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Poor performance (Quad-core AMD)

The Problem:

(Debian Lenny AMD64) - the problem also occurred with Ubuntu 8.04 x86 & AMD64.

If I am moving files from one folder to another, or one drive to another my performance is extremely slow. It is to the point where I cannot even open a web browser while I am moving files around. I've installed IOtop and htop. Htop does not show anything eating up the CPU. IOtop on the other hand shows pdflush running multiple times with 99% IO and kjournald at 99% IO. My old dual-core running on 4GB of memory was much faster than this. I could at least type / open other programs when I was transferring files.

Htop shows no swap being used (0/3271MB). Could this be my problem?

On a side note, Windows 7 64bit runs perfectly fine on this same machine (dual-boot).

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

System Specs:
Motherboard - ASUS M4A785-M (North Bridge AMD 785G, South Bridge AMD SB710)
Processor - AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 4MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor
Memory - 6GB DDR2 (I have run memory tests and they have all come back good)
Graphics Card - ZOTAC ZT-96SES4P-FSL GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
Hard Drives - SATA drives (500GB, 250GB, 1TB)

Code:

debian:/etc$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge Alternate

00:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (ext gfx port 0)

00:09.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 4)

00:0a.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 5)

00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode]

00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller

00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3c)

00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 IDE Controller

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge

00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] HyperTransport Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Miscellaneous Control

00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Link Control

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0625 (rev a1)

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 20)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)

debian:/etc$                                                



debian:/etc$ uname -a

Linux debian 2.6.26-2-amd64 #1 SMP Wed Aug 19 22:33:18 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Code:

debian:/etc$ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor      : 0

vendor_id      : AuthenticAMD

cpu family      : 16

model          : 4

model name      : AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 810 Processor

stepping        : 2

cpu MHz        : 800.000

cache size      : 512 KB

physical id    : 0

siblings        : 4

core id        : 0

cpu cores      : 4

apicid          : 0

initial apicid  : 0

fpu            : yes

fpu_exception  : yes

cpuid level    : 5

wp              : yes

flags          : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt

bogomips        : 5192.87

TLB size        : 1024 4K pages

clflush size    : 64

cache_alignment : 64

address sizes  : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate



processor      : 1

vendor_id      : AuthenticAMD

cpu family      : 16

model          : 4

model name      : AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 810 Processor

stepping        : 2

cpu MHz        : 800.000

cache size      : 512 KB

physical id    : 0

siblings        : 4

core id        : 1

cpu cores      : 4

apicid          : 1

initial apicid  : 1

fpu            : yes

fpu_exception  : yes

cpuid level    : 5

wp              : yes

flags          : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt

bogomips        : 5188.62

TLB size        : 1024 4K pages

clflush size    : 64

cache_alignment : 64

address sizes  : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate



processor      : 2

vendor_id      : AuthenticAMD

cpu family      : 16

model          : 4

model name      : AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 810 Processor

stepping        : 2

cpu MHz        : 800.000

cache size      : 512 KB

physical id    : 0

siblings        : 4

core id        : 2

cpu cores      : 4

apicid          : 2

initial apicid  : 2

fpu            : yes

fpu_exception  : yes

cpuid level    : 5

wp              : yes

flags          : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt

bogomips        : 5188.62

TLB size        : 1024 4K pages

clflush size    : 64

cache_alignment : 64

address sizes  : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate



processor      : 3

vendor_id      : AuthenticAMD

cpu family      : 16

model          : 4

model name      : AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 810 Processor

stepping        : 2

cpu MHz        : 800.000

cache size      : 512 KB

physical id    : 0

siblings        : 4

core id        : 3

cpu cores      : 4

apicid          : 3

initial apicid  : 3

fpu            : yes

fpu_exception  : yes

cpuid level    : 5

wp              : yes

flags          : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt

bogomips        : 5188.63

TLB size        : 1024 4K pages

clflush size    : 64

cache_alignment : 64

address sizes  : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate

Check your throughput of your Sata controller first with hdparm, here's mine...

