Chapter 3: Powering up

3.1 3.2 3.3 Starting up for the first time.. 3-1 Vocal POST Messages.. 3-2 Powering off the computer.. 3-4

Chapter 4: BIOS setup

4.1 Managing and updating your BIOS. 4-1 4.1.1 Using ASUS EZ Flash to update the BIOS. 4-1 4.1.2 Using AFLASH to update the BIOS.. 4-3 BIOS Setup program... 4-7 4.2.1 BIOS menu bar.. 4-8 4.2.2 Legend bar... 4-8 Main Menu.. 4-10 4.3.1 Primary and Secondary Master/Slave.. 4-12 4.3.2 Keyboard Features... 4-16 Advanced Menu... 4-17 4.4.1 Chip Configuration.. 4-20 4.4.2 I/O Device Configuration.. 4-24 4.4.3 PCI Configuration.. 4-26 Power Menu... 4-29 4.5.1 Power Up Control.. 4-31 4.5.2 Hardware Monitor.. 4-33 Boot Menu.. 4-35 Exit Menu... 4-37

4.6 4.7

Chapter 5: Software support
5.1 5.2 Install an operating system.. 5-1 Support CD information.. 5-1 5.2.1 Running the support CD.. 5-1 5.2.2 Drivers menu.. 5-2 5.2.3 Utilities menu.. 5-5 5.2.4 ASUS Contact Information.. 5-6 5.2.5 Other information... 5-7 Software information... 5-9 5.3.1 ASUS Update... 5-9 5.3.2 ASUS MyLogo2.. 5-10 5.3.3 ASUS PC Probe.. 5-12 5.3.4 Winbond Voice Editor.. 5-17 5.3.5 Multi-channel audio feature.. 5-21

FCC/CDC statements

Federal Communications Commission Statement
This device complies with FCC Rules Part 15. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: This device may not cause harmful interference, and This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with manufacturers instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
The use of shielded cables for connection of the monitor to the graphics card is required to assure compliance with FCC regulations. Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the users authority to operate this equipment.

Speech controller. This Winbond speech controller supports the ASUS POST Reporter for configurable vocal POST alerts. Flash ROM. This 4Mb firmware contains the programmable BIOS program. Standby power LED. This LED lights up if there is a standby power on the motherboard. This LED acts as a reminder to turn off the system power before plugging or unplugging devices. ASUS ASIC. This chip performs multiple system functions that include hardware and system voltage monitoring, IRQ routing, among others. Super I/O controller. This Low Pin Count (LPC) interface provides the commonly used Super I/O functionality. The chipset supports a highperformance floppy disk controller for a 360K/720K/1.44M/2.88M floppy disk drive, a multi-mode parallel port, two standard compatible UARTs, a Standard Infrared (SIR), and a Flash ROM interface. PCI slots. These six 32-bit PCI 2.2 expansion slots support bus master PCI cards like SCSI or LAN cards with 133MB/s maximum throughput. The ASUS proprietary BlueMagic PCI slot (blue slot) supports future ASUS function cards compliant to PCI specification. Audio CODEC. The ADI AD1980 is an AC97 CODEC that allows 6-channel audio playback. The audio CODEC provides six DAC channels for 5.1 surround sound, S/PDIF output, AUX and Line In stereo inputs, integrated headphone amplifier, greater than 90dB dynamic range, and stereo Mic PREAMP support. LAN controller. The BroadCom BCM4401 onboard supports 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet networking. (on LAN models only) AGP warning LED. Serving as a smart burn-out protection for the motherboard, this red LED lights up if you plug in any 3.3V AGP card into the AGP slot. When this LED is lit, there is no way you can turn on the system power even if you press the power button. AGP slot. This Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) slot supports 1.5V AGP4X mode graphics cards for 3D graphical applications. PS/2 mouse port. This green 6-pin connector is for a PS/2 mouse. Parallel port. This 25-pin port connects a parallel printer, a scanner, or other devices. RJ-45 port. This port allows connection to a Local Area Network (LAN) through a network hub. (on LAN models only) 1-9
Line In jack. This Line In (light blue) jack connects a tape player or other audio sources. In 6-channel mode, the function of this jack becomes Bass/Center. Line Out jack. This Line Out (lime) jack connects a headphone or a speaker. In 6-channel mode, the function of this jack becomes Front Speaker Out. Microphone jack. This Mic (pink) jack connects a microphone. In 6channel mode, the function of this jack becomes Rear Speaker Out. USB 2.0 ports 3 and 4. These two 4-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are available for connecting USB 2.0 devices. Video port. This port is for a VGA monitor or other VGA-compatible devices. Serial port. This 9-pin COM1 port is for pointing devices or other serial devices. USB 2.0 ports 1 and 2. These two 4-pin Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are available for connecting USB 2.0 devices. PS/2 keyboard port. This purple connector is for a PS/2 keyboard.

1. Unplug the power cord from the wall socket before touching any component. 2. Use a grounded wrist strap or touch a safely grounded object or to a metal object, such as the power supply case, before handling components to avoid damaging them due to static electricity. 3. Hold components by the edges to avoid touching the ICs on them. 4. Whenever you uninstall any component, place it on a grounded antistatic pad or in the bag that came with the component. 5. Before you install or remove any component, ensure that the ATX power supply is switched off or the power cord is detached from the power supply. Failure to do so may cause severe damage to the motherboard, peripherals, and/or components.
When lit, the green LED (SB_PWR1) indicates that the system is ON, in sleep mode, or in soft-off mode, a reminder that you should shut down the system and unplug the power cable before removing or plugging in any motherboard component. The red LED (AGP_WARN1) is a smart protection from motherboard burn out caused by an incorrect AGP card. If you plug in any 3.3V AGP card into the 1.5V AGP slot, this LED lights up thus preventing the system to power up. This LED remains off if you plug in a 1.5V AGP card.

ON Incorrect AGP Card

OFF Correct AGP Card

SB_PWR1

P4GE-V Onboard LED

ON Standby Power

OFF Powered Off
Central Processing Unit (CPU)

2.4.1 Overview

The motherboard comes with a surface mount 478-pin Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket. The socket is designed for the Intel Pentium 4 Processor in the 478-pin package with 512KB L2 cache on 0.13 micron process. This processor includes the Intel NetBurst micro-architecture that features the hyper-pipelined technology, rapid execution engine, 533/400MHz system bus, and execution trace cache. Together, these attributes improve system performance by allowing higher core frequencies, faster execution of integer instructions, and data transfer rates of 3.2GB/s and 4.2GB/s. Note in the illustration that the CPU has a gold triangular mark on one corner. This mark indicates the processor Pin 1 that should match a specific corner of the CPU socket.

