HDD Upgrade Time: Acard ANS-9010 vs Gigabyte I-RAM vs SSD

Storage/SSD by massman @ 2009-04-13

As an alternative to the slow platter-based hard drives there already a few ram disk-based solutions on the market. Acard recently designed their ram disk product, which allows users to use DDR2 memory as storage method. Today, we have a look at the performance of the Acard ANS-9010 and compare it with normal hard disk drives, SSD technology and other ram disks.

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Test setup and methodology

Test setup

Madshrimps' X58 Test Setup


CPU
  • Intel Core i7 965 (click for picture)
    • Cooling
  • Noctua NH-U12P
    • Mainboard Asrock X58 Supercomputer
    Memory 3 * 2GB OCZ Reaper PC-14400
    Other
  • Gigabyte GTX295
  • Antec 1000W PSU
  • Western Digital 500Gb SATA HDD
  • Windows Vista SP1 64-bit
  • OCZ Freeze thermal paste


    • Methodology: DDR2 memory

    Although Acard recommends only to use pretested ddr2 memory in combination with the ANS-9010 module, we used four different dual channel kits, which worked flawless.

    Madshrimps (c)


    Madshrimps (c)


    Methodology: performance tests

    The following benchmark applications were used:

  • Atto
  • File-Copy Test
  • HD Tune 1.5
  • IOMeter
  • PCMark05
  • PCMark Vantage

    Methodology: SSD Raid0 issue

    Before we go to the results of the different benchmarks, I'd like to spend a few lines on the issue 'SSD Raid0'. For most SSD users, installing a Raid0 configuration doesn't seem to be problematic at all. However, in my case, trying to configure two Core V2 SSD's in Raid0 led to many hours of troubleshooting.

    Basicly, we were only able to get decent performance numbers in Atto and HD Tune. In all other four benchmarks, the results where either on par with a single ssd configuration or even below that. Since we were not able to get the raid configuration working properly in all benchmarks, we decided to pull all the flawed scores from the charts for two obvious reasons:

    1) The scores have no meaning for the reader as they're obviously flawed and thus incomparable to the other test results.
    2) It's unfair to discredit the OCZ hardware because we fail to set up a working SSD Raid0 configuration. For all we know, the problem might be motherboard-related.

    Note: We are currently looking into this issue using other components. We'll update you as soon as possible!

    Special thanks to: TONES

    Before we continue I like to mention Tones (www.tones.be), without whom this review would never have been possible. Thanks to their continued support, Madshrimps is able to give you reviews with the latest high-end hardware. If you live in Belgium, check out their online store for sharp prices, quick delivery and excellent support:

    Madshrimps (c)
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    Comment from Bosw8er @ 2009/04/15
    Been a while since i read an entire article.
    hattip to you!

    Don't know if it's still possible, but including a small vid might be more .. euh ... illustrative (opposed to graphs)

    ref:
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/04/15
    like this you mean? http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=923
    Comment from Bosw8er @ 2009/04/15
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jmke View Post
    top!
    missed that because of hollidays
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/04/15
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bosw8er View Post
    top!
    missed that because of hollidays
    shame on you!
    Comment from Diegis0n @ 2009/04/20
    Grreat review! I just love what the Acard can do

    Vertex vs hdd is amazing we've all known for long that hdd is a serious bottleneck and this illustration is just makes me want to order 1
    Comment from leeghoofd @ 2009/04/21
    I can lend you my Vertex mate if you wish ( 60Gb ) will arrive this week
    Comment from Diegis0n @ 2009/04/21
    talking to me?
    Comment from leeghoofd @ 2009/04/21
    ze one and only

    Ik heb weinig tijd nu om te benchen : I7 roundup afwerken, volgende week heel de week weg met het werk, dan Lanparty met Blindje, dus ik kan ze wel even missen.
    Comment from Diegis0n @ 2009/04/21
    Ik zou ze pas na mijn examens kunnen "benutten" wat 05/05 wordt dus juist na de lan als je er dan nog geen tijd voor hebt, i'd love to
    Comment from jmke @ 2009/05/09
    Windows 7 on the ACARD


    only downside... can only have 1 game/app installed at a time; this is Win7 and Crysis 1.2 installed; no hibernation file, page file 200mb. Disk is made up of 8x2Gb sticks (€160)



    you read that right
    1.78Mb free

     

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