FreeNAS file XFR @ 3.66MB/s?!!

[nwcafesurfer]

First off, I’m new to FreeNAS I’m running Version 0.7.2
I have it all setup and running & have a large file transfer in the works (24GB in multiple files). It started off running at 10MB/s then a little ways into the transfer it dropped down to 3.66MB/s. Why is this?? It’s on my local network & I can/have transferred these exact files to other computers on my network @ 10MB/s sustained; so it’s not my network...
The system load is 30% memory usage and 78-90% system load. For hardware I’m running an HP t5710 1.2GHz and 512MB RAM with a Roswill RC-212 SATA Controller (PCI) running two 1.5TB Segate drives mirrored (ufs). It’s a neat little system, but is it perhaps underpowered?
-Matt

EDIT:
Just transfered 3GB (700files) started out at 10MB/s ended around 7.5MB/s

 

[Quiltface]

My guess is with the hard drives. If it is doing a mirror it will probably be a little slower esp if it is software raid.

what speed NICs do you have and what speed are your switches?

 

[nwcafesurfer]

The nic's are 10/100, I have a gigabit D-Link switch (one of my PC's has gigabit, I’m upgrading over time). The raid card was cheap, its def software raid. My thinclient has a 1.2GHz efficeon processor, roughly equivalent to an equally clocked VIA C3. I’ve learned that these procs have limited bandwidth between their integrated NB and their south bridge.
The last couple of file transfers I’ve done came in around 8.5-9MB/s but found that file transfers over 80-90GB cause it to crash, badly… Memory usage is consistently around 33% and CPU usage anywhere from 64-78% or 80-91% depending on how it feels
Not sure why it transferred at 3.66MB/s initially, hasn’t done it since.