Gold Mark

Incorrect installation of the CPU into the socket may bend the pins and severely damage the CPU!

MODEM1

CD1(Black) AUX1 (White)
Left Audio Channel Ground Ground Right Audio Channel
P4GE-V Internal Audio Connectors
Modem-In Ground Ground Modem-Out
12. Infrared module connector (5-1 pin IR1) This connector supports an optional wireless transmitting and receiving infrared module. This module mounts to a small opening on system chassis that support this feature. You must also configure the UART2 Use As parameter in BIOS to set UART2 for use with IR. See section 4.4.2 I/O Device Configuration for details. Use the five pins as shown in Back View and connect a ribbon cable from the module to the motherboard SIR connector according to the pin definitions.

IR_CON1

Front View

Back View

IRRX GND IRTX

IRTX GND IRRX

+5V (NC)
P4GE-V Infrared Module Connector
13. Serial port 2 connector (10-1 pin COM2) This connector accommodates a second serial port using an optional serial port bracket. Connect the bracket cable to this connector then install the bracket into a slot opening at the back of the system chassis.
P4GE-V Serial COM2 Bracket
14. Digital audio connector (4-1 pin SPDIF1) (on audio models only) This connector is for the bundled S/PDIF audio module that allows digital instead of analog sound output. Connect one end of the audio cable to the S/PDIF Out connector on the motherboard, and the other end to the S/PDIF module.

SPDIF_OUT1

SPDIFOUT GND

AGND +5VA BLINE_OUT_R

P4GE-V Digital Audio Connector
15. Front panel audio connector (10-1 pin FP_AUDIO1) (on audio models only) This is an interface for the Intel front panel audio cable that allow convenient connection and control of audio devices.
MIC2 MICPWR Line out_R NC Line out_L
P4GE-V Front Panel Audio Connector

BLINE_OUT_L

16. System panel connector (20-pin PANEL1) This connector accommodates several system front panel functions.

Keyboard Lock Power LED

PLED Keylock Ground +5 V

Speaker Connector

+5V Ground Ground Speaker
ExtSMI# Ground PWRBIN Ground
Reset SW SMI Lead ATX Power Switch*
P4GE-V System Panel Connectors
* Requires an ATX power supply.
System Power LED Lead (3-1 pin PLED) This 3-1 pin connector connects to the system power LED. The LED lights up when you turn on the system power, and blinks when the system is in sleep mode. Keyboard Lock Lead (2-pin KEYLOCK) This 2-pin connector connects to a chassis-mounted switch to allow the use of the keyboard lock feature. System Warning Speaker Lead (4-pin SPKR) This 4-pin connector connects to the case-mounted speaker and allows you to hear system beeps and warnings. System Management Interrupt Lead (2-pin SMI) This 2-pin connector allows you to manually place the system into a suspend mode, or green mode, where system activity is instantly decreased to save power and to expand the life of certain system components. Attach the case-mounted suspend switch to this 2-pin connector. ATX Power Switch / Soft-Off Switch Lead (2-pin PWRBTN) This connector connects a switch that controls the system power. Pressing the power switch turns the system between ON and SLEEP, or ON and SOFT OFF, depending on the BIOS or OS settings. Pressing the power switch while in the ON mode for more than 4 seconds turns the system OFF. Reset Switch Lead (2-pin RESET) This 2-pin connector connects to the case-mounted reset switch for rebooting the system without turning off the system power. ASUS P4GE-V motherboard user guide 2-27

6. When prompted to confirm the BIOS update, press Y to start the update.
7. The utility starts to program the new BIOS information into the Flash ROM. The boot block is updated automatically only when necessary. This minimizes the possibility of boot problems in case of update failures. When the programming is done, the message Flashed Successfully appears.
8. Follow the onscreen instructions to continue.
If you encounter problems while updating the new BIOS, DO NOT turn off the system because this may cause boot problems. Just repeat the process, and if the problem persists, load the original BIOS file you saved to the boot disk. If the Flash Memory Writer utility is not able to successfully update a complete BIOS file, the system may not boot. If this happens, call the ASUS service center for support.

BIOS Setup program

This motherboard supports a programmable Flash ROM that you can update using the provided utility described in section 4.1 Managing and updating your BIOS. Use the BIOS Setup program when you are installing a motherboard, reconfiguring your system, or prompted to Run Setup. This section explains how to configure your system using this utility. Even if you are not prompted to use the Setup program, you may want to change the configuration of your computer in the future. For example, you may want to enable the security password feature or make changes to the power management settings. This requires you to reconfigure your system using the BIOS Setup program so that the computer can recognize these changes and record them in the CMOS RAM of the Flash ROM. The Flash ROM on the motherboard stores the Setup utility. When you start up the computer, the system provides you with the opportunity to run this program. Press <Delete> during the Power-On Self Test (POST) to enter the Setup utility, otherwise, POST continues with its test routines. If you wish to enter Setup after POST, restart the system by pressing <Ctrl> + <Alt> + <Delete>, or by pressing the reset button on the system chassis. You can also restart by turning the system off and then back on. Do this last option only if the first two failed. The Setup program is designed to make it as easy to use as possible. It is a menu-driven program, which means you can scroll through the various sub-menus and make your selections among the predetermined choices.

AGP/PCI Frequency (MHz) [66.66/33.33]
This item appears only when the AGP/PCI Frequency Setting is set to [Manual]. This field allows you to select a higher AGP/PCI frequency for better system performance.
Selecting a very high AGP/PCI frequency may cause the system to be unstable!

CPU VCore Setting [Auto]

The [Manual] setting allows you to manually select the core voltage supplied to the CPU (see next item). However, it is recommended that you keep the default setting [Auto] to allow the system to automatically determine the appropriate CPU core voltage.

