+67% Performance for Maxtor HDD

[glugglug]

Windows cache is HUGE, as in the entire RAM of your system. It swaps program data that was used only minutes ago out in order to increase the disk cache size and often actually degrades performance by doing so.

Right now on my 512MB system I just checked and the amount of RAM being used as disk cache is 310MB.

 

[Curley]

I can't wait to try it. I remember a big bruhaha with Genesis One DPM on the Dell XPS R series that raised the benchmarks by %30.

 

[Twista]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Could someone try this on a Windows Server system and see if produces the same results?

I've noticed that non-server versions of Window XP seem to have an intentionally crippled disk subsystem that will not allow more than 6 pending IO interactions to occur. I can't be sure of this however. I'm wondering if this driver works by bypassing this limitation somehow.

I can/would but i just installed and got to reboot now so how do i test? Programs? thxs

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: glugglug
Right now on my 512MB system I just checked and the amount of RAM being used as disk cache is 310MB.

Gee, I'm sure this program will really help overall performance, especially on systems that demand high quantities of RAM and processor time.

This program is good.

<Triumph> For me to poop on! </Triumph>

- M4H

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Twista

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Could someone try this on a Windows Server system and see if produces the same results?

I've noticed that non-server versions of Window XP seem to have an intentionally crippled disk subsystem that will not allow more than 6 pending IO interactions to occur. I can't be sure of this however. I'm wondering if this driver works by bypassing this limitation somehow.

I can/would but i just installed and got to reboot now so how do i test? Programs? thxs

HDTach, SiSoft Sandra, BusinessMark, WinStone ...

- M4H

 

[blakeatwork]

Right... so, explain this one....

I have

1) Quantum FireballAS boot drive (supposedly supported)
2) Maxtor D740X 60GB storage drive (supposedly supported)
3) Two external maxtor drives (not supported)


Why is it that it says I don't have any supported drives???

Betas... gotta love'em...

 

[blakeatwork]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
uh... Am I doing something wrong... the download isn't working :'(

Entered my spammed email, a user name... clicked accept.

"Thank you for downloading the MaxBoost Beta. You should receive your 10% off MaxStore.com coupon* via e-mail within the next 72 hours. Please note that the MaxBoost Beta software will expire and automatically disable itself 60 days after installation."

Got that page. No download dialog box :/

* Maxtor only allows one coupon per beta user, regardless of the number of submissions.

I'm assuming they send the download link in the email?

*wants a linkified for the lazy link*

Turn off the Google popup killer..

 

[maluckey]

Been using the MaxBoost prog all day, in 32 meg, and 16 meg configuration, and other than increased noise, and slightly slower games and SANDRA scores, everthing was much the same. It did decrease access times, but you could always do that with the MaxBlast II software. More messing with it might change things though, so I'll tweak some more later.

It may help some people, but I'm showing around .3 FPS lower FPS in all my favorite games. That's not much, but it's a repeatable number. Sandra total scores scores are lower as well.

Before Max Boost:

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
Command Queue Depth : 4 command(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 103 MB/s
Sequential Read : 35 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 124 MB/s
Sequential Write : 24 MB/s
Random Write : 203 MB/s
Average Access Time : 6 ms (estimated)

After MaxBoost:

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
Command Queue Depth : 4 command(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 99 MB/s
Sequential Read : 40 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 546 MB/s
Sequential Write : 29 MB/s
Random Write : 166 MB/s
Average Access Time : 5 ms (estimated)

 

[WobbleWobble]

HD Tach scores drop down horribly down... very erratic and low. Around the 5MB/s as opposed to 47MB/s average.

Sandra scores are the same... with the Windows disk caching option on and off.

One thing though, the download site doesn't seem to like any e-mail address that doesn't end in .com

 

[Shamrock]

it also doesnt like Mozilla users...I had to use Internet Exploiter

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: blakeatwork


Turn off the Google popup killer..

oh... hehe

Forgot Opera had built in pop-up stoppers ... completely blanked out on the google pop-up thing though.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: blakeatwork
Right... so, explain this one....

I have

1) Quantum FireballAS boot drive (supposedly supported)
2) Maxtor D740X 60GB storage drive (supposedly supported)
3) Two external maxtor drives (not supported)


Why is it that it says I don't have any supported drives???

Betas... gotta love'em...

Perhaps it'd make sense to email them and ask?

Thorin

 

[uart]

Well obviously it's a cache program but whether or not it's just a cache program I'm not certain.

What I think they mean by "intelligent caching" is that they are using information about the physical sector mapping of the hard drive, or other intimate knowledge of the internal working of the hard drive that is not available to the regular Windows vcache.

 

[KDOG]

I just installed it and it seems to be working fine, nice little utility... but it expires after 60 days? What good is that? I hope they don't charge for it...

 

[flexy]

anybody got that thing to work properly with a Western Digital HD ?

