The Benchmarks...

The following tests were run with the card's write cache setting enabled and a stripe size of 64k. Driver version 1.10.01.032 was used along with BIOS release 7.1.1.

WinBench Results...

Let's begin with single-drive scores to use as a baseline.

Ziff Davis WinBench 99 under Windows 2000 Professional using NTFS - Baseline Scores

Benchmark 3Ware Escalade 6400, 1 Drive 3Ware Escalade 7410, 1 drive Abit SL6, 1 Drive Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A, 1 drive Promise Ultra 66, 1 Drive Business Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 4454 4406 6484 6110 5884 High-End Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 15200 15160 16220 14940 14460 Disk/Read Transfer Rate StorageReview.com Beginning (KB/sec) 29800 29633 29800 29700 29733 End (KB/sec) 17500 17500 17500 17400 17500 Disk Access Time (ms) 14.04 15.38 15.22 15.62 15.26 Disk CPU Utilization (%) 3.11 3.12 2.91 2.67 3.04

Baseline Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

No big surprises here... The 7410's access time is reported somewhat higher relative to the 6400, though one can not draw any conclusions from this.

WinBench RAID 0 Scores...

Ziff Davis WinBench 99 under Windows 2000 Professional using NTFS - RAID 0 with 2 Drives

Benchmark 3Ware Escalade 6400, RAID 0, 2 Drives 3Ware Escalade 7410, RAID 0, 2 drives Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A, RAID 0, 2 drives Business Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 3944 3676 6116 High-End Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 13540 13400 17840 Disk/Read Transfer Rate StorageReview.com Beginning (KB/sec) 59600 59200 59000 End (KB/sec) 35000 34900 34800 Disk Access Time (ms) 15.2 15.18 15.52 Disk CPU Utilization (%) 3.07 3.21 2.64

RAID 0 with 2 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

RAID 0 with 3 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

RAID 0 with 4 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

The 7410's RAID 0 Diskmark scores come in lower than that of a single drive, something that obviously doesn't reflect reality. Unfortunately, issues with WinBench's Diskmark tests continue with the Escalade 7410. As we'll see, the Diskmark results for all RAID levels are clearly unrepresentative - we'll refrain from commenting on them further.

The adapter's sustained transfer rate is very impressive, as was the 6400's. There's no doubt that the 107MB/sec "limitation" is caused by the PCI bus (the testbed's motherboard contains only 32-bit/33MHz slots) as opposed to the card itself.

WinBench RAID 1 Scores...

Ziff Davis WinBench 99 under Windows 2000 Professional using NTFS - RAID 1 with 2 Drives

Benchmark 3Ware Escalade 6400, RAID 1, 2 Drives 3Ware Escalade 7410, RAID 1, 2 Drives Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A, RAID 1, 2 Drives Business Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 3608 3560 5158 High-End Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 11660 11520 13580 Disk/Read Transfer Rate StorageReview.com Beginning (KB/sec) 47600 49667 29600 End (KB/sec) 27467 27900 17400 Disk Access Time (ms) 13.5 13.42 15.50 Disk CPU Utilization (%) 3.10 3.17 2.54

RAID 1 with 2 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

Two things are notable about the 7410's RAID 1 WinBench scores, both echoing the unit's predecessor. First, the 7410's RAID 1 access time clocks in about 2ms lower than a single-drive configuration. This indicates that the adapter load balances linear reads based on which drive's read/write head is closer to the requested data. Second, the 7410's RAID 1 STR is significantly higher than that of a single drive configuration. This is TwinStor in action.

WinBench RAID 10 Scores...

Ziff Davis WinBench 99 under Windows 2000 Professional using NTFS - RAID 10/01 with 4 Drives

Benchmark 3Ware Escalade 6400, RAID 10, 4 Drives 3Ware Escalade 7410, RAID 10, 4 Drives Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A, RAID 01, 4 Drives Business Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 3892 3694 5244 High-End Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 13000 12680 9718 Disk/Read Transfer Rate StorageReview.com Beginning (KB/sec) 59933 59600 59167 End (KB/sec) 46633 35000 34867 Disk Access Time (ms) 13.5 15.22 15.64 Disk CPU Utilization (%) 3.04 3.20 2.64

RAID 10 with 4 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

The 7410's RAID 10 access time matches that of a single drive configuration. This is interesting as it suggests that TwinStor isn't load balancing linear reads in RAID 10 like it does in RAID 1. We're at a loss as to why this is the case considering that the Escalade 6400 appears to balance such reads.

WinBench RAID 5 Scores...

Ziff Davis WinBench 99 under Windows 2000 Professional using NTFS - RAID 5 with 3 Drives

Benchmark 3Ware Escalade 6400, RAID 5, 3 Drives 3Ware Escalade 7410, RAID 5, 3 Drives Adaptec ATA RAID 2400A, RAID 5, 3 Drives Business Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 2120 1842 3816 High-End Disk WinMark 99 (KB/sec) 4792 4370 5378 Disk/Read Transfer Rate StorageReview.com Beginning (KB/sec) 58833 59167 59067 End (KB/sec) 34933 35000 34833 Disk Access Time (ms) 15.2 15.32 15.60 Disk CPU Utilization (%) 3.11 3.11 2.69

RAID 5 with 3 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

RAID 5 with 4 Drives Transfer Rate Graph
• 3Ware Escalade 7410

Access time remains about the same, while STR increases as one would expect.

 IOMeter...