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woodturner550 · ‎11-04-2014

Questions to answer:
1. How big should the ram disk be?
2. How big should the ram cache be?
3. Subject: SSD and HHD cache; Can one SSD (256 GB) cache for three non RAID hard drives?
4. If Yes, would it be better to partition the SSD into three partitions and assign each partition to a HHD? OR would it be better to have the one SSD cache for all three HHD’s so self leveling would be better supported?

System X79 Deluxe, 64GB Ram 2133mhz, Radeon R9 290, 1 TB SSD for System drive, 256 GB cache SSD for HDD, 3 HHD totaling 6GB black HHD’s.

This is mainly for math research and a little gaming. Speed is the goal. It was either build this or beg time on a super computer. This is a build in progress, waiting on last parts (fan controller).

Thanks,
Woodturner550

sk2play · ‎11-05-2014

There is no clear answer. Your ramdisk is your cache size from what I can tell. Ref:
http://catznip.com/index.php/Using_a_RAMDisk_for_disk_cache_%28Windows%29

Regarding question 3 & 4, WHEN NOT USING THE RAMDISK DRIVE, your SSD will be the cache drive if it is the OS drive for all secondary SSD or HDD whether in RAID 0 or not or even if divided into many partitions. That is why the SSD should be a primary drive. Regarding the speed of the SSD, check the specs. Usually the speed maxes out at the 256GB size and doesn't get any faster with a larger size SSD.

As a gamer, I would load the OS (and office & internet apps) on the 256GB drive and point games (like Steam/Origin/Uplay etc) to the secondary 1TB drive. Because that would suite my needs best.

Corsair 500R Case, H110 Hydro, 1200AX PSU, Asus Maximus Hero VI MB, Intel 4770K CPU, Gigabyte GPU GV-N98TWF3OC-6GD, G-Skill Trident 2400MHz 32GB, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, Seagate 6TB HDD x2, Creative SBZ to Denon AVR-4311ci - Infinity Primus 5.1 w/Klipsch Sub XW-300d, HP ZR30w 30" S-IPS LCD, W10 64bit

woodturner550 · ‎11-06-2014

First I want to thank you for your time and post. As this is a changing leading edge technology, that is what keeps it fresh and exciting as it is evolving.

“3. Subject: SSD and HHD cache; Can one SSD (256 GB) cache for three non RAID hard drives?
4. If Yes, would it be better to partition the SSD into three partitions and assign each partition to a HHD? OR would it be better to have the one SSD cache for all three HHD’s so self leveling would be better supported?”

“Regarding question 3 & 4, WHEN NOT USING THE RAMDISK DRIVE, your SSD will be the cache drive if it is the OS drive for all secondary SSD or HDD whether in RAID 0 or not or even if divided into many partitions. That is why the SSD should be a primary drive. Regarding the speed of the SSD, check the specs. Usually the speed maxes out at the 256GB size and doesn't get any faster with a larger size SSD.”

If I’m not mistaken the cache SSD and the HHD that are cached for must be connected to the Marvell 9230 SATA III controller. X79 DELUXE has four Marvell controlled ports. Therefore the C: drive (system) SSD is connected to the Intel X79 Express chipset having no need for being cached because it is as fast as possible except for RAM cache and RAMDISK.
As I understand it the RAM Cache will cache both the C: drive SSD and the Marvell cached group.

Thanks again. It is good to learn!
woodturner550

sk2play · ‎11-08-2014

You're to kind and thanks for being humble with me on your dilemma :cool:
Peace to you and yours

Corsair 500R Case, H110 Hydro, 1200AX PSU, Asus Maximus Hero VI MB, Intel 4770K CPU, Gigabyte GPU GV-N98TWF3OC-6GD, G-Skill Trident 2400MHz 32GB, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, Seagate 6TB HDD x2, Creative SBZ to Denon AVR-4311ci - Infinity Primus 5.1 w/Klipsch Sub XW-300d, HP ZR30w 30" S-IPS LCD, W10 64bit

woodturner550 · ‎11-13-2014

Hands on experience with ASUS SSD Cache. Must have separate SSD's for each hard drive to be cached. You cannot use partitions for caching. This would have been great information while I was deciding on hardware. I Would have gotten two SSD's totaling 256 GB instead on one 256GB SSD.

Live and learn. I will be setting up RAM disk and RAM caching soon.

woodturner550

woodturner550 · ‎11-25-2014

This is an image of the memory speed test of the memory-CPU throughput. The computer is running at 3.6GHz and the memory running at 1333MHz. This is ¼ of the speed that the computer will achieve when the CPU is at 4.6GHz and the memory is running at 2133MHz. The reason for running at the slow speed is to “burn in” the chips.

This image shows 43 Gigabytes CPU to Memory throughput.

woodturner550

Cache and ram drive questions.