Code:

hdparm -tT /dev/sda



/dev/sda:

 Timing cached reads:  4474 MB in  2.00 seconds = 2237.37 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  288 MB in  3.02 seconds =  95.37 MB/sec

---> Run it three times to get an average for best results on each disk

Code:

# for i in 1 2 3; do hdparm -tT /dev/sda; done

This is a sata WD 500G caviar black edition. Test each disk, see if there is any bottlenecks on the disk or controller. Then if you have slow performance, try to tail -f | dmesg, and re-run the test.
You should look into hdparm, I've optimized my disks, and have excellent performance. Check this link here http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Hdparm

If your still having issue's with disk performance ... I'd recommend a building a custom kernel with optimized settings... If you don't know how ... I have some free time to build you a nice kernel config that will work for your setup.

DMA disabled on the drives for some reason in Linux? My hdparm test shows about 1/2 of what mwap has, but I can't say that my machine is slow by any means.

How can I tell if DMA is enabled or not?

Code:

debian:/home/eric# for i in 1 2 3; do hdparm -tT /dev/sda; done



/dev/sda:

 Timing cached reads:  6242 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3122.07 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  188 MB in  3.03 seconds =  62.10 MB/sec



/dev/sda:

 Timing cached reads:  6106 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3054.80 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  190 MB in  3.02 seconds =  62.98 MB/sec



/dev/sda:

 Timing cached reads:  6374 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3188.35 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  190 MB in  3.00 seconds =  63.33 MB/sec

debian:/home/eric#

debian:/home/eric#

debian:/home/eric# for i in 1 2 3; do hdparm -tT /dev/sdb; done



/dev/sdb:

 Timing cached reads:  6296 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3149.43 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  128 MB in  3.07 seconds =  41.68 MB/sec



/dev/sdb:

 Timing cached reads:  6232 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3117.40 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  130 MB in  4.41 seconds =  29.47 MB/sec



/dev/sdb:

 Timing cached reads:  6000 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3001.54 MB/sec

 Timing buffered disk reads:  118 MB in  3.02 seconds =  39.02 MB/sec

debian:/home/eric#

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quakeboy02 (Post 3726781)

DMA disabled on the drives for some reason in Linux? My hdparm test shows about 1/2 of what mwap has, but I can't say that my machine is slow by any means.

What kind of HDD's do have, and what's there cache size..? If you adjust your acoustics to 254, you'd be surprised of the performance increase.

My test was from one sata disk that has 32mb cache.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manwithaplan (Post 3726793)

What kind of HDD's do have, and what's there cache size..? If you adjust your acoustics to 254, you'd be surprised of the performance increase.

My test was from one sata disk that has 32mb cache.

My main drive (sda - 7200rpm) has a 32mb cache. How do I adjust my acoustics?

Post the output of all your drives in separate code blocks with this command:

Code:

# hdparm -i /dev/sda  

# hdparm -i /dev/sdb

 etc ...

This will give the disk info we need to see if there is a bottle neck ... My older WD 16mb cache Sata drive gets twice the output performance as your drives above...

Also give me the kernel revision your using ... I'm guessing its the kernel

debian:/proc# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.26-2-amd64 (Debian 2.6.26-19) (dannf@debian.org) (gcc version 4.1.3 20080704 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.2-25)) #1 SMP Wed Aug 19 22:33:18 UTC 2009
debian:/proc# uname -a
Linux debian 2.6.26-2-amd64 #1 SMP Wed Aug 19 22:33:18 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Code:

debian:/proc# sdparm -a /dev/sda

    /dev/sda: ATA      WDC WD2500KS-00M  02.0

Read write error recovery mode page:

  AWRE        1

  ARRE        0

  TB          0

  RC          0

  EER        0

  PER        0

  DTE        0

  DCR        0

  RRC        0

  COR_S      0

  HOC        0

  DSOC        0

  WRC        0

  RTL        0

Caching (SBC) mode page:

