@Kwastas: I don’t see any reason for you and your Intel X79 chipset system to use any modded Intel AHCI driver.
My answer can be found within the start post of >this< thread (look into the table at the bottom).
I do not offer them anymore, because according to my own tests it doesn’t make any sense to install any of the latest Intel RST drivers onto old Intel chipset systems. Users will just be disappointed.
I do not offer drivers, which are part of the Windows OS. You can get the Win10 in-box MS AHCI driver used by your current system, if you do the following: 1. Run the Device Manager and expand the section "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers". 2. Right-click onto the listed Intel SATA AHCI Controller (whatever exact name it has) and choose the options "Update driver software" > "Browse my Computer…" > "Let me pick…" 3. Provided, that the box "Show compatible hardware" is checked, you will see there a device named "Standard SATA AHCI Controller" listed. 4. Highlight it and then click on the button "Continue". After the next reboot your PC will use the generic MS AHCI driver named STORAHCI.SYS.
As long as the Intel SATA Controller is running in AHCI mode, an update of the BIOS regarding the Intel RAID modules doesn’t make any sense, because these BIOS modules are neither loaded nor used.
If you are not satisfied with the Win10 in-box AHCI driver, you can try the "pure" 64bit Intel RSTe AHCI driver v5.5.4.1036 WHQL, but I doubt, that you will get better results. Very important: Before you are trying to change the in-use AHCI driver, you should run the Control Panel and look, whether there is any Intel RST Software listed. If yes, uninstall it and reboot thereafter. To avoid any interference between different Intel RST/RSTe driver and software versions I generally do not recommand to install any complete "Intel RST/RSTe Drivers & Software Set" for users, who are running their system drive in AHCI mode.
This is the way how to do it: 1. Run the Windows Explorer 2. Right-click onto any partition (e.g. drive C: or D:) you want to get defragmented and choose the option "Properties". 3. Hit onto the tab "Tools" and click onto the button "Optimize". 4. Check, whether the "Media Type" of the related partition is correctly detected as "Hard Disk Drive" (if not, run the command "winsat disk formal"). 5. Click onto the "Optimize" button and wait until the defragmentation has been completed.
This work will most likely be wasted time for me and frustration for you. Which HardwareIDs has your on-board Intel SATA AHCI Controller and which OS are you running? Regards Dieter (alias Fernando)
@Cyberdemon : Due to your request I have prepared 2 different mod+signed variants of the 64bit Intel RST AHCI/RAID/NVMe drivers v18.30.3.1148. Both driverpacks contain the untouched original *.SYS files (= real drivers), but differently customized *.INF files and a different amount of associated files. If you want to test them both and report here about your results, please let me know it. Then I will send you the download links via PM. Important advices: 1. If not already done, you have to import the Win-RAID CA Certificate before starting the tests. 2. Make sure, that no Intel RST Software is installed. If there should be any, uninstall it from within the Control Panel “Add/Remove Programs” section and reboot thereafter. 3. Don’t forget to set a “Restore Point” for the OS partition before you are going to install the first variant of the drivers. 4. After having finished the test of the Var.A driver - no matter with which result - recover the OS you had before setting the Restore Point. 5. Then test the Var.B of the driver. Good luck!
Yes , i want to test them. 1. Already imported the certificate 2. No Intel RST software is installed. 3. Will create a restore point (if something goes wrong) 4. Alright. 5. Okay.
@Cyberdemon : Ok, I am curious about your benchmark results. Meanwhile I have tested both variants of the mod+signed Intel RST drivers v18.30.3.1148 running in AHCI mode on my Intel Z170 system (natively not supported as yours). The installation went fine with both of them. I will show my results once you have published your ones.
@Cyberdemon : Thank you for having tested the mod+signed Intel RST AHCI driver v18.30.3.1148. Since your inserted pictures were not really visible, I have uploaded them from within the Admin Software, re-sized and re-inserted them. I hope, that I have done it in the correct order and didn’t mix the left and the right one. If I made a mistake regarding the order, please let me know it.
Questions: 1. Which driver did you use, when you took the left screenshot? I suspect, that it was the MS Win10 in-box AHCI driver. 2. Which variant of the mod+signed drivers v18.30.3.1148 did you use, when you took the right screenshot? 3. Will you test the other variant and publish the benchmark results as well?
@Cyberdemon : Here are the benchmark results I got with my old Intel Z170 chipset system running Win10 x64 Pro Build 20270 (Tests were done on an empty 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD):
As you can see, there is no performance difference regarding the Sequential Read and Write scores, but the winner for me was the generic MS Win10 in-box driver due to its much better Random Read and Write scores. The Intel RST driver v18.30.3.1148 Variant B, which had been drastically modded by me rather similar to the ones I am offering within the start post, seems to run with my system a little bit better than the Variant A, where I had not done much more than adding the missing HardwareIDs and Controller names.
@Fernando Here are the Var.B results: -slightly better read speed, but the writing speed is a bit slower. But i guess the benchmarks depend on the hardware anyway.
@Cyberdemon : Thanks for having additionally tested the Var.B of the mod+signed Intel RST driver v18.30.3.1148.
I totally agree with this statement. My advice for you: If you want a much better performance, I recommend to replace the HDD by an SSD. Which AHCI driver will you use from now on with your current system?
