Forum - RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers?

#421 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:23 pm

Zitat von lobbie1978 im Beitrag #420
I think it's safe to say that the Anniversary update makes the v11.2.0.1006 driver useless for Windows 10 unfortunately.

After having read your report this seems possible for me as well. That would be a pity for all Intel RAID users!

Zitat
I just updated my BIOS with the v13.2.0.2134 RAID driver module. Will test a matching driver with this.

The best matching Intel RST(e) RAID driver would be v13.2.4.1000 WHQL.

My current System:
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#422 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:26 pm (Last edited: Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:29 pm)

Uhm, I just found something interesting. I wanted to reinstall Windows with a different version driver. Instead of booting to the USB drive it booted to... Windows! I immediately checked Device Manager and v11.2.0.1006 of the Intel RAID driver is loaded!
There is one thing that changed: I removed an old SCSI card from my system. Don't know if that was the culprit, but it seems to work. Oh well. Now I need to re-flash my BIOS again with the v11.2 BIOS module...

[edit] OR... the problem WAS the v11.2 BIOS module... Hmmm. Well there is only one way to find out... [/edit]

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#423 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:37 pm

@lobbie1978:
Thanks for your interesting report!

Zitat von lobbie1978 im Beitrag #422
There is one thing that changed: I removed an old SCSI card from my system.

That really might have solved your problem.
Note: The Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 is the last one, which neither has nor used the SCSI filter driver named iaStorF.sys, which is part of all later compiled Intel RST drivers (from v11.5.x.xxxx up).

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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#424 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 1:51 pm

I found what the problem is. It wasn't the old SCSI card. What I didn't notice before is that the Intel RAID Module in the BIOS file is updated with the UBU tool to v11.2.x.xxx however, when flashing the BIOS, it defaults back to v12.7.0.1936 (the default version in the original BIOS) and that version is incompatible with the v11.2.0.1006 driver, hence the INACCESIBLE BOOT DEVICE message.

So, what to do now? I want my RAID drivers to match the Module version, but that seems impossible now if I want to use the v11.2.0.1006 driver. What is your advise in this stage?

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#425 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 2:09 pm

Zitat von lobbie1978 im Beitrag #424
I want my RAID drivers to match the Module version, but that seems impossible now if I want to use the v11.2.0.1006 driver. What is your advise in this stage?

Before I answer, I would like to do a deeper look into the latest original BIOS for your mainboard and into the BIOS, which had been modified by using the UBU tool. Please give me the link to the original BIOS and attach the modded one (after having compressed it by using WinRAR or WinZip).

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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#426 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 2:15 pm

Alright. The original BIOS can be downloaded here: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA2...9-ASUS-4801.zip

The modded one I attached as a .rar

I'm curious to what you may find...

lobbie1978 has attached files to this post

P9X79_Modded.rar

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#427 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:01 pm

@lobbie1978:
Thanks for the links.
You may have to wait for my report until the evening, because I don't have the required time now.

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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#428 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:07 pm

Alright, sure. I'll try some things myself too in the meanwhile. Thanks in advance!

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#429 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:37 pm (Last edited: Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:41 pm)

@Fernando

So. in the meantime I flashed the BIOS with Intel RST module v13.1.0.2126 and installed the Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID controller driver v13.1.0.1058.

For the record, my system has the following specs: Asus P9X79 motherboard. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair DDR3 RAM. 3x Crucial M4 SSD (latest firmwares) in RAID0. Nvidia GeForce GT740. The RAID0 array is my system disk where the OS is installed.
I ran CrystalDiskMark 5.2.0 x64 (UWP) and these are the results:

As far as I can tell, the system responds nice and snappy and seems quite stable as well.

What are your thoughts Fernando?

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#430 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 5:01 pm

Zitat von lobbie1978 im Beitrag #429
As far as I can tell, the system responds nice and snappy and seems quite stable as well.
What are your thoughts Fernando?

