Introduction
This whitepaper provides I/O performance and CPU utilization information for the HP A7173A PCI-X
Dual-Channel Ultra320 SCSI Host Bus Adapter (A7173A U320 Adapter), and highlights its significant
performance increase over the HP A6829A PCI Dual Channel Ultra160 SCSI Host Bus Adapter (A6829A
U160 Adapter) on HP’s PA-RISC based servers. A series of tests were conducted to evaluate the
overall performance, specifically I/O’s per second (I/Ops) and throughput (MB/sec), of both adapters.
The test results show a remarkable performance increase when using the A7173A Ultra320 SCSI
adapter, instead of the previous generation A6829A Ultra160 SCSI adapter. Also discussed, are the
system setup considerations to obtain the maximum possible performance from an A7173A Ultra320
SCSI adapter installed in an HP rp4440, or equivalent sever.
This whitepaper focuses on:
•
Test results: U160 and U320 SCSI adapter performance results including I/Ops, throughput,
and CPU Utilization.
•
Service Demand: Al test results show a significant decrease in overall service demand when
switching from an HP U160 Solution to an HP U320 Solution.
•
System configuration guidelines: Learn how to optimize the configuration of HP U320 SCSI
storage solutions, to achieve the maximum possible performance from A7173A dual-channel
Ultra320 SCSI adapters.
•
Test details: View the HP products, tools, and configurations used in the test environment.

Executive Summary
An A7173A Ultra320 SCSI adapter, used in an HP entry-level or mid-range PA-RISC server, is an
excellent industry-leading solution for critical SCSI storage applications. The A7173A U320 adapter
boasts a read throughput of 521.1 MB/sec, and an equal y impressive write throughput of 364.8
MB/sec. By comparison, the previous generation A6829A Ultra160 SCSI adapter has a read
throughput of 262.6 MB/sec, and an average write throughput of 248.9 MB/sec.
A7173A U320 and A6829A U160 SCSI Performance Summary
A7173A dual channel
A6829A dual channel
Operation
read write read write
I/Ops
69,104 14,038 27,928 13,579
achieved
521.1
364.9
262.6
248.9
throughput
(MB/s)
% of Ultra320 SCSI
85.4%
59.7%
43.0%
40.8%
theoretical max2

NOTE:
1 The performance data above was obtained by installing a single A7173A and a single A6829A
adapter into two PCI-X 133MHz slots of an HP rp4440 PA-RISC Server.
2 Industry standards define the Ultra320 SCSI Theoretical Maximum throughput in terms of “Mega-
Transfers”. A U320 SCSI Mega-Transfer is equivalent to one mil ion transfers, or in this case, it’s
equivalent to 3.20x108 bytes/second (305.175 MB/sec).
As shown above, the HP A7173A U320 adapter offers a fifty-one percent read throughput
performance increase over its predecessor, the A6829A. Additionally, the read I/Ops performance of
the A7173A beats the A6829A by more than forty-percent.
2

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