Hardware Considerations :: SAS® 9.4 Companion for Windows, Fifth Edition

Overview of Hardware Considerations

The following hardware factors might affect SAS performance:

the processor speed
the amount of physical memory that is available
the amount of throughput to disk that is available for I/O
the graphics adapter.

Not all of these factors applies to your particular configuration or to how you run SAS. Consult your system administrator for details.

See System Requirements for SAS 9.4 Foundation for Microsoft Windows and System Requirements for SAS 9.4 Foundation for Microsoft Windows for x64 for details about memory and hardware considerations.

Processor Speed

In general, a faster processor enables the computer to perform more operations per second. Performance improves when more operations can be performed.

The amount of processor cache that is available also influences performance. More processing cache results in better performance.

In 32-bit SAS, you must have a PC that contains an Intel Pentium 4 class processor or a processor that is compatible with Intel.
In x64 64-bit SAS, you must have an Intel64 or AMD64 processor.

Memory

In general, more physical memory results in better performance.

I/O Subsystem Configuration

An application uses I/O for data storage and data access. Therefore, faster I/O results in faster overall performance. Some important factors that influence I/O performance are the disk controller and bus, the hard drive, and the hard drive configuration.

disk controller and bus

In general, hard drive disk controllers that use their memory buffers to cache data have better throughput than conventional controllers. This configuration can improve I/O performance.

The type of I/O controller can affect I/O performance. Consult your Storage Administrator and see the following documentation for configuring your storage devices: http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings15/SAS1501-2015.pdf.

hard drive

Since SAS is heavily I/O oriented, access time and transfer rate are important to system performance. For best Windows Server performance, I/O throughput rates of at least 100 MB/sec per file system used by SAS are recommended.

Note: Your storage administrator can configure the I/O subsystem for the best I/O throughput rate for your storage setup.

Low disk space or a heavily fragmented disk can hinder I/O performance. You should defragment your hard drive regularly to keep I/O performance from degrading.

See the following documentation for information regard the RAID system: http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings15/SAS1501-2015.pdf

hard drive configuration

The hard drive configuration can have the greatest impact on I/O performance, especially on large server systems. Generally, a RAID configuration has better I/O performance than a non-RAID system. Consult your system administrator to determine the appropriate configuration for your computer.