Promise FastTrack S150 SATA TX4 and SX4

jmke · 13th June 2004, 22:13

We take a look at two SATA RAID solutions from Promise, the high end SX4 PCI card which supports up to RAID5 and also the more budget minded TX4 which still packs a punch. Read on to find out how they perform.

kristos · 14th June 2004, 00:37

I know it wasn't the purpose of this test but did you get the chance to compare performance between the pci cards and onboard controllers or other cards like the one from ac ryan you tested a while ago?

jmke · 16th June 2004, 12:09

The ACRyan card was in Leuven during the testing, which was done in Wemmel by BlackRabbit. Geography beat us :/

Sidney · 16th June 2004, 23:36

You sound more like an IT guy than a PC enthusiast. But, you don't fool me.

Very nicely done. Enjoy reading the entire content.

21st June 2004, 14:42

This card is a dud. Do not buy it if you are using Windows XP/2003 or you will be very disappointed. The card performs worse than a standalone disk drive. Promise fail to acknowledge the problem is widespread and exists.

The problem is specifically related to using the card as a boot array. I imagine most desktop users who purchase this card would use it to manage all hard disks. In this case it performs very badly particularly under Windows XP.

If you dont believe me look here. The problem has existed for some time with no resolution in sight.

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46037

If mad shrimp want to do justice to its users test it on Windows XP and get the real picture. Otherwise your going to have some very angry users who go purchase it based on this article.

I wonder whether promise requested it should be tested on Windows 2000. Seems perculiar to test on an outdated OS dont you think? Maybe a plot by promise so the real problems with this card are not exposed. After all, 100MB/s looks alot better than the measly performance you get under Windows XP 20MB/s on sequential reads using RAID 5 (3+1).

I may as well have bought a single 5400 rpm disk instead of this dud RAID setup (promise S150 SX4, 4 x Seagate 120GB SATA, 256MB memory for promise card).

jmke · 21st June 2004, 15:09

Quote:

Originally posted by maral
I wonder whether promise requested it should be tested on Windows 2000.

Blackrabbit (the reviewer) is very fond of Windows 2000, that's why he used it for testing. I agree with you that this test is missing some tests, but due to time constraints we had to move along and publish the results we had.

We are planning a follow-up article with a more in-depth look at the boot & windows XP issue you mentioned here; thank you for bringing it up.

as you see from the tests, they were done with the arrays as a secondary drive, not the boot disk, which explains the different experience.

kristos · 21st June 2004, 21:33

this problem you mention, is it only with the sx card or does the tx card suffer from the same problems?

jmke · 21st June 2004, 21:36

it's only with the SX card apparantly when using a RAID5 array as your boot drive.

22nd June 2004, 01:45

Its not limited to RAID 5.
I have tested JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1. as boot arrays.

13th June 2004, 22:13	#1
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 78,423	Promise FastTrack S150 SATA TX4 and SX4 We take a look at two SATA RAID solutions from Promise, the high end SX4 PCI card which supports up to RAID5 and also the more budget minded TX4 which still packs a punch. Read on to find out how they perform. __________________

14th June 2004, 00:37	#2
kristos Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,554	I know it wasn't the purpose of this test but did you get the chance to compare performance between the pci cards and onboard controllers or other cards like the one from ac ryan you tested a while ago? __________________ "Welcome to the internet; where men are men, women are men, and little girls are FBI agents."

16th June 2004, 12:09	#3
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 78,423	The ACRyan card was in Leuven during the testing, which was done in Wemmel by BlackRabbit. Geography beat us :/ __________________

16th June 2004, 23:36	#4
Sidney [M] Reviewer Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 15,739	You sound more like an IT guy than a PC enthusiast. But, you don't fool me. Very nicely done. Enjoy reading the entire content. __________________ lazyman Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

21st June 2004, 14:42	#5
maral Posts: n/a	Do not buy this card if you run Windows XP/2003 This card is a dud. Do not buy it if you are using Windows XP/2003 or you will be very disappointed. The card performs worse than a standalone disk drive. Promise fail to acknowledge the problem is widespread and exists. The problem is specifically related to using the card as a boot array. I imagine most desktop users who purchase this card would use it to manage all hard disks. In this case it performs very badly particularly under Windows XP. If you dont believe me look here. The problem has existed for some time with no resolution in sight. http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46037 If mad shrimp want to do justice to its users test it on Windows XP and get the real picture. Otherwise your going to have some very angry users who go purchase it based on this article. I wonder whether promise requested it should be tested on Windows 2000. Seems perculiar to test on an outdated OS dont you think? Maybe a plot by promise so the real problems with this card are not exposed. After all, 100MB/s looks alot better than the measly performance you get under Windows XP 20MB/s on sequential reads using RAID 5 (3+1). I may as well have bought a single 5400 rpm disk instead of this dud RAID setup (promise S150 SX4, 4 x Seagate 120GB SATA, 256MB memory for promise card).

21st June 2004, 21:33	#7
kristos Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,554	this problem you mention, is it only with the sx card or does the tx card suffer from the same problems? __________________ "Welcome to the internet; where men are men, women are men, and little girls are FBI agents."

21st June 2004, 21:36	#8
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 78,423	it's only with the SX card apparantly when using a RAID5 array as your boot drive. __________________

22nd June 2004, 01:45	#9
maral Posts: n/a	Its not limited to RAID 5. I have tested JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1. as boot arrays.