Depending on your SATA mode (AHCI or RAID) look into the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" or "Storage Controllers" section of the Device Manager.
Then right click onto the listed Intel AHCI or RAID Controller, choose the options "Properties" > "Driver" > "Driver Details". There you will find the actually running AHCI resp. RAID driver and its version.
Ah of course it’s under controllers! Thank you. I’ve just upgraded to 12.9 after a BSOD connected to iaStorA.sys, and MSI Live Update still recommends 12.8, so I wanted to check.
Hello Fernando,
I need advice which of RST(e) Software and drivers is better for a MSI GE60-OND with Intel HM76 7-series chipset, using Win 8.1 Update 1
(also applied all other updates and 12th August updates).
As i have been asking you in other thread - about Intel management engine and interface - currently solved,
i wanted to know few details about more up-to-date IRST driver (or package) suitable for my MB.
My original IRST driver and software was 11.6.0.1030.
I uninstalled it both, before i went to BIOS or ME FW upgrade.
So i would like to ask you,
if is best to install the 12.8.13.xxxx or 12.9.4.xxxx version of that package - on 1st page of this thread.
Need i just the bare driver or also the software combo ?
Thanks in advance
Provided that you are runnig your Intel SATA ports in AHCI mode, I recommend to install just the Intel RST(e) driver v12.9.4.1000 WHQL manually from within the Device Manager.
Any information on this latest driver as to fixes and what is still pending?
I usually wait until drivers are up at Intel officially so I can read those just in case there are pending
issue with my OS/configuration.
Seems Intel is really slow to officially put them on site, usually a month or two behind.
No, Intel does not publish any release notes about not officially released drivers.
Tried the latest [13.2.4.1000] on my z87 system and raid1 is horrible…
Intel states raid1 is equal to a single disk but not even close, about 25%.
single raptor
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]
Sequential Read : 456.202 MB/s
Sequential Write : 179.288 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 453.702 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 318.098 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 1.305 MB/s [ 318.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 3.754 MB/s [ 916.5 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 3.869 MB/s [ 944.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 3.797 MB/s [ 927.0 IOPS]
Test : 50 MB [C: 46.2% (215.3/465.7 GB)] (x9)
Date : 2014/05/30 16:21:21
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
raid1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]
Sequential Read : 117.365 MB/s
Sequential Write : 127.213 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 125.745 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 237.294 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 2.043 MB/s [ 498.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 2.628 MB/s [ 641.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 7.321 MB/s [ 1787.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 2.953 MB/s [ 721.0 IOPS]
Test : 50 MB [C: 49.4% (230.2/465.7 GB)] (x4)
Date : 2014/09/07 4:19:53
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
I like the idea of raid1 but those numbers are horrible.
Tried 12.9, 13 and the latest 13.4.2.1000 with different read-only, write back, write though and not much changed, still slow.
Any ideas or is Intel just flat our liars about raid1 performance?
Just for fun my second raptor empty before I put it into the raid1 array
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]
Sequential Read : 488.196 MB/s
Sequential Write : 187.917 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 444.090 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 324.492 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 88.654 MB/s [ 21643.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 5.242 MB/s [ 1279.8 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 5.204 MB/s [ 1270.5 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 5.422 MB/s [ 1323.6 IOPS]
Test : 50 MB [D: 0.0% (0.1/465.8 GB)] (x9)
Date : 2014/09/03 3:16:09
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
Now that’s more like what a raptor can and should be doing bench wise.
If anybody will read your post a couple of months later, he/she will not know which driver was the "latest", when you had written your post.
Please post the exact version number of the tested driver instead.
According to my experience the good old Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 is still the fastest Intel RAID driver, but I am not sure, that you will get it installed at all onto your Z87 system. A "downgrade" from an actual Intel RST(e) driver named iaStorA.sys to a classical Intel RST driver named iaStor.sys may give you a BSOD during the reboot.
You should consider, that a RAID1 array is designed for the data security and not for a better performance.
True it’s for redundancy but from all accounts it should be equal to a single drive. The only caveat is reads are faster but writes are slower but not 25% slower.
My old system with 500GB black drives took a slight hit but not to this degree.
I was hoping for at least close to a single raptor but frankly those numbers are pathetic.
Did you enable the write-back cache feature by using the Intel RST Console?
Yes, sure did but it did not improve anything.
Went through all the different configurations .
Write-through with flush disabled seems to be the more consistent.
Least with raid1 you can delete the array and no harm is done but with raid0 you will lose the whole system.
That is correct.
I picked up the latest raptors for a great deal, almost 1/2 off last year, guess I should have bought 4 and just went with raid10.
Still rather surprised raid1 is this slow with a 10K drive.
Oddly it feels snappy, I can fire up browsers and there is no lag probably because of the high cache burst.
When you go from around 450 to only 150 in reads with crystal that is a huge impact but it should not be so.
My ROM is 12.6, would that make any difference at all? None of the newer bios for my board have any ROM updates, least not yet.
I can say though that crystal is not the most accurate, it can depend on when the cache hits which can give inflated numbers like the first.
As much as I’d love for a raptor to his SSD speeds that is just not theoretically possible.
Hello, I’m new here. My question is, my PC is booting really fast about 7 seconds from poweron to desktop. So if I install the Intel RST-Driver the boot take about 2 seconds longer. Is that normal? I installed the 64-Bit Version of the version 13.2.4.1000.
Thank you
My system: MSI Z97 Gaming 5 || Intel i7 4770K @4,4Ghz (geköpft @CLU) || Kühler (H2O): Corsair H110 @Push/Pull || Asus GTX780-DC2OC @1200/3300 || Corsair DIMM 16 GB DDR3-1600 || BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 10 550W || Samsung 840 EVO 250GB || Phanteks Enthoo Primo Big Tower || Windows 8.1 Pro Update 1
@ Richertgay:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!
Yes, if this only happens at first reboot after the installation of a new storage driver.
The intialisation of the Intel SATA AHCI Controller takes a bit longer, when the user has changed the related AHCI driver.
To be sure about that, I recommend to do a benchmark test comparing bot AHCI drivers (the peviously installed and the v13.2.4.1000).
Reards
Fernando
- Which AHCI driver did you use before?
2. Have you installed just the driver or the complete Intel RST(e) Driver & Software Set? If its the latter, did you uninstall the previous version before installing the new version?
Beforce I used the MS AHCI driver from windows. And with this driver the boot is 2 seconds faster.
I installed only the driver no Intel RST-Software.
Did you install just the driver manually from within the Device Manager or did you run the installer of the Intel RST(e) Driver & Software Set?
Did you install just the driver manually from within the Device Manager or did you run the installer of the Intel RST(e) Driver & Software Set?
I just installed the driver in the device manager.
My benchmark results are so good with the Intel RST but the boot is 2 seconds longer
