> 
> The one thing that first pops to my head is some hdparm results I've had 
> and if maybe it's either my kernel setup or how I'm testing with hdparm...
> 
> Anyhow..
> 
> Raptors on SATA (Model Number:       WDC WD360GD-00FNA0) (-c3 -u1 -A1 
> -W1 -d1 -a256 -M254 -m16 -X70 )
> Kernel config
> CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL=y
> 
> There's an alternative driver, but haven't tested it...
> 
> hdparm -tT /dev/hde
> 
> /dev/hde:
> Timing cached reads:   956 MB in  2.00 seconds = 477.02 MB/sec
> Timing buffered disk reads:  116 MB in  3.03 seconds =  38.26 MB/sec
> 
Your times for the raptor seem awfully slow.

Here the SATA settings for my kernel and my hdparm times.

antec ~ # grep SATA /usr/src/linux/.config
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_SATA is not set
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA=y
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_AHCI=y
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SVW is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_MV is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_NV is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_QSTOR is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_PROMISE is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SX4 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIL24 is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_SIS is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_ULI is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VIA is not set
# CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_VITESSE is not set
CONFIG_SCSI_SATA_INTEL_COMBINED=y
antec ~ # hdparm -tT /dev/md0

/dev/md0:
 Timing cached reads:   2776 MB in  2.00 seconds = 1387.91 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  398 MB in  3.00 seconds = 132.48 MB/sec
antec ~ # 

Note that this is a RAID0 with two disks, so the buffered disk read time
is double what you should expect on a normal install.

Good luck.

Bill Roberts