ACARD ANS-9010 RAM Disk testing results

[sno.lcn]

ANS-9010 RAM Disk
I'd like to thank ACARD Technology for allowing me to test this product.​

Since the first time I played with a Gigabyte i-RAM, I've been patiently waiting for something to come along that would take advantage of newer technologies, like DDR2 and the faster SATA standard. My wish was finally granted in the form of Acard's ANS-9010.



List of specs and features from ACARD's website...

A few photos...

I used this for several weeks, but not as a primary OS disk. Instead, I used it for installed programs. Although I did install Windows XP and Vista on it to check boot times (which are nice and quick) for the price of enough RAM to make it a functional OS drive, I declined to do so.

However, using it as an installed programs drive was extremely effective. Programs installed in a fraction of the time they normally would, and applications that take forever to load, like Photoshop CS3, started up in a flash.

But for the purpose of obtaining more measurable results, I ran several synthetic benchmarks against the following configurations:

WD Raptor 36gb 16mb cache.
1x i-RAM
2x i-RAM (RAID 0)
1x ACARD ANS-9010
1x ACARD ANS-9010 (RAID 0 enabled)


The rest of the testing platform consisted of:
QX9650 @ 4ghz
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
2x1gb Team Xtreem PC8000
Gigabyte ODIN Pro 1200w
XFX GTX280 (for PCMark05)



Now for the bench results...

HD Tach

PCMark 05

WD Raptor 36gb

2x i-RAM (RAID 0)

ACARD ANS-9010 RAID 0 mode

Pros:
DDR2 support.
RAID 0 ability without buying another unit.
CF backup.
Battery for short-term power loss.
PCI slot not needed.
Fits in 5.25" bay.

Cons:
No power to the unit when the computer is off.
Price of enough DDR2 to fill the unit to maximum capacity.


Thanks for reading!

 

[Wile E]

Nice review. I wonder tho, how much is the on-board Intel controller hurting performance? Especially in RAID0. It's too bad you can't test on a good RAID card with it's own cpu and cache.

 

[3dsage]

Nice Review man.
Does the speed of the Ram effect the Speed of the drive? or is it like the Gigabyte i-ram.