Slow burst speed?

[zagood]

Looking at the numbers people are submitting on the new HDD Test Thread my burst rate seems pretty slow. What could be causing that? Thanks in advance.

Relevant info:
e5200 @ 3.5ghz (10.5x333)
DDR2-800 @ 1:1 3-3-3-10 2.2v
EP45-UD3P
Corsair HX620
AHCI On
UDMA on for all drives
Using SATA cables bundled with motherboard
added: write caching enabled, "advanced performance" didn't make any difference.

WDC WD6401AALS-00L3B2 - WD Black (Single Drive)
Min: 59.7MB/sec
Max: 118.2MB/sec
Avg: 98.0MB/sec
Burst: 104.7MB/sec
Access Time: 12ms
640GB Two Platter

Maxtor STM3500630AS - DiamondMax 21 (Single Drive)
Min: 38.2MB/sec
Max: 76.8MB/sec
Avg: 63.5MB/sec
Burst: 117.6MB/sec
Access Time: 13.7ms
500GB Three Platter

WDC WD740ADFD-00NLR1 - 74gb Raptor (Single Drive)
Min: 48.0MB/sec
Max: 83.8MB/sec
Avg: 73.2MB/sec
Burst: 76.3MB/sec
Access Time: 8.2ms
74GB Single Platter

 

[conlan]

Have you tried running in IDE rather than AHCI mode?

 

[zagood]

Tried to switch off AHCI and OS wouldn't boot...looks like I may have found what fried on my motherboard when I dropped a screw in. I'll look into it.