CPU VCore [1.500V]

When the CPU VCore Setting parameter above is set to [Manual], the CPU VCore item allows you to select a specific CPU core voltage. This field is not accessible when the CPU VCore Setting is set to [Auto].
Refer to the CPU documentation before setting this field. A very high core voltage may severely damage the CPU!
DDR Reference Voltage [Auto]
This item controls the DDR SDRAM operating voltage. Configuration options: [2.9V] [2.7V] [2.6V] [2.5V] [Auto]

AGP VDDQ Voltage [Auto]

This item controls the AGP operating voltage. Configuration options: [1.7V] [1.6V] [1.5V] [Auto]
Hyper-Threading Technology [Enabled]
This item allows you to enable or disable the processor Hyper-Threading Technology. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
The item Hyper-Threading Technology appears only if you installed an Intel Pentium 4 CPU that supports this feature.
CPU Level 1 Cache, CPU Level 2 Cache [Enabled]
These fields allow you to choose from the default [Enabled] or choose [Disabled] to turn on or off the CPU Level 1 and Level 2 built-in cache. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

BIOS Update [Enabled]

This field functions as an update loader integrated into the BIOS to supply the processor with the required data. When set to [Enabled], the BIOS loads the update on all processors during system bootup. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
PS/2 Mouse Function Control [Auto]
The default setting [Auto] allows the system to detect a PS/2 mouse at startup. If a mouse is detected, the BIOS assigns IRQ12 to the PS/2 mouse. Otherwise, IRQ12 can be used for expansion cards. When you set this field to [Enabled], BIOS reserves IRQ12, whether or not a PS/2 mouse is detected at startup. Configuration options: [Enabled] [Auto] ASUS P4GE-V motherboard user guide 4-19

USB Legacy Support [Auto]
This motherboard supports Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices. The default of [Auto] allows the system to detect a USB device at startup. If detected, the USB controller legacy mode is enabled. If not detected, the USB controller legacy mode is disabled. When you set this field to [Disabled], the USB controller legacy mode is disabled whether or not you are using a USB device. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled] [Auto]
OS/2 Onboard Memory > 64M [Disabled]
When using OS/2 operating systems with installed DRAM of greater than 64MB, you need to set this option to [Enabled]. Otherwise, leave to the default setting [Disabled]. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4.4.1 Chip Configuration

SDRAM Configuration [By SPD]
This parameter allows you to set the optimal timings for items 25, depending on the memory modules that you are using. The default setting is [By SPD], which configures items 25 by reading the contents in the SPD (Serial Presence Detect) device. The EEPROM on the memory module stores critical information about the module, such as memory type, size, speed, voltage interface, and module banks. Configuration options: [User Defined] [By SPD] 4-20 Chapter 4: BIOS Setup
The SDRAM parameters (items 2~5) become configurable only when you set the SDRAM Configuration to [User Defined].
SDRAM CAS Latency (value depends on SDRAM SPD)
This item controls the latency between the SDRAM read command and the time the data actually becomes available. Configuration options: [2.5T] [2T] [1.5T]
SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (value depends on SDRAM SPD)
This item controls the latency between the DDR SDRAM active command and the read/write command. Configuration options: [3T] [2T]
SDRAM RAS Precharge Delay (value depends on SDRAM SPD)
This item controls the idle clocks after issuing a precharge command to the DDR SDRAM. Configuration options: [3T] [2T]
SDRAM Active Precharge Delay (value depends on SDRAM SPD)
This item controls the number of DDR SDRAM clocks used for DDR SDRAM parameters. Configuration options: [8T] [7T] [6T] [5T]
System Performance Mode [Auto]
This item allows you to change the level of system performance. Configuration options: [Auto] [Optimal] [Turbo]

SDRAM Idle Timer [Auto]

Configuration options: [Infinite] [0T] [8T] [16T] [64T] [Auto]
SDRAM Burst Length [Auto]
Configuration options: [Auto] [4] [8]
Memory Turbo Mode [Disabled]
This item allows you to enable or disable the memory turbo mode. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Onboard Game Port [200H-207H]
This field sets the I/O address for the game port. Configuration options: [Disabled] [200H-207H] [208H-20FH]
Onboard MIDI I/O [Disabled]
This field sets the I/O address for the MIDI I/O port. Configuration options: [Disabled] [330H-331H] [300H-301H]
Speech POST Reporter [Enabled]
This field enables or disables the ASUS POST Reporter feature. See section 1.3 Special Features and 3.2 Vocal POST messages for more information. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

4.4.3 PCI Configuration

Slot 1/5, Slot 2, Slot 3, Slot 4, Slot 6 IRQ [Auto]
These fields automatically assign the IRQ for each PCI slot. The default setting for each field is [Auto], which utilizes auto-routing to determine IRQ assignments. Configuration options: [Auto] [NA] [3] [4] [5] [7] [9] [10] [11] [12] [14] [15]
PCI/VGA Palette Snoop [Disabled]
Some non-standard VGA cards, like graphics accelerators or MPEG video cards, may not show colors properly. Setting this field to [Enabled] corrects this problem. If you are using standard VGA cards, leave this field to the default setting [Disabled]. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

PCI Latency Timer [32]

Leave this field to the default setting [32] for best performance and stability.
USB 1.1 Controllers [3 Controllers]
This field allows you to select the number of USB 1.1 controllers that you wish to activate. Configuration options: [Disabled] [3 Controllers]
USB 2.0 Controller [Enabled]
This field allows you to enable or disable the onboard USB 2.0 controller. Set to [Enabled] if you wish to install USB 2.0 devices. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
Primary VGA BIOS [PCI VGA Card]
This field allows you to select the primary graphics card. Configuration options: [PCI VGA Card] [AGP VGA Card] [Onboard VGA]
The option [Onboard VGA] appears only when the onboard VGA is either used or enabled.
Onboard LAN Controller [Enabled]
This field allows you to enable or disable the onboard LAN controller. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Even if installed, your screen saver does not display when you select [Blank Screen] for the above field.
[V/H SYNC+Blank] blanks the screen and turns off vertical and horizontal scanning. Configuration options: [Blank Screen] [V/H SYNC+Blank] [DPMS Standby] [DPMS Suspend] [DPMS OFF] [DPMS Reduce ON]
HDD Power Down [Disabled]
Shuts down any IDE hard disk drives in the system after a period of inactivity as set in this user-configurable field. This feature does not affect SCSI hard drives. Configuration options: [Disabled] [1 Min] [2 Min] [3 Min].[15 Min]
ACPI Suspend To RAM [Disabled]
This field allows you to enable or disable the ACPI Suspend-to-RAM feature. To support this feature, the +5VSB of the power supply should have the capacity to provide more than 720mA current. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]

Suspend Mode [Disabled]

Sets the time period before the system goes into suspend mode. Configuration options: [Disabled] [1~2 Min] [2~3 Min] [4~5 min] [8~9 Min] [20 Min] [30 Min] [40 Min] [1 hour]
PWR Button < 4 Secs [Soft Off]
When set to [Soft off], the ATX switch can be used as a normal system power-off button when pressed for less than 4 seconds. [Suspend] allows the button to have a dual function where pressing less than 4 seconds puts the system in sleep mode. Regardless of the setting, holding the ATX switch for more than 4 seconds powers off the system. Configuration options: [Soft off] [Suspend]