Yesterday i hacked the program (the gfduu.exe or so) and replaced all occurences of "Quantum" with a hexeditor to "WDC". (The vendor ID for Western Digital)

It recognizes the WD HD and you can place a checkmark. But i cannot properly enable the program for the WD after a reboot, still. Which is weird. I think it shouldn't be a big deal to change/hack this tool so it works with other HDs...maybe someone has more luck ?


greets

 

[thegreypilgrim]

any results on external HDD ? (USB or FireWire)

 

[darely]

OMG I can't believe how poor education is around the globe these days, I swear 75% of the population would fail basic reading comprehension tests.

Apparently, there are many who would fail basic writing tests as well.

when they have to facts to back up what they're attempting to comprehend.

Here's a quote right off the page linked originally.

 

[Viper96720]

It may help some people, but I'm showing around .3 FPS lower FPS in all my favorite games. That's not much, but it's a repeatable number. Sandra total scores scores are lower as well.

Before Max Boost:

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
Command Queue Depth : 4 command(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 103 MB/s
Sequential Read : 35 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 124 MB/s
Sequential Write : 24 MB/s
Random Write : 203 MB/s
Average Access Time : 6 ms (estimated)

After MaxBoost:

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
Command Queue Depth : 4 command(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 99 MB/s
Sequential Read : 40 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 546 MB/s
Sequential Write : 29 MB/s
Random Write : 166 MB/s
Average Access Time : 5 ms (estimated)

Looks like all scores stayed same or increased except for buffered read and random write. Could someone else run this since 546MB/s seems high when it was
124MB/s before for the buffered write scores

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: beatle

Originally posted by: thorin
Ok so someone give us the following numbers:

1) RAM usage after a fresh reboot when windows is fully loaded. (You're normal windows installation and disk drivers)
2) Same as #1 with this driver enabled for 1 drive.
3) Same as #1 with this driver enabled for 4 drives.
4) Same as #2 after playing some games, doing some browsing, etc... (normal usage) for 30 mins.
5) Same as #3 after playing some games, doing some browsing, etc... (normal usage) for 30 mins.

(Note: For 4 and 5 you may wanna run games in demo mode, browse the same web pages, and view the same word/excel/ppt docs)

Thorin

I'll give this a shot when I get home tonight. I only have one Maxtor drive in my comp, the other is a Raptor. If it'll work, I'll try it on my Raptor anyway for good measure.

So? What are the answers?

Thorin

 

[rhawk79]

hyper-threading must be disabled....that sucks!

 

[thegreypilgrim]

1) RAM usage after a fresh reboot when windows is fully loaded. (You're normal windows installation and disk drivers)

107Mb

2) Same as #1 with this driver enabled for 1 drive.

134Mb

3) Same as #1 with this driver enabled for 4 drives.

??? Only have one drive.

4) Same as #2 after playing some games, doing some browsing, etc... (normal usage) for 30 mins.

135MB (Explorer.exe is bigger than before playing of about 1meg)

5) Same as #3 after playing some games, doing some browsing, etc... (normal usage) for 30 mins.

???

 

[JBT]

my system seems to boot faster? not sure if that is possible but seems like it is.

 

[thegreypilgrim]

Well as it appears to be a Windows Drivers, it seems possible, depending on when the caching stuff is enable

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: maluckey
Been using the MaxBoost prog all day, in 32 meg, and 16 meg configuration, and other than increased noise, and slightly slower games and SANDRA scores, everthing was much the same. It did decrease access times, but you could always do that with the MaxBlast II software. More messing with it might change things though, so I'll tweak some more later.

It may help some people, but I'm showing around .3 FPS lower FPS in all my favorite games. That's not much, but it's a repeatable number. Sandra total scores scores are lower as well.

Before Max Boost:

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
Command Queue Depth : 4 command(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 103 MB/s
Sequential Read : 35 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 124 MB/s
Sequential Write : 24 MB/s
Random Write : 203 MB/s
Average Access Time : 6 ms (estimated)

After MaxBoost:

Test Status
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Windows Disk Cache Used : Yes
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
Command Queue Depth : 4 command(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : Yes

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 99 MB/s
Sequential Read : 40 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 546 MB/s
Sequential Write : 29 MB/s
Random Write : 166 MB/s
Average Access Time : 5 ms (estimated)

These numbers are an example of why Sandra is a piece of junk HD benchmark program. All the write numbers are worthless because it is clear Sandra is either measuring the speed of writes to main memory, or it is simply outputting bogus numbers. The read numbers show no improvment from the Maxtor driver in buffered or random reads which are the only 2 it should improve. Sequential improved, but since by name the reads are sequential, there should not have been any improvement from additional caching. All this does is increase the evidence that either Sandra is inaccurate, the Maxtor driver does nothing, or more likely both.

 

[blakeatwork]

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: blakeatwork
Right... so, explain this one....

I have

1) Quantum FireballAS boot drive (supposedly supported)
2) Maxtor D740X 60GB storage drive (supposedly supported)
3) Two external maxtor drives (not supported)


Why is it that it says I don't have any supported drives???

Betas... gotta love'em...

Perhaps it'd make sense to email them and ask?

Thorin

Thought about it, then saw the fine print where they said there was absolutely NO support on it... thought someone in here might have had a similar issue, this being a TECH board and all...

but, it appears I was mistaken, at least from your end of things..