Forum - RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers

#196 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Mon Jul 06, 2015 5:42 pm (Last edited: Mon Jul 06, 2015 8:23 pm)

I don`t know about "iaStorF.sys" - at my work rig with Win8.1, H97 chipset and 13.6 .3.1001 RST drivers I don`t see it in drivers for disk drives. But at my home rig with Win8.1, X79 chipset and 13.1 RST drivers I see this driver in drivers for disk drives (including USB ones). Also this driver was the cause of missing "Safely remove hardware and eject media" tray icon: I have discovered that Windows contains "iaStoreA.sys" from 13.1 RST bundle and "iaStoreF.sys" from 4.1 RSTe bundle - and after I replaced "iaStoreF.sys" with right version the tray icon reappeared.

Edit: May be at home rig this "iaStorF.sys" is the remnant of Win7 (I did upgrade from 7 to 8 - not clean installation)... Probably I should try to remove "iaStorF.sys" entries from registry (according to v13.1 inf-file)...

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#197 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Mon Jul 06, 2015 8:47 pm

Zitat von mbk1969 im Beitrag #197
May be at home rig this "iaStorF.sys" is the remnant of Win7 (I did upgrade from 7 to 8 - not clean installation)...

I suspect the same, because Win8/8.1/10 natively do neither install nor use the SCSI filter driver named iaStorF.

Zitat
Probably I should try to remove "iaStorF.sys" entries from registry (according to v13.1 inf-file)...

It would be much better and safer to do a clean install of Win8.1 or - even better - of the upcoming Win10.

My current System:
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#198 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Mon Jul 06, 2015 9:02 pm

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #198
It would be much better and safer to do a clean install of Win8.1 or - even better - of the upcoming Win10.

Yeah, but we do not seek for easier ways... -)

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#199 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Mon Jul 06, 2015 9:37 pm

Zitat von mbk1969 im Beitrag #199
Yeah, but we do not seek for easier ways... -)

What you are trying to do is very risky. It may end with an unbootable system.

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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#200 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:47 am (Last edited: Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:49 am)

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #200
What you are trying to do is very risky. It may end with an unbootable system.

I succeeded with iaStorF removal without problems. There were two entries - value "UpperFilters" (or "LowerFilters") in the key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}" and key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorF".

My hope for the case of unbootable system was in the "Last known good configuration" feature. Also there is disk backup image.

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#201 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:52 am (Last edited: Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:52 am)

Zitat von mbk1969 im Beitrag #201
I succeeded with iaStorF removal without problems.

You are a lucky user and not a lucky loser.

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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#202 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:57 am (Last edited: Tue Jul 07, 2015 12:58 am)

Zitat von Fernando im Beitrag #202
Zitat von mbk1969 im Beitrag #201
I succeeded with iaStorF removal without problems.
You are a lucky user and not a lucky loser.

=)

Well, after all I am developer since 1991, and moreover I work in "backup-restore-partitioning-virtualizing" company since 2005. So I am more than familiar with all these boot drivers, upper/lower filters.

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#203 | New: AHCI drivers comparison tests running Win10 final datum

Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:54 pm (Last edited: Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:17 am)

Since the final version of Windows 10 is available since 07/29, I have
a) done today a clean installation of the brandnew Operating System onto my Z97 system and
b) taken the opportunity to compare the performance of different AHCI driver versions by doing a lot of benchmark tests.

These were my test candidates for my Z97 system:

generic Win10 MS AHCI driver named STORAHCI.SYS
Intel RST AHCI driver v11.2.0.1006 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v12.9.4.1000 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v13.0.4.1000 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v13.1.0.1058 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v13.2.4.1000 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v13.5.2.1000 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v13.6.3.1001 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v14.0.0.1143 WHQL
Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v14.5.2.1088 WHQL

Update of the Start Post
Changelog:

new: benchmark results with my Z97 chipset AHCI system (1 TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD running Windows 10 x64)

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

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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#204 | New: Intel RAID0 performance comparison tests running Win10 final datum

Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:17 am

Yesterday I have done the promised performance comparison tests with my Z97 system running Win10 x64 Build 10240 on an Intel RAID0 array.

These were the test candidates:

Intel RST(e) RAID driver v12.9.4.1000 WHQL (dated 04/07/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.0.4.1000 WHQL (dated 05/06/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.1.0.1058 WHQL (dated 05/28/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.2.0.1022 (= generic Win10 RAID driver dated 02/19/2015)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.2.4.1000 WHQL (dated 08/04/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.5.2.1000 WHQL (dated 12/04/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.6.3.1001 WHQL (dated 02/25/2015)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v14.0.0.1143 WHQL (dated 05/19/2015)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v14.5.2.1088 WHQL (dated 07/22/2015)

The results were rather surprising for me (and maybe for you as well).

