Including the contents of my video scratch drive files to one SSD or should I put the scratch files on a separate SSD just like under my current HDD system?

The concept is to focus all video activity and with the speed of the SSD, would separation of the scratch disk files still be necessary, since reducing file transfer time is the goal? I realize the "system" will still occupy a healthy portion of the SSD's operation beyond the video apps, but if we're talking a 1 TB EVO it shouldn't get crowded should it? Which brings up the next question:

Do SSD's need sufficient space left open to run "virtual" drives like is done on HDD's? Right now I aim for no more than 50% of an HDD being used to allow for plenty of leeway.

If 2 SSD's are required to separate the scratch files, can the second card be put on the Sonnet Tempo Pro SSD and act as a separate drive instead of in a raid configuration?

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