Web-Server, File-Server, Workstation Patterns

This group of tests simulates disk loads typical of servers and workstations. The names of the patterns are self-explanatory. The Workstation pattern is used with the full capacity of the drive as well as with a 32GB partition. The request queue is limited to 32 requests in the Workstation pattern.

The results are presented as performance ratings. For the File-Server and Web-Server patterns the performance rating is the average speed of the drive under every load. For the Workstation pattern we use the following formula:

Rating (Workstation) = Total I/O (queue=1)/1 + Total I/O (queue=2)/2 + Total I/O (queue=4)/4 + Total I/O (queue=8)/8 + Total I/O (queue=16)/16…

• IOMeter: File-Server (table)
• IOMeter: Web-Server (table)
• IOMeter: Workstation (table)
• IOMeter: Workstation, 32GB (table)

Again, the Gigabyte i-RAM is far faster than its opponents. Among the other drives, the 15,000rpm Fujitsu is superior. The SSDs are faster than the HDDs from Samsung and Hitachi at small queue depths, the 32GB model delivering higher performance than the 64GB one. The HDDs accelerate as the request queue is getting longer. Eventually, the Samsung SpinPoint F1 goes ahead of the 32GB SSD while the 64GB SSD finds itself to be the slowest drive of all.

High IOps results at small request queue depths help the SSDs get a higher performance rating than the 7200rpm HDDs have. Take note how much better the Gigabyte i-RAM is in comparison with its opponents.

As opposed to the previous pattern, we have no write requests here, and the SSDs find this load much easier to cope with. Even the Fujitsu MBA3300RC cannot compete with the slower 64GB model while the 32GB SSD is far ahead. Of course, the i-RAM remains an unrivalled leader, but the gap is not as huge as in other tests.

The performance ratings agree with what we’ve seen in the diagram.