Update of the Start Post
Changelog:

new: benchmark results with my Z97 chipset RAID0 system (2x256 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSDs running Windows 10 x64)

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

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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#205 | RE: Performance of Intel RST/RST(e) AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Thu Aug 06, 2015 1:43 pm (Last edited: Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:06 pm)

Since there are new Intel RST(e) drivers v14.6.0.1029 WHQL available since today, I have done some additional benchmark tests with them and slightly updated the start post of this thread.

Update of the Start Post
Changelog:

added: AHCI benchmark results using the Intel RST(e) drivers v14.6.0.1029 WHQL with my Z97 chipset system (1 TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD running Windows 10 x64)
added: RAID0 benchmark results using the Intel RST(e) drivers v14.6.0.1029 WHQL with my Z97 chipset system (2x256 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSDs as RAID0 running Windows 10 x64)

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

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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#206 | RE: Performance of the Intel RST/RSTe AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:09 pm (Last edited: Fri Aug 14, 2015 10:19 pm)

Would be interesting to benchmark the different oROMs against those drivers or has anybody did this before or do the oROMs don't affect performance?

--- EDIT ---
OK,.. didn't read this one: Intel RST/RSTe Drivers (newest: v14.6.0.1029 WHQL/v4.3.0.1198 WHQL)

aka Velocet | Xeon E3-1230v3 @ ASUS Z87 Gryphon (mBIOS 3301)|
Samsung 960 Pro NVMe via kryoM.2 evo|ASUS GTX 650 Ti Boost OC

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#207 | RE: Performance of the Intel RST/RSTe AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:00 pm

Yesterday and today I have done some new performance comparison tests with my old Z68 system running Win10 x64 Pro on an Intel RAID0 array.

These were the test candidates:

Intel RST RAID driver v11.2.0.1006 WHQL (dated 05/30/2012)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v11.7.4.1001 WHQL (dated 03/05/2013)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v12.9.4.1000 WHQL (dated 04/07/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.1.0.1058 WHQL (dated 05/28/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.2.4.1000 WHQL (dated 08/04/2014)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v13.6.3.1001 WHQL (dated 02/25/2015)
Intel RST(e) RAID driver v14.6.0.1029 WHQL (dated 07/27/2015)

Note:
To prevent a BSOD initiated by the otherwise unavoidable "downgrade" from the generic Win10 in-box Intel RST(e) driver v13.2.0.1022 to the conventional Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 I have done some preparations before I started the tests:

removal of the in-box Intel RAID driver v13.2.0.1022 from the Win10 image and integration of the Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 WHQL according to >this< guide
clean install of the freshly customized Win10 x64 Pro image

Update of the Start Post
Changelog:

new: benchmark results with my Z68 chipset RAID0 system (2x256 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSDs running Windows 10 x64)

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)

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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#208 | RE: Performance of the Intel RST/RSTe AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Sat Sep 26, 2015 11:49 am

Not done a full test yet (only the Samsung Magician provided one) but on the H81 the latest RST(e) driver v14.6.1.1030 seems to perform in a very similar manner to the previous 14.6.0.1029.
So don't hold your breath for any massive improvements :-)

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#209 | RE: Performance of the Intel RST/RSTe AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Sat Sep 26, 2015 2:39 pm (Last edited: Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:51 pm)

Zitat von elisw im Beitrag #209
Not done a full test yet (only the Samsung Magician provided one) but on the H81 the latest RST(e) driver v14.6.1.1030 seems to perform in a very similar manner to the previous 14.6.0.1029.

Today I have tested the AHCI performance of the latest Intel RST(e) drivers v14.6.1.1030. The results were rather ambiguous.

Here are the results of my first test of the v14.6.1.1030 driver (left pic), which gave me much better READ scores than those I previously got with the v14.6.0.1029 driver (right pic):

After having repeated the benchmark test with the v14.6.1.1030, the results were absolutely different. The READ scores have dropped extremely. Look here:

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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#210 | RE: Performance of the Intel RST/RSTe AHCI/RAID Drivers datum

Sat Sep 26, 2015 3:45 pm

Interesting!

Will you test the new driver with your Raid 0 setup as well? Maybe the performace will be more consistent there...

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