There is a variety of SSDs for use in servers, such as PCI-E SSD or 2.5” SATA interface SSD, either based on SLC NAND or MLC NAND, sometimes even utilizing DRAM. Our test focused on one server SSD--HugeTech Server One 1200 200GB SSD. Meanwhile, we also observed the performance of DRAM-based ACARD ANS-9010 32GB SATA Dynamic SSD, which is equipped with 32 GB DDR2 and SATA interface as well as a battery for memory assistance(CF Card) in case of DRAM data loss during power failure.

The data storage device for use in servers varies with different server applications in terms of product specification. In general, server-oriented products require higher specifications than consumer or enterprise products in view of the transfer rate, stability, massive IO operations and writing.

The following are benchmark results of each testing item:

Boot up Time of Operation Systems

The startup process of the operating system is an important testing item for hard disk and SSDs, for the complex startup file reading is a good parameter of comprehensive evaluation as its speed is directly reflected. We used Linux and Windows 7 to perform tests respectively.

We installed Windows 7 and observed the startup file transfer speed via the PCMark Vantage Start UP test, monitored and analyzed the startup process of PC. In the item test, HugeTech Server One 1200 scored high at 142.53 MB/s, while ACARD ANS-9010 32GB SATA Dynamic SSD reached 154.36MB/s.

ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.4.3

The writing and reading test was carried out on the basis of the well-known ATTO Disk Benchmark, used to test the writing and reading rate of large- and small-size files for the major evaluation of the continuous reading and writing performance test. The fastest SSD writing rate was 258111KB/s (HugeTech Server One 1200) and the fastest SSD reading rate was 247405KB/s(HugeTech Server One 1200) in the case of the file size set at 8MB.

h2benchw v3.6

This test clearly shows the performances of SSDs of varying specifications under different applications, with the specific model information and firmware version numbers listed in the results. In the overall performance test, the continuous writing and reading rate are 201.7 MB/s by HugeTech Server One 1200 and 162.8MB/s by ACARD ANS-9010 32GB SATA Dynamic SSD. In this test, DRAM SSD didn’t show any advantage, which lies in massive reading and writing work.

HDTune Pro v3.50

In the HDTune Pro test, we evaluated the items by average reading. HugeTech Server One 1200 turned out 181.9MB/s and ACARD ANS-9010 32GB SATA Dynamic SSD at 162.9MB/s. HugeTech Server One used SandForce controller chip.

IOMeter 2006.07.27

The significant part of this test is to measure the highest input/output performance of SSDs under big volume of IO, which reflects the design level of the SSD controllers. In the average input/output performance test, the scores are 7261.8 IO/s (ACARD ANS-9010 32GB SATA Dynamic SSD) followed by 5505 IO/s (HugeTech RS25MLC200G 200GB SSD).

In terms of input/output performance which is heavily relied on by servers, DRAM product is more efficient. As it performs better in numerous IO tests, it is suitable for use in database and webpage server applications with large volume of reading and writing.