Intel RST/RSTe Drivers (latest: v20.0.1.1039/ v9.0.3.1026)

Important Drivers Specific: Intel AHCI/RAID Drivers
221


No problem, I was curious too!
Yes it is weird, every single time I had worse 4K-64 Thrd, and Seq READ results with 13.0.0.1098, also 12.9.0.1001 have better write Acc. time. Maybe it goes that way for SF controllers, or…?
But you have not tried the 12.9.0.1001?

222

Since I have tested today the combination RST(e) v12.9.0.1001/v12.0.0.2006 with the same RAID0 system, I just have inserted the related benchmark result to my last post (for a better comparison).
Furthermore I have added a rating of the results I got.

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I see that you use EFI for 12.9 and 13.0, that might alter the results??

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No, I don’t think, that the EFI mode use of the BIOS module will alter the benchmark results.

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@ dunbar:

Thanks for the interesting benchmark results.
It would have been better for a comparison, if all tests would have been done on the system drive C.

227

the M4 is the Systemdisk SSD and the Sandisk ist a blank SSD

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Hi,

today I found new RSTe drivers v. 4.0.0.1040 at station-drivers.

http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php…ion-4.0.0.1040/

Best regards

229

@ hanson:
Thanks for the info!

@ all:
Update of the Start Post:

Changelog:

  • new: 32/64bit Intel RSTe drivers v4.0.0.1040 WHQL (dated 01/28/2014, usable only with Intel C600 Series Chipsets like X79, suitable for Win8/8.1, Win7 and W2k3)
  • new: Intel RSTe Drivers & Software Set v4.0.0.1040 WHQL (dated 01/28/2014, usable only with Intel C600 Series Chipsets like X79, suitable for Win8/8.1, Win7 and W2k3)

Thanks to Pacman and Station-Drivers for having presented these new RSTe drivers.

Have fun with the new Intel RSTe drivers!
Fernando

230

No RSTe 4.0 ROM yet, I take it?

231

If I would have an Intel X79 system, I would try this new driver.
The related Intel RAID ROM v4.x.x.xxxx will be available very soon.

232

Hi Fernando,

I’m using an Asus P5Q with windows 8.1 and a Samsung 840EVO SSD ( 250Go).

Intel O-Rom is version 10.1 ( can’t be upgraded to newer version because there is not enough space in BIOS ).

What’s the correct version with this config ? Should I go with Intel RST v10.1.0.1008 WHQL and not newer because of my ROM Version ?

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@ Judge584:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

As long as you run your SSD in AHCI mode, the Intel RAID ROM version within the mainboard BIOS doesn’t matter (because it will not be used by the Intel SATA AHCI Controller).
Regarding the “best” AHCI driver for your Samsung 840 EVO SSD you can try whatever you want. My favorite test candidates would be the Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 WHQL and the (modded) Intel RST(e) driver v12.8.11.1000.

Regards
Fernando

234

Many thanks!

Just one more question: what’s the difference between rst and rst(e)?

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(e) like - Enterprise, meant for X79 board…

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The "classical" RST drivers named iaStor.sys (latest version: 11.2.0.1006) don’t use any additional storage driver, whereas the RST(e) drivers named iaStorA.sys come with an additional SCSI filter driver named iaStorF.sys (like the "Enterprise Edition" RSTe drivers, which are designed for Intel C600 Series Chipsets like X79).

237

I would recommend 11.7.4.1001.
Anything older is using an Line-Based Interrupt (IRQ) which is most likely been shared with another component.
The new ones are all using Message Signaled Interrupts. See : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_Signaled_Interrupts

As a matter of fact you can switch a lot of devices per registry to this mode, but you should avoid to do it on the old RST drivers because that’ll lead to an unbootable system.
Just use this drivers (or newer) and you can narrow down possible hiccups or even enhance your performance a little bit.

If you’re curious and want to try this for your other devices like videocard, pci-e port, soundcard, usb 3.0 ports (doesn’t work with usb 2.0), etc. then look at this:

http://mars.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=378044

You can stabilize your system with that. A second rig of mine was kind of unstable with a videocard and no matter what i did over the months (different bios, IRQ settings as far as possible) this was a solution for spontaneous reboots, black-screens etc.

Beside that: 11.7.4.1001 is the latest one that won’t give me that stupid shutdown / reboot bug with my ICH10R (P45-chipset).
It doesn’t matter which OS and it doesn’t matter which OROM i am using. (i’m on 10.1 now)
Only that with “powercfg -H on” it’s more likely that my rig will reboot instead of a shutdown.
So 11.7.4.1001 is pretty stable for me, while offering very good performance.