4.5.1 Power Up Control

AC PWR Loss Restart [Disabled]
This allows you to set whether or not to reboot the system after power interruptions. [Disabled] leaves your system off while [Enabled] reboots the system. [Previous State] sets the system back to the state it was before the power interruption. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled] [Previous State]
Wake/Power Up On Ext. Modem [Disabled]
This allows either settings of [Enabled] or [Disabled] for powering up the computer when the external modem receives a call while the computer is in Soft-off mode. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
The computer cannot receive or transmit data until the computer and applications are fully running. Thus, connection cannot be made on the first try. Turning an external modem off and then back on while the computer is off causes an initialization string that turns the system power on.
Power Up On PCI Card [Disabled]
When set to [Enabled], this parameter allows you to turn on the system through a PCI LAN or modem card. This feature requires an ATX power supply that provides at least 1A on the +5VSB lead. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
Power On By PS/2 Keyboard [Space Bar]
This parameter allows you to use specific keys on the keyboard to turn on the system. This feature requires an ATX power supply that provides at least 1A on the +5VSB lead. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Space Bar] [Ctrl-Esc] [Power Key]

Speed Up/Down Response Time [4 Sec/8 Sec]
This item indicates the time period before the fan speeds adjust to the value set in the Fan Speed Ratio field. This item appears only when the Q-Fan Control item is set to [Enabled]. Configuration options: [1 Sec/2 Sec] [2 Sec/4 Sec] [3 Sec/6 Sec] [4 Sec/8 Sec]
CPU Fan Speed [xxxxRPM] or [N/A] Chassis Fan Speed [xxxxRPM] or [N/A] Power Fan Speed [xxxxRPM] or [N/A]
The onboard hardware monitor automatically detects and displays the CPU, chassis, and power fan speeds in rotations per minute (RPM). If any of the fans is not connected to the motherboard, the specific field shows N/A.
VCORE Voltage, +3.3V Voltage, +5V Voltage, +12V Voltage
The onboard hardware monitor automatically detects the voltage output through the onboard voltage regulators.
If any of the monitored items is out of range, the following error message appears: Hardware Monitor found an error. Enter Power setup menu for details. You will then be prompted to Press F1 to continue or DEL to enter SETUP.

Boot Menu

Boot Sequence
The Boot menu allows you to select among the four possible types of boot devices listed using the up and down arrow keys. By using the <+> or <Space> key, you can promote devices and by using the <-> key, you can demote devices. Promotion or demotion of devices alters the priority which the system uses to search for a boot device on system power up. Configuration fields include Removable Devices, IDE Hard Drive, ATAPI CD-ROM, and Other Boot Device.
Removable Device [Legacy Floppy]
Configuration options: [Disabled] [Legacy Floppy] [LS-120] [ZIP] [ATAPI MO]

IDE Hard Drive

This field allows you to select which IDE hard disk drive to use in the boot sequence. Pressing [Enter] will show the product IDs of all connected IDE hard disk drives.

ATAPI CD-ROM

This field allows you to select which ATAPI CD-ROM drive to use in the boot sequence. Pressing [Enter] will show the product IDs of all your connected ATAPI CD-ROM drives.
Other Boot Device Select [INT18 Device (Network)]
Configuration options: [Disabled] [SCSI Boot Device] [INT18 Device (Network)] ASUS P4GE-V motherboard user guide 4-35

Plug & Play O/S [No]

This field allows you to use a Plug-and-Play (PnP) operating system to configure the PCI bus slots instead of using the BIOS. When [Yes] is selected, interrupts may be reassigned by the OS. If you installed a nonPnP OS or if you want to prevent reassigning of interrupt settings, keep the default setting [No]. Configuration options: [No] [Yes]
Reset Configuration Data [No]
The Extended System Configuration Data (ESCD) contain information about non-PnP devices. It also holds the complete record of how the system was configured the last time it was booted. Select [Yes] if you want to clear these data during the Power-On-Self-Test (POST). Configuration options: [No] [Yes]
Boot Virus Detection [Enabled]
This field allows you to set boot virus detection, ensuring a virus-free boot sector. The system halts and displays a warning message when it detects a virus. If this occurs, you can either allow the operation to continue or use a virus-free bootable floppy disk to restart and investigate your system. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
Quick Power On Self Test [Enabled]
This field speeds up the Power-On-Self Test (POST) routine by skipping retesting a second, third, and fourth time. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
Boot Up Floppy Seek [Enabled]
When enabled, the BIOS will seek the floppy disk drive to determine whether the drive has 40 or 80 tracks. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
Full Screen Logo [Enabled]
This allows you to enable or disable the full screen logo display feature. Configuration options: [Disabled] [Enabled]
Make sure that the above item is set to [Enabled] if you wish to use the ASUS MyLogo2 feature.

Interrupt Mode [APIC]

The Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) setting allows you to distribute interrupt routings other than the 16 IRQs. The Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) setting allows you to use the 16 IRQs only. Configuration options: [PIC] [APIC] 4-36 Chapter 4: BIOS Setup

Exit Menu

When you have made all of your selections from the various menus in the Setup program, save your changes and exit Setup. Select Exit from the menu bar to display the following menu.
Pressing <Esc> does not immediately exit this menu. Select one of the options from this menu or <F10> from the legend bar to exit.

MyLogo2 may not support too complex images. If you encounter any problems on complex images, try using a simpler image. You may also use a photo editing software to shink the complex image, lay it over a one-color 640x480 pixel background, and save the image with the background. When you use the image, it will appear smaller and centered on the screen.
6. The next screen prompts you to flash the original BIOS to update it with the new boot logo. Click Flash to update the BIOS. 7. When finished, click Exit, then reboot your computer. Your system boots with the new boot logo.
Instead of starting from ASUS Update, you may also launch ASUS MyLogo2 directly from the Windows Start menu to change your BIOS boot logo. After you have modified the BIOS file with the new logo, use the ASUS Update utility to upload the new BIOS.

5.3.3 ASUS PC Probe

The ASUS PC Probe is a convenient utility to continuously monitor your computer systems vital components, such as fan rotations, voltages, and temperatures. It also has a utility that lets you review useful information about your computer, such as hard disk space, memory usage, and CPU type, CPU speed, and internal/external frequencies through the DMI Explorer.

