@build4fun :
I am sorry, but I don’t have the required time for any support.
Due to its size (cannot be loaded) I doubt, that any v12 or v13 platform Intel RAID ROM will work with your ICH10R Southbridge system while running in RAID mode.
@Fernando :
Yeah you might be right about the v13.5.0.2164
that and that is why I also did the v10.1.0.1008 which is much smaller (less than 100K) and therefore should fit - this is the same one you choose.
I’ve read a lot in another thread about the Rampage III Extreme which is almost the same as the Rampage II Extreme (ICH10R X58 board) save for an extra Marvel SATA 6 controller and the use of a different Ethernet controller. And they are having those same issues - it does not load if they use too new/large modules. If you want to use all controllers on board and RAID you have to stay with RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 and but some other modules can be updated. What I have read is that if you are only interested in using RAID and the Ethernet (do not need the other controlers = IEEE 1394, Jmicro SATA etc) you can get away with v13 otherwise stay with v10.
I’ve learned a lot the last week by reading all on the forum that I could come by and think I understand this better now and am ready to test.
A lot of ROM modules with different versions are available and the trick now is to combine the best once (or as good as I can) that others have had luck using in a way that the size limit does not blow up.
The MMTool 3.26 is really easy to use and your guide over here [Guide] AMI (non-UEFI) BIOS Modding is indispensable. Thank you!
Thank you also for all your support and hard work!
I’ll experiment with v10 on the week end and see where it goes.
EDIT by Fernando: Unneeded fully quoted post removed (to save space)
@build4fun :
I tested both BIOSes modded by you
r2e13Spec - motheboard tries to enable Intel RST after boot, but freezes (size of RAID module is too big I think)
r2e10Spec - works ok, but Intel RST is not loaded, when I change storage settings to RAID. Therefore I can’t create any RAID.
@Fernando :
I tested your’s last BIOS RampageII-ASUS-Extreme-2101-modbyfern and Intel RST is not loading on start, after I change storage settings to RAID.
Of course every time I load default settings and change it after reeboot.
Have you any idea why RST is not loading when it is in version 10.1.0.1008?
When I start BIOS with RAID module v8.5.0.1030 RST is loadng and showing informations to press CTRL+I to create RAID. On every BIOSes with RAID module v10.1.0.1008 this information isn’t showing.
Any help will be apreciated.
@Artur :
AFAIK you are the first X58 chipset RAID user, who reported, that the Intel RST RAID ROM v10.1.0.1008 doesn’t work.
So the only solution will be to stick with the stock BIOS with its Intel MSM RAID ROM v8.0.0.1038. I have no other idea.
@Artur ,
What modules do you have enabled? and what modules are disabled in the BIOS screen? JMicron? Marvell Ethernet?
I’ll try to test my self later today. Sorry for not gotten to this earlier…
But so far, I’ve focused on getting my Rampage III Extreme BIOS updated (i got 2 PC with those boards) with a moded BIOS that actually works