  IC          0

  ABPF        0

  CAP        0

  DISC        0

  SIZE        0

  WCE        1

  MF          0

  RCD        0

  DRRP        0

  WRP        0

  DPTL        0

  MIPF        0

  MAPF        0

  MAPFC      0

  FSW        0

  LBCSS      0

  DRA        0

  NV_DIS      0

  NCS        0

  CSS        0

Control mode page:

  TST        0

  TMF_ONLY    0

  D_SENSE    0

  GLTSD      1

  RLEC        0

  QAM        0

  QERR        0

  RAC        0

  UA_INTLCK  0

  SWP        0

  ATO        0

  TAS        0

  AUTOLOAD    0

  BTP        -1

  ESTCT      30

debian:/proc#

Code:

debian:/proc# hdparm -i /dev/sda



/dev/sda:



 Model=WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0                    , FwRev=02.01C03, SerialNo=    WD-WCANKA978008

 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=50

 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=488397168

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio3 pio4

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6

 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7



 * signifies the current active mode

Code:

debian:/proc# hdparm -i /dev/sdb



/dev/sdb:



 Model=Maxtor 7L250S0                          , FwRev=BANC1E00, SerialNo=L503FRWH

 Config={ Fixed }

 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4

 BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?0?

 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=490234752

 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}

 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4

 DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2

 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6

 AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled

 Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 0:  ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7



 * signifies the current active mode



debian:/proc#

Code:

debian:/proc# sdparm -i /dev/sda

    /dev/sda: ATA      WDC WD2500KS-00M  02.0

Device identification VPD page:

  Addressed logical unit:

    designator type: vendor specific [0x0],  code set: ASCII

 00    20 20 20 20 20 57 44 2d  57 43 41 4e 4b 41 39 37        WD-WCANKA97

 10    38 30 30 38                                        8008

    designator type: T10 vendor identification,  code set: ASCII

      vendor id: ATA

      vendor specific: WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0                          WD-WCANKA978008

debian:/proc#

Code:

debian:/proc#

debian:/proc# sdparm -i /dev/sdb

    /dev/sdb: ATA      Maxtor 7L250S0    BANC

Device identification VPD page:

  Addressed logical unit:

    designator type: vendor specific [0x0],  code set: ASCII

 00    4c 35 30 33 46 52 57 48  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20    L503FRWH

 10    20 20 20 20

    designator type: T10 vendor identification,  code set: ASCII

      vendor id: ATA

      vendor specific: Maxtor 7L250S0                          L503FRWH

debian:/proc#

/dev/sda

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithrilhall (Post 3726805)

Code:

BuffSize=16384kB

UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6

AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled

Tells me the drive is 16mb cached drive. Has UDMA enabled, And has no power management feature.

/dev/sdb

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithrilhall (Post 3726805)

Code:

BuffSize=16384kB

UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6

AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled

This says the drive is 16mb cached, has UDMA enabled and has power management disabled.

EDIT:

To set the acoustics, we need to use this command:

Code:

# hdparm -M254 /dev/sda

This maxes the drive for performance, then test the drive again with:

Code:

# hdparm -tT /dev/sda

Code:

debian:/proc# hdparm /dev/sda



/dev/sda:

 IO_support    =  0 (default)

 readonly      =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry      = 30401/255/63, sectors = 488397168, start = 0

debian:/proc#

debian:/proc#

debian:/proc# hdparm /dev/sdb



/dev/sdb:

 IO_support    =  0 (default)

 readonly      =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry      = 30515/255/63, sectors = 490234752, start = 0

debian:/proc#

Do you think purchasing a new drive would help my performance issues?

Judging by the hardware your have, and the kernel version your running. I'd say that you need to update the kernel for maximum performance.

I would update the kernel first...

When I was shopping for a hdd, I choose very carefully. The WD Caviar blacks have a 5 year warranty 32mb cache.. and a speed burst feature. Man there nice for a platter drive

What kernel should I aim for? It has been a while since I've compiled a kernel.

I've edited some of my posts... first try and set the acoustics ... with the above command and re-test... Then post the results

post #11