Starting ASUS PC Probe

When ASUS PC Probe starts, a splash screen appears allowing you to select whether to show the screen again when you open PC Probe or not. To bypass this startup screen, clear the Show up in next execution check box.
To launch ASUS PC Probe, click the Windows Start button, point to Programs, and then ASUS Utility, and then click Probe Vx.xx.
appears on the taskbar system tray indicating The PC Probe icon that ASUS PC Probe is running. Clicking the icon allows you to see the status of your PC.
Using ASUS PC Probe Monitoring

Monitor Summary

Shows a summary of the items being monitored.

Temperature Monitor

Shows the PC temperature (for supported processors only).
Temperature Warning threshold adjustment (Move the slider up to increase the threshold level or down to decrease the threshold level)

Fan Monitor

Shows the PC fan rotation.
Fan Warning threshold adjustment (Move the slider up to increase the threshold level or down to decrease the threshold level)

Voltage Monitor

Shows the PC voltages.

Settings

Lets you set threshold levels and polling intervals or refresh times of the PCs temperature, fan rotation, and voltages.
CPU Cooling System Setup Lets you select when to enable software CPU cooling. When When CPU Overheated is selected, the CPU cooling system is enabled whenever the CPU temperature reaches the threshold value.

The default language setting is English.
Changing the default language
1. Click on the Load button. a window showing the available languages appears. 2. Select your desired language then click Open. The event messages for the language you selected appear on the Voice Editor screen.
For some languages, not all events have a corresponding message due to file size constraints.
3. Click on the Write button to update the EEPROM. 4. Click Yes on the confirmation window that appears. The next time you boot your computer, the POST messages are announced in the language that you selected.
Customizing your POST messages
If your language is not in the selection or if you wish to record your own POST messages to replace the pre-installed wave files, you may easily do so. Follow these steps to customize your POST messages. 1. Launch the Voice Editor and take note of the list of POST events on the leftmost column of the screen. 2. Prepare your message for each event.
The total compressed size for all the wave files must not exceed 1Mbit, so make your messages as short as possible.
3. Use a recording software, such as Windows Recorder, to record your messages. 4. Save the messages as wave files (.WAV). It is recommended that you save your files in low quality to keep them small. For example, use 8-bit, mono quality at 22Khz sampling rate.
You may want to create a separate folder for your wave files so you can locate them easily in one place.
5. From the Voice Editor screen, click on the Add button to display the Add Wave File window. 6. Copy the wave files that you recorded to the database. Close the window when done.
7. Click a POST event on the Voice Editor screen, then on the Edit button. The Event Sound Editor window appears. 8. Locate and select your wave file for the event then click on the arrow opposite Voice1. The file you selected appears on the space next to it. 9. Click OK to return to the Voice Editor screen. 10. Do steps 7 to 9 for the other events. 11. When done, click the Save button. A window appears prompting you to save your configuration. 12. Type a file name with a.flh extension, then click Save. 13. Click on the Write button to compress the file and copy into the EEPROM. 14. Click Yes on the confirmation window that appears.

AN006 - Bus Transfer Speed Details/Setup/Figures
Revision V 1.0 Date 6th of March 2007 Changes First release of document

General Information

This application note should give you an overview on all details concerning the bus transfer speed of the Strategic Test PCI and PCI-X cards. It also includes some bus speed figures measured in-house on different systems. This may give you an idea what transfer speed can be reached and which circumstances affect this transfer speed.
MBytes/s and MSamples/s and MHz
To avoid confusion we have to start with some general information on the units that are used throughout the world of PC based data acquisition. On the one hand we have the sampling speed in MSamples/s (short form MS/s or MSa/s or MSPS). This figure stands for Million samples per second. A sampling speed of 10 MS/s is therefore 10,000,000 Samples/second. Besides this we have the unit of MHz. This is normally used for the analog bandwidth (or signal frequency on a generator card). Very occasionally it is also sometimes used for the sampling rate. On all Strategic Test documents the sampling speed is always given in MS/s while any analog frequencies are given in MHz. Taking the sampling rate into account is one part of the transfer speed. The second part is the width of the samples and the number of samples that are stored on one sampling clock edge. A 1 channel 8 bit card has 1 byte/sample. A 4 channel 14 bit card has 8 bytes/sample (4 channels x 2 bytes/sample). To calculate the transfer speed that will occur all values have to be multiplied: [Transfer Speed] = [Sampling Rate] * [Channels] * [Bytes/Sample] In the computer world all values are not given as Million Bytes but as Mega Bytes (MByte or MB). 1 Mega Byte is 1024 * 1024 Bytes = 1048576 Bytes. It is these values based from the computer world (like bus transfer speed, on-board memory, block sizes) that are the basis of those used in the Strategic Test documentation and test programs. As a result this means that one has to be careful when comparing measuring results and speeds. The following table shows a comparison of acquisition speed and resulting transfer throughput:
Channels 64 Resolution Bytes/Sample 8 bit analog bit analog bit analog bit analog bit analog 2 digital 2 digital 8 Sampling rate 100 MS/s 100 MS/s 100 MS/s 3 MS/s 40 MS/s 100 MS/s 10 MS/s Bytes/second MByte/second 100,000,000 95.3 MB/s 400,000,000 381.5 MB/s 200,000,000 190.7 MB/s 192,000,000 183.1 MB/s 320,000,000 305.2 MB/s 200,000,000 190.7 MB/s 80,000,000 76.3 MB/s
Transfer speed between card and PC memory
For the UF2 card series these figures can be obtained using the Card Control Center utility. All tests have been done with a standard card from the current production (February 2007). All tests were performed under Windows XP 32 bit if not otherwise noted. The following driver versions have been used for test:
Windows 32 bit kernel driver Windows 32 bit library (dll) V1.26 build 1410 V1.20 build 1414
Test results on different systems
The card control center uses a special internal mode that allows testing of the maximum FIFO transfer speed even if the front-end of the card isnt capable of running with this speed (i.e. maximum sample rate of all channels is lower than the PCI bus speed). Therefore only the PCI and the memory interface are running at full speed. The card function itself is not involved. Therefore the following results are maximum values that were reached on the system. To have a reliable continuous transfer speed in real life one should calculate with not more than about 95% - 98% of these values. To get nearer to the maximum that is possible and to still have a reliable transfer, the on-board memory of the card can be extended to have a longer buffering time.
STRATEGIC TEST CORPORATION STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN WOBURN, USA EUROPE PHONE: +46 (854)400-490 USA PHONE: +1 (617)621-0080 E-MAIL: info@strategic-test.com INTERNET: http://www.strategic-test.com
All debug outputs have been disabled. The operating system has been optimized for speed.
PCI slot 66 MHz PCI-X slot CPU Mem Write Read Write Read Pentium D 3 GHz 2 GByte 105 MB/s 108 MB/s 189 MB/s 194 MB/s Athlon 64 3000+ 1 GByte 76 MB/s 115 MB/s n.a. n.a. Pentium 4 3,0 GHz 1 GByte 108 MB/s 110 MB/s 189 MB/s 194 MB/s Pentium 4 2,0 GHz 1 GByte 115 MB/s 116 MB/s n.a. n.a. Athlon 1,0 GHz 576 MByte 48 MB/s 92 MB/s n.a. n.a. Pentium 4 3,0 GHz 1 GByte 117 MB/s 118 MB/s 180 MB/s 203 MB/s Pentium 4 3,0 GHz 1 GByte 117 MB/s 118 MB/s 180 MB/s 203 MB/s Celeron 2,53 GHz 1 GByte 95 MB/s 98 MB/s 187 MB/s 192 MB/s Pentium 4 2,6 GHz 1 GByte 118 MB/s 118 MB/s n.a. n.a. Pentium 3 1,0 GHz 1 GByte 74 MB/s 92 MB/s n.a. n.a. Pentium 3 1,0 GHz 256 MByte 70 MB/s 85 MB/s n.a. n.a. 2x Xeon 2,4 GHz 1 GByte n.a. n.a. 222 MB/s 220 MB/s Athlon 64 3000+ 1 GByte 79 MB/s 117 MB/s n.a. n.a. Athlon 64 3600+ 1 GByte 108 MB/s 120 MB/s 40 MB/s 150 MB/s

Motherboard Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro Asus K8V SE Deluxe Asus P5WDG2-WS Asus P4GE-V Asus A7V133 Supermicro P4SCT+II Supermicro P4SCT+ Supermicro PDSGE Asus P4PBAsus CUV4X-E Gigabyte 6VTXE Supermicro X5DPE-G2 Asus K8V SE Deluxe Asus M2N32 WS PRO
Chipset Intel 975X VIA K8T800 Intel 975X Intel 845GE VIA KT133A Intel 875P Intel E7210 Intel 955X Intel 865P VIA Apollo Pro133A VIA Apollo Pro133T Intel E7501 VIA K8T800 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI
These results did not take into account any online calculation or data display. As soon as one wants to do more than just transfer data, the CPU calculation power and the programming of the algorithm become critical. While simple monitoring and level check functions will be no problem on a current standard system, floating point calculations or data reduction algorithms may not work at full speed.
Available Memory for data storage on 32 Bit and 64 Bit systems
When streaming data to/from PC memory the limit is the available memory for data. Current 32 bit systems can access 4 GByte of data in total (if supported by the motherboard). But this memory has to be shared between the adapter area, the operating system, any background tasks and systems services and the program. As the 32 bit address range is in total 4 GByte a part of this address range is mapped to the devices like PCI cards, graphics adapter, USB ports and all the others. As especially PCI cards can request very large memory areas the system designers normally reserve about 512 MByte of address space for these adapters. As long as the maximum memory is not installed this wont hurt as the adapter address space then is no longer located in the physical memory. But as soon as 4 GByte is installed in the PC the physical memory and the adapter address space overlap. As a result theres only 3.5 GByte left for the operating system. A program itself will only see 2 GByte of the remaining address space as the operating system default gives each task not more than 2 GByte. This can be extended with some special boot options but still the operating system needs some memory for its own handles and internal tables and will reserve at least another 512 MByte. As a result our program wont get more than 3 GByte of room for data storage on a 32 bit system. Going to 64 bit systems this limit is extended and need not be applied for future applications, where it is possible to access as much memory as the motherboard can handle (and one can afford). The operating system of course still reserves a part for its own use but all the rest is available for the program. While Strategic Test has drivers for 64 bit operating systems for all UF2 cards most other manufacturers will not give you the choice as they dont support 64 bit systems. Please make sure that you will not run into any memory limits if you decide to buy a product from a different manufacturer.

Hard disk streaming

Using PC memory for signal data storeage allows online data calculation, data monitoring and is a low cost way to record or generate loger signals that the available card memory. But as soon as the amount of data to be recorded or replayed exceeds the PC memory it may be necessary to consider the use of hard disks for real-time storeage. The following table gives a brief overview of the amount of data that a certain time of transfer will generate:
Transfer Speed 10 MByte/s 10 MByte/s 10 MByte/s 10 MByte/s 10 MByte/s Time 1 second 10 seconds 1 minute 10 minutes 1 hour Amount of Data 10 MByte 100 MByte 600 MByte 6 GByte 36 Gbyte Transfer Speed 200 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 200 MByte/s Time 1 second 10 seconds 1 minute 10 minutes 1 hour Amount of Data 200 MByte 2 GByte 12 GByte 120 GByte 720 GByte

RAID Arrays

Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks; (RAID). The word redundant might be a little misleading here, in fact RAID usefully combines multiple small, inexpensive disk drives into an array of disk drives that yields performance and data security benefits which can exceed that of a single large (more expensive) drive. This array of drives appears to the computer as a single logical storage unit or drive, but it must be noted that there is no gain in storage size in this arrangement, for example using two 200 GByte drives will yield 200 GByte! The key to increased performance under RAID is parallelism, where simultaneous access to multiple disks allows data to be written to or read from a RAID array faster than it would be possible with a single drive. RAID is commonly available in configurations RAID 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 (with more are being added over time). Here we will look closer at systems 0 and 1, both of which will work with just two drives, and represent the entry level system most applicable for a PC based instrumentation system. RAID Level 0 At this level, data is split across drives by a process called striping, resulting in higher data throughput onto disk. Since no redundant information is stored, performance is very good and can be expected to nearly double that of a single drive, but the failure of any disk in the array results in data loss. RAID Level 1 Provides redundancy by writing all data to two (or more) drives in a mirroring process. As the data is identical on each drive, having a redundant drive has the advantage of always having a copy of the data safe. The performance of a level 1 array tends to be faster on reads and slower on writes compared to a single drive or Raid 0, but if either drive fails, no data is lost. Nowadays there are two ways to undertake connection of two (or more) drives into a RAID system. One is the classical way by use of a controller card. Theres a wide variety of controller cards on the market with prices ranging from about $50 up to $1000. They differ in the supported RAID levels, the number and type of hard disks to connect, the cache memory and the intelligence of the controller. At the end best performance may only be reached by the more powerful (and expensive) controllers. The other way is to use an on-board RAID controller that is already equipped on the motherboard. As well see when having a look at the measuring results this neednt to be a worse solution. Both ways of connection suffer from one critical point and thats the driver support. Any operating system on the market needs a special driver to run these RAID arrays. While drivers for Windows 2000 and Windows XP are standard, any Linux system as well as Windows Vista or Windows 64 bit systems can be a big problem. When selecting a hard disk streaming system based on RAID be sure to have matching drivers for your desired operating system. Software RAID This is a speciality of the operating system. Instead of having a dedicated RAID controller the operating system itself uses two independent hard disks and forms a RAID system out of them. To get a RAID0 system one need to select striping. The software RAID feature is already build-in for Windows XP and Vista and also available for Linux systems. Setting up a software RAID under Windows is only a question of 2 minutes.

Connecting the hard disks
One thing that has to be kept in mind is the bus structure of the PCI and PCI-X buses. The maximum bus throughput is shared between all components that are located on this bus. Therefore a little care has to be taken when selecting the right motherboard and especially when using a dedicated RAID controller. A wrong system setup can greatly slow down the overall throughput. The following drawings will show some different system setups and explain what to check. The right hand drawing shows a typical server motherboard layout. There are in total 5 PCI-X slots which are grouped in two bus segments. The upper Controller Hub that is directly connected to the Memory Hub Controller is intended for high performance cards and is able to run with up to 100 MHz while the second PCI-X bus is connected to the I/O controller and is intended for 66 MHz maximum. The bottleneck here is the connection of the onboard SATA controller directly to the second PCI-X bus. The acquisition card and the SATA controller share the same bus segment and as data has to be transferred twice across this bus segment the overall throughput is only half of the maximum. In theory the PCI-X bus can transfer 264 MB/s when running with 32 bit and 66 MHz like the Strategic Test cards do. In this setup there is only a maximum of 132 MB/s in each direction remaining. Even when using the newest components and the fastest hard disks on the market this setup wont stream with more than maybe 100 MB/s. The worst scenario would be if the system hard disk is also connected through this controller and also the system hard disk access goes through this bottleneck. Simply changing the position of the Strategic Test card as shown on the right hand drawing will enhance the system throughput. The SATA RAID controller can now run with full speed and none of the components have to share the bus segments. Even the interconnection between the two motherboard controllers (north and south bridge) is now only occupied in one direction getting the best possible performance out of the system. As long as the RAID controller is powerful and the hard disks fast enough this system setup can reach the 200 MB/s throughput with hard disk streaming.

This is an extreme example of wasting money. A dedicated RAID controller is plugged into a standard PCI bus where the Strategic Test card is also located. As the legacy PCI bus can only transfer a maximum of 132 MB/s in total there is only 66 MByte/s for each direction left. In real life this setup will not reach more than 50 MB/s of hard disk streaming speed As we will see later, a good single SATA hard disk can reach this streaming speed without any additional components. The RAID controller is completely useless here for increasing the streaming speed.
Here we again use our RAID controller from the last example but now it is plugged into a more efficient bus segment that it occupies without sharing. In this setup the performance to reach is again only limited by the maximum throughput of the Strategic Test card and the power of the combination of RAID controller and hard disks.

Hard disk streaming test

The test results differ depending on the card setup. The buffer sizes and the notify sizes define the maximum throughput that is possible to reach. When doing acquisition using the largest buffer size possible it results in no disadvantages. The software buffer is simply limited by the installed PC memory while the HW buffer is limited by the installed on-board memory of the card. When doing data generation using large buffer sizes a larger latency will be applied to the changing the outputs on-the-fly. Please see the hardware manual of the AWG cards for more details. The notify size should be programmed in the region of a few MBytes to reach maximum throughput. Defining a very small notify size generates a huge amount of interrupts and only has the advantage of having a very fine granularity. Normally this is not required for hard disk streaming. File operations are also most efficient when using larger blocks. For the tests a UF2-7020 (32 bit digital i/o card with 125 MS/s) was used. This card was just taken from production series and not optimized in any way.

Reference system 1

The reference test system is based on a good workstation motherboard combined with an on-board RAID controller and 4 very fast SATA hard disks. The system is based on reliable state-of-the-art components and has a price of about $2000.
Motherboard CPU Hyperthreading Memory Hard Disks Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro Intel Pentium D 3 GHz enabled DDRGByte 4 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 RAID0 controller Chip set Operating System OS Setup Test card on-board Intel ICH7R Intel 975X Windows XP Professional SP2 Optimized for speed M2i.7010 (16 Bit Digital I/O)
Testing the plain hard disk read and write speed with a self programmed C++ tool one can see the difference in speed depending on the selected block size that is written/read with one single system call to/from hard disk.
4 disk RAID disk RAID disk software RAID 2 disk software RAID single disk strip size 16 kByte strip size 16 kByte (striped, same channel) (striped, different channels) Write Read Write Read Write Read Write Read Write 132 MByte/s 85 MByte/s 55 MByte/s 85 MByte/s 62 MByte/s 85 MByte/s 80 MByte/s 105 MByte/s 67 MByte/s 160 MByte/s 195 MByte/s 100 MByte/s 135 MByte/s 85 MByte/s 95 MByte/s 120 MByte/s 135 MByte/s 67 MByte/s 180 MByte/s 195 MByte/s 130 MByte/s 135 MByte/s 90 MByte/s 102 MByte/s 125 MByte/s 138 MByte/s 67 MByte/s 195 MByte/s 225 MByte/s 132 MByte/s 137 MByte/s 95 MByte/s 105 MByte/s 126 MByte/s 138 MByte/s 67 MByte/s 195 MByte/s 230 MByte/s 132 MByte/s 137 MByte/s 95 MByte/s 107 MByte/s 134 MByte/s 138 MByte/s 67 MByte/s 205 MByte/s 230 MByte/s 131 MByte/s 138 MByte/s 96 MByte/s 107 MByte/s 134 MByte/s 139 MByte/s 67 MByte/s 205 MByte/s 230 MByte/s 133 MByte/s 138 MByte/s 97 MByte/s 108 MByte/s 135 MByte/s 139 MByte/s 67 MByte/s
Block Size 64 kByte 128 kByte 256 kByte 512 kByte 1 MByte 2 MByte 4 MByte
Read 70 MByte/s 70 MByte/s 69 MByte/s 69 MByte/s 69 MByte/s 69 MByte/s 69 MByte/s
It is obvious that there is no big difference between a software RAID and an on-board hardware RAID in this setup. The software RAID has the big advantage that no extra RAID driver has to be installed in the system. In theory there must be a little more CPU usage in software RAID but this cant be seen on the reference system. The CPU usage is every time less than 5%. The connection of the hard disks heavily influences the software RAID. If both hard disks are connected to the same SATA channel the performance is much less than if connected to different SATA channels. An estimation would be that a 4 disk software RAID doesnt get the same performance as a 4 disk hardware RAID as there are only 2 SATA channels in the system present.
Test results reference system 1
The programmed notify size is also used as a block size for file write and read access. The transferred file was at least 100 GByte of size
Direction Acquisition -> Hard Disk Acquisition -> Hard Disk Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Acquisition -> Hard Disk Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output SW Buffer Size 512 MByte 512 MByte 64 MByte 512 MByte 16 MByte 16 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte 16 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte 512 MByte HW Buffer Size 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 16 MByte 16 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 16 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte Notify Size 8 MByte 1 MByte 8 MByte 1 MByte 64 kByte 4 kByte 8 MByte 1 MByte 1 MByte 64 kByte 8 MByte 1 MByte 8 MByte 1 MByte 8 MByte 1 MByte Hard Disk set 4 hard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDhard disks RAIDdisk software RAID (same SATA channel) 2 disk software RAID (same SATA channel) 2 disk software RAID (different SATA channels) 2 disk software RAID (different SATA channels) single data disk single data disk Transfer Speed 190 MByte/s 95 MByte/s 185 MByte/s 180 MByte/s 135 MByte/s 12 MByte/s 125 MByte/s 80 MByte/s 135 MByte/s 70 MByte/s 85 MByte/s 101 MByte/s 130 MByte/s 130 MByte/s 60 MByte/s 63 MByte/s

Reference system 2

The second reference test system is based on an older server motherboard combined with a dedicated RAID controller and 4 fast SATA hard disks. All components are between 2 and 3 years old. To see the difference to modern hard disk this system was tested with two different sets of hard disks.
Motherboard CPU Chip set Memory Test card Supermicro X5DPE-G2 Xeon Dual 2.4 GHz Intel EGByte M2i.7010 (16 Bit Digital I/O) Operating System OS Setup RAID0 controller Hard Disks (test set 1) Hard Disks (test set 2) Windows XP Professional SP2 Optimized for speed 3Ware Escalade x Samsung SP1614C 4 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
Testing the plain hard disk read and write speed with a self programmed C++ tool one can see the difference in speed depending on the selected block size that is written/read with one single system call to/from hard disk and the programmed strip size of the RAID array.
4 disk RAID 0 (Samsung) 4 disk RAID 0 (Seagate) 4 disk RAID 0 (Seagate) strip size 16 kByte strip size 16 kByte strip size 256 kByte Write Read Write Read Write Read 125 MByte/s 100 MByte/s 125 MByte/s 130 MByte/s 150 MByte/s 50 MByte/s 140 MByte/s 130 MByte/s 138 MByte/s 140 MByte/s 170 MByte/s 53 MByte/s 150 MByte/s 155 MByte/s 150 MByte/s 175 MByte/s 180 MByte/s 60 MByte/s 160 MByte/s 190 MByte/s 160 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 195 MByte/s 120 MByte/s 165 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 168 MByte/s 210 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 215 MByte/s 167 MByte/s 210 MByte/s 168 MByte/s 220 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 220 MByte/s 167 MByte/s 210 MByte/s 168 MByte/s 220 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 240 MByte/s
The reached transfer speed is more or less independent of the used hard disks although the Seagate hard disks are state-of-the-art and the Samsung ones are quite old. The selected strip size influences the maximum transfer to/from hard disk speed that can be reached. Especially when doing hard disk write operations the strip size need to be programmed quite large.
Test results reference system 2
The programmed notify size is also used as a block size for file write and read access.
Direction Acquisition -> Hard Disk Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Acquisition -> Hard Disk Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output Acquisition -> Hard Disk Acquisition -> Hard Disk Hard Disk -> Output Hard Disk -> Output SW Buffer Size 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte 256 MByte HW Buffer Size 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte 64 MByte Notify Size 8 MByte 32 MByte 64 kByte 256 kByte 1 MByte 8 MByte 8 MByte 32 MByte 1 MByte 8 MByte 8 MByte 32 MByte 1 MByte 8 MByte Hard Disk Set Set 1 (Samsung) Set 1 (Samsung) Set 1 (Samsung) Set 1 (Samsung) Set 1 (Samsung) Set 1 (Samsung) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Set 2 (Seagate) Strip Size 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 16 kByte 256 kByte 256 kByte 256 kByte 256 kByte Transfer Speed 135 MByte/s 155 MByte/s 80 MByte/s 160 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 210 MByte/s 140 MByte/s 155 MByte/s 210 MByte/s 220 MByte/s 160 MByte/s 185 MByte/s 200 MByte/s 220 MByte/s

Hints and Summary

It is possible to achieve impressiv results when using the correct components in a planned setup when doing system integration focused on high throughput speed. On the other hand one can see that when components are not that powerful (like the VIA chipset based motherboards) they will not allow the full performance that one expects. As a summary we want to give some hints to be taken into account for high-speed system setup: On data acquisition systems the notify size should be selected quite large (a few MByte) to get a stable and fast throughput The stripe size for a hard disk RAID system needs to be selected depending on the intended main data throughput direction. When doing acquisition (card to hard disk) the stripe size should be large, when doing generation (hard disk to card) the stripe size can be small When setting up a RAID system the money is better spent on fast state-of-the-art hard disks than into a dedicated RAID controller When doing software RAID it is absolutely necessary to put all disks on separate SATA channels to get best performance When using a dedicated RAID controller the DAQ/generator card must be placed in a different bus segment than the RAID controller Please be sure to use a driver for UF2 card series that is at least version 1.18b1355 and for UF/UC/UX card series at least version 3.19b1340 to get full data transfer performance from PC to card. Older drivers have transfer problems on PCI-X slots and may not reach full throughput for output For fast hard disk streaming it is recommended to turn off operating system caching for that device (for C++ FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING for the CreateFile function). Caching only makes sense for random access One thing to keep in mind when using RAID 0 systems is that the danger of failure and data loss will be n-times higher where n is the number of used hard disks. As RAID 0 is only striping data and does no mirroring any hardware failure will corrupt the complete data.
All given figures in this document are just example of speeds which can be reached. As Windows is not a real-time operating system none of the above figures can be guaranteed for any system setup. Software, system installation and all other hardware components may also influence the transfer speed that can be reached.