Hey All, 

finally giving up my trusty xw8400 and moving on up to a Z800 (prices are pretty good right now). Z800 - 2 Hexcore 2.66 (x5650) Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate, 48gb Ram RDIMM, quadro k4000.... yada, yada...

I just have a couple of questions (Yes, I've looked thru the forum, but if anyone want to direct me to something specific - I'm all ears!):

1. What USB 3.0 cards are you using successfully?

2. 2x2TB drive for a  4TB Raid0 successful (for media) for anyone? GPT right?

3. Hyperhtreading on? I've read "off" helps with AMA linking and QT, but it started to get a bit confusing.

As I said, if there were links that I missed to find my answers,my apologies...

My sincerest thanks ahead of time

Salud

With a 12 core machien I'd leave hyper threading off.

Make sure the RAM config is optimal (the right sized modules in the right slots)

Not had any special issues with USB 3 cards and have a few ebay ones on the go currently.

Our Z800 has 2 X SSD 512GB as RAID 0 for really fast access (it's a Resolve system as well fro grading)

Are you planning on buying a used z800, then upgrading it? or a new z820?

-I like the sonnet allegro USB3.0 cards. Full hotswap support on windows,unlike some cheaper cards that DO NOT support hotswap. (If you are purchasing a z820, usb3.0 is onboard. z420 onboard usb3 works great.)

-on the topic of hyperthreading, avid lists hyperthreading as a REQUIRED BIOS change. Some older apps can have issues with a large number of cores (greater than 22) - this affects adobe products in particular. There is a workaround to limit the number of CPU threads available to windows.

Hey Pat and NYnutz,

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, It'll be 4gb modules across the board (Hynix DDR3 RDIMM) for 48gb/s. I bought the Z800 used for a phenomenal price. I'll just be adding mu Quadro k4000 and I was waanting to builf a 2TB raid 0 and a 4TB raid 0; I'll have a 320 SSD for C drive and a 120 SSD for cache/projects  access.

So, Pat, which ebay HP USB 3.0 cards are you using? These ones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-USB-3-0-4-port-SuperSpeed-PCIe-x1-Card-QT587AA-661320-001-663213-001-/221268763150?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3384a5620e

NYNutz, thanks for the recommendation on USB 3.0 card.

So, with  12 core hyperthreading off, huh? I do use ADOBE CC alot along with MC 7; however, isn't Adobe CC built for HYper Threading now?, but if you guys suggest HTT "off" then I'll take your word for it. I wonder why AVID continues to recommend that setting.

Again, thanks for taking the time.

I've no way of knowing how Avid decide these things or how regularly they revisit and revise them and experience as showm me that often things move on and change and official information can get stale.

But hyperthreading is a trick to make it seem like more cores but in fact each core is just doing two jobs one after the other. With a low core count hyperthreading can improve efficency but I just can't see how it really helps with 12 cores.

My tests on our Z800 seem to show little difference with it on or off. And there have been reports of issues with it on (but no reports of issues with it off I'm aware of)

That make sense. Thanks, Pat. Also, which vendor did you buy your USB 3.0 HP card? There are some that are 12 bucks and ones that are 60 bucks on ebay... I can't find the HP BM867AA, only qt587aa (which I;ve read there are issues). Okay, that's my final bug in your hair.

I went with a Startech USB 3.0 PCIe card. Hop eit works;) Thanks everyone...

regarding the hyperthreading issue.

I'm one of the lucky ones to have faced issues with performance on a Z820 NOT a Z800. The killer app that has issues with with many cores is quicktime. When using a function that uses quicktime engines, like AMA linking, importing, exporting, etc... the Z820 becomes very slow. AFAIK the Z800 does not suffer from the same problem but I've not been able to test due to lack of a Z800. Switching hyper threading off helped to improve performance but did not solve the issue.

The issue has been confirmed by avid support and a bug was logged. UDevC00182825.

So I would advice to leave hyper threading off.

That seems to be the consensus - thanks for reaffirming and taking the time. Wish I could slapped down the change for a Z820m but I feel the Z800 will last me a long while;) Especially over my old X8400 workhorse.

Anyone create a successful 4tb raid 0 (with two  2TB drives) with the LSI 1638E controller (Win 7 64 bit)?

The onboard SATA controller is pretty good. You'll get better speed with 4 X 1TB then 2 X 2TB

I'm just setting up a 12 way RAID 10 storage array (external of course) and that uses 3TB drives.

Testing shows just about 1TBps drive speeds write and read.

Thanks Pat, 

so you recommend using the Intel sata Raid over the LSI raid? Is it faster or more stable? Both are softwar raids, right? I read somewhere that the LSi Raid was faster, but there might be a limitation at 2tbs raids? Could be old info.

Thanks for taking the time.

I found my answer switching between the INtel SATA Raid setup and teh LSI Raid setup: Intel Raid wins. Read and write speeds were higher. Thanks, Pat, for the suggestions.

On another note, SSD speeds on the LSI were almost half of what they are on the regular Intel Sata POrt. I guess you only get teh speed benefits on the LSI with true SAS drives.

Pat Horridge:

'm just setting up a 12 way RAID 10 storage array (external of course) and that uses 3TB drives.

Testing shows just about 1TBps drive speeds write and read.

Hi Pat,

with the luxury of 12 drives, have you thought of trying RAID 50? (assuming your controller card supports it).

I've not tried it myself, but from what I understand, RAID 10 write performance is better but RAID 50 can give comparable read speeds. Plus of course, you'll get more total drive space.

Bruno

The LSI controller supports RAID 5 and can be converted to external SAS. For simple RAID 0 and 1, the Intel controller should suffice.

FYI - if you are using Adobe CC, ditch the Quadro 4000 and go with a modern GeForce or Quadro card. Even teh GTX 670 or 680 is faster.