238

Hi Fernando,

Thanks very much for all the info in your forums-eliminates a lot of guessing/searching.
Before posting the following I have tried several different solutions through 10’s of fresh OS installs and many BIOS flashes with corresponding drivers as outlined in this and the BIOS mod forum
I am having a lot of trouble with my SSD’s and trim-searched the forums, tried all the “modified tricks”; ie: modded OROM’s and drivers etc. My specs are below. Thing is the modded OROM’s put my BIOS clocks in severe disarray (especially xmp) and, in the end, do not give me trim support when used with the corresponding modded driver. I am not O/C’d (just xmp and Turbo-at default 3.9G). The absolute only way I can get trim support (as verified both by Windows 8.1 Pro x64 native defrag/optimize-which I use to activate trim and trimcheck-0.6-verified trim working after reboot) is to integrate the entire RSTe driver set; ie: both the AHCI and the RAID files from the driver pack even when I am only using the iastora driver-RAID0. If I slipstream just the iastora (RSTe) driver files trim support goes south no matter what I do-wierd isn’t it? :slight_smile:
After it all, once initialized trim works only upon reboot, not in the background immediately-much preferred, but, will take trim as I can get it, :slight_smile:
Currently I am using the default F6_RSTe_v4.0.0.1040 WHQL drivers on BIOS Modded to 13.1.0.2030 SATA module and the lateat RSTe v3 Legacy OROM.-will flash all to v4 when it is available.

PC specs (I use BIOS 4206-anything post 4206 is a clusterf**k on sbe)

Windows 8.1 Pro x64 Update 1 17041
ASUS Rampage IV EXTREME/BF3 motherboard
Intel Core i7 3960X CPU @ 3.3G (3.9 Turbo) (BIOS 1 4206 BIOS 2 4804 modded using UBU)
Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B Headsink
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 240-Pin PC3 17000 DDR3 (2133 MHz) (xmp profile 1) (Memory Model F3-17000CL11Q2-64GBZLD)
Seasonic ATX 1000W 80PLUS Platinum Power Supply
LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray writer
2Samsung 840 Pro 512G x79 SATA 3 RAID0
2Western Digital Velociraptor 1Tb x79 SATA 2
2ASUS GTX780-3GD5 SLI at GEN 2
Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater HD Audio Card at GEN 2
Silverstone Temjin TJ10B-W NVIDIA Edition Case
TJ10 USB 3 upgrade kit
1Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120mm, 4*Noctua NF-P12 120mm Chassis Fans
Samsung SyncMaster S27A850D 27" LED PLS Monitor @ 2560x1440 (Display Port)
Canon MP560 series Printer
Logitech G9x Gaming Laser Mouse
Topre ZA0100 Type Heaven Capacitive Switches 104 Key Black Mechanical Keyboard
Klipsch 2.1 Speakers
APC Smart-UPS SMT2200

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@ RickSteele:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum and thanks for your contribution.

Before I am trying to give you an advice, I would like to know the following:

  1. Which is the actual DeviceID of your on-board Intel SATA RAID Controller (you can check it from within the “Storage Controllers” section of your Device Manager)?
  2. Why do you use an Intel RSTe driver v4 in combination with an Intel RST SataDriver module v13 (both belong to totally different development branches)?
  3. Have you ever tried to set the BIOS to “RST mode” and to use an original Intel RST driver of the v12.8 series and the suitable RST BIOS RAID module v12.7.0.1936?

Regards
Fernando

240
  1. Hardware Ids

    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&SUBSYS_84EF1043&REV_05
    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&SUBSYS_84EF1043
    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_010400
    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2826&CC_0104


    2. My bad-lost track..... I don't; I was just being thorough in describing my current BIOS setup, although, I temporarily disable CSM in BIOS to create my RAID array using the BIOS RSt SATA module before creating a partition using Terabyte BootIt Bare Metal for a fresh install-CSM immediately re-enabled after creating the array and is set to Legacy mode only because I hate UEFI-buggy, incompatable, intermittent USB 2 and 3 issues; no shortened boot time if CSM is enabled at all-even in UEFI mode only. The drivers and OROM being loaded both are RSTe. I do it this way because I accidently stumbled on this as a sure fire way to have trim support vs using the actual RSTe RAID OROM to create the RAID array. I did this a while back because after BIOS 4206 I can no longer enter the RSTe OROM by hiting cntrl>I and no fix yet from ASUS-this extreme difficulty a known problem. ASUS ROG Forums-Raja-contacted the engineers and using the SATA module with CSM disabled to create an array using any post 4206 BIOS is the official "workaround". So, I continue to do it that way. I'm sure I've taken many hours life out of my SSD's already. :(

    3. RSt in any configuration yields no trim period; as I was saying, I have litterally spent days doing back to back 0 overwrites on my SSD's and trying fresh installs using a variety of SATA modules and RSt driver combinations-wether I tried the specific one you posted here I cannot remember to be honest, but, I have flashed BIOS 1 with UBU and the default combinations it lists for modules several times, trying RSt fresh installs in combination with the popular RSt 12 plus drivers. (CSM has to be disabled to get RSt only loaded, otherwise the system defaults to RSTe no matter what I do) If I disable CSM and leave it that way for UEFI only fresh install Windows 8.1 nags that CSM is not configured correctly. Point is moot because there is no trim support in UEFI only-even though in any configuration Windows 8.1 recognizes the SSD's as such.
    Most perplexing for me anyways-beyond the fact that everyone but me seems to get trim support in RSt-is I must slipstream the entire RSTe driver file:

    F6_RSTe_v4.0.0.1040 WHQL
    ..
    iaahci.cat
    iaAHCI.inf
    iaahcib.cat
    iaAHCIB.inf
    iastora.cat
    iaStorA.inf
    iaStorA.sys
    iastorb.cat
    iaStorB.inf
    iaStorB.sys
    txtsetup.oem


    instead of just the SATA RAID files; or no trim. This lengthens my boot time a bit.