The 4K READ score is very low, but this seems to be rather normal with Crucial M4 SSDs.
What is your conclusion, if you compare your current configuration using the RST v13.1 series RAID driver/OROM combo with the previous one running the Intel SATA RAID Controller in RSTe mode?

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
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If you are satisfied with my Forum activities, you can send a donation to my personal PayPal account by clicking onto >this< link.

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#431 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 5:07 pm (Last edited: Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:01 pm)

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #430
The 4K READ score is very low, but this seems to be rather normal with Crucial M4 SSDs.
What is your conclusion, if you compare your current configuration using the RST v13.1 series RAID driver/OROM combo with the previous one running the Intel SATA RAID Controller in RSTe mode?

Well, surely this is a world of difference. Even without taking benchmarks, I could already feel the sluggishness throughout the OS with the RSTe drivers. Using this IRST configuration with matching RST module and Drivers, results in Windows booting up in under 5 seconds, File Explorer is flying and copying large amounts of data from my traditional Western Digital Data disk to the RAID0 disk goes much faster.

So basically it works quite well. That doesn't mean I'm not curious as to what the v11.2.0.1006 driver can achieve in terms of performance. Do you think there is a substantial increase in performance to be expected, or is my current setup just fine as is?

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#432 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:41 pm (Last edited: Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:02 pm)

@Fernando

Zitat
The 4K READ score is very low, but this seems to be rather normal with Crucial M4 SSDs.

I installed the Intel RST software and tweaked the write caching. I ran the CrystalDiskMark again and the write performance drastically improved :) Not bad!

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#433 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:39 pm

Zitat von lobbie1978 im Beitrag #431
Do you think there is a substantial increase in performance to be expected, or is my current setup just fine as is?

Although you would get a better WRITE performance by using the v11.2 Intel RAID driver/ROM combo, I tend to give you the advice: Keep the current configuration. This way you will prevent future problems with Win10.

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
Donation Link:
If you are satisfied with my Forum activities, you can send a donation to my personal PayPal account by clicking onto >this< link.

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#434 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:45 pm (Last edited: Mon Nov 28, 2016 10:15 pm)

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #433
Zitat von lobbie1978 im Beitrag #431
Do you think there is a substantial increase in performance to be expected, or is my current setup just fine as is?
Although you would get a better WRITE performance by using the v11.2 Intel RAID driver/ROM combo, I tend to give you the advice: Keep the current configuration. This way you will prevent future problems with Win10.

I kinda had the same idea. Write performance is quite fine as it is. I tend to have more advantage of Read performance and stability, as my system is mainly used as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).

I'd like to thank you a lot for the great advice in this matter. I'm quite happy how the system has improved with the current configuration

(if you are still planning to investigate why the RST module wouldn't downgrade to 11.2 when flashing the BIOS, then I still would be interested to know though)

Current system: Asus P9X79. Intel Core i7-3820. 16GB Corsair RAM. Intel IRST RAID0 setup with 3 Crucial M4 SSD's. Intel RST v13.1.0.2126 BIOS RAID Driver. Windows 10 Pro x64.

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#435 | RE: Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers? datum

Mon Nov 28, 2016 10:47 pm

@lobbie1978:
Maybe I found the reason why your Intel RAID Utility was still v12.7.0.1936, although you had "downgraded" the Intel RAID ROM to v11.2.0.1527.
This is what the UBU tool detected within your modded BIOS:

Is it possible, that you installed the OS in UEFI mode? In this case the Intel SATA RAID Controller uses the EFI RAID module (named SataDriver or RaidDriver) and this module is still v12.7.0.1936.
If you want, that the Intel RAID ROM v11.2.0.1006 will be used by the Intel SATA RAID Controller, you have to install the OS in LEGACY mode. This is necessary, because there is no EFI RAID module v11.2.0.1527 available.

My current System:
MB: ASRock X570 Pro4, CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, System Drive: 500 GB Samsung 980 Pro, Graphics: Sapphire Radeon RX570, OS: Win10 x64 Pro
Donation Link:
If you are satisfied with my Forum activities, you can send a donation to my personal PayPal account by clicking onto >this< link.

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