[CentOS] 3Ware 9550SX and latency/system responsiveness

[Feizhou]

Simon Banton wrote:
> Dear list,
> 
> I thought I'd just share my experiences with this 3Ware card, and see if 
> anyone might have any suggestions.
> 
> System: Supermicro H8DA8 with 2 x Opteron 250 2.4GHz and 4GB RAM 
> installed. 9550SX-8LP hosting 4x Seagate ST3250820SV 250GB in a RAID 1 
> plus 2 hot spare config. The array is properly initialized, write cache 
> is on, as is queueing (and supported by the drives). StoreSave set to 
> Protection.

Well, the first thing I noted was that the H8DA8 was not on the list of 
compatible motherboards on the 3ware website.

> 
> My only real question is "where do I go from here?" I don't have enough 
> specific tuning knowledge to know what else to look at.
> 

Perhaps update to the latest firmware for both motherboard and 3ware 
board. Also check that you actually plugged the thing into a PCI-X 
64-bit 100/133 Mhz slot and that it is running at those speeds. Next 
question would be whether you are using a riser board?