Intel 320 in RAID-0 -stripe size?

[MattintheCrown]

Hey, I just purchased my first SSD (actually, 2 of them): I took advantage of the recent rebates on the Intel 320's. Anyhow, I opted for two of a smaller size to put them in a RAID-0 array. I was looking through the Intel RST documentation, and it says that the default stripe size for a SSD RAID-0 array is 16kb. But doing some searches, it seems that people tend to prefer larger stripe sizes, mainly 64kb.

Does anyone have any input on this? Intel doesn't explain why they have 16kb as the default stripe size for SSDs, so I was wondering if there was some reason to go with that size, rather than 64kb, which people seem to have better overall luck with.

 

[kbp]

It all depends on what you are doing "mainly" with the computer.
My system is (3) Intel 320's -160gb- in RAID 0. I am using a 64kb stripe. If you do a lot of large file I/O then I would use 128kb stripe.....such as video encoding or transferring.
I would say a safe bet would be 64kb.

 

[Wuzup101]

I used 128kb for mine, but I had the same question in the last few days (I'm using 2 160gb drives and it's my first SSD setup / SSD raid). I've read mixed things but saw a few tests where 128 seemed to work well (compared to the other sizes tested). I'll probably do some testing of my own in the near future again!

 

[yefi]

I know this is a super old thread, and I should probably be flagellated for bringing it up, but I had this same quandary about stripe size, and it seems that Intel's recommendation is flatly wrong.

Here are my CDM benches for 16KB vs 128KB stripe size:

Setup: Samsung 830 256GB + Samsung 840 250GB, RAID 0, IntelICH10, OROM 11.6, RST 11.2, Write-back disabled.

Much better numbers were achieved with the larger stripe size, and not just in sequential, but also in random 4K as well.

 

[rgallant]

"it seems that Intel's recommendation is flatly wrong."

-that could be correct if all you ran was CDM on your system.

 

[yefi]

"it seems that Intel's recommendation is flatly wrong."

-that could be correct if all you ran was CDM on your system.

Well, I also ran AS-SSD, which showed better figures and the actual restoring of the partition image was also faster with the 128K stripe size, 1H28M vs. 1H44M. So I kind of thought, "hey, that's enough benching..."

 

[Diogenes2]

A couple of years old, but here is some very comprehensive tests with various stripe sizes..

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/a...SSDs-OCZ-Vertex-Drives-Tested/9#axzz2H948LByV


64k was .1% better than 128 overall, but that may have been skewed by some particular test that just happened to be better, with no real world relevance..


16K Is way down the list, so I have no idea why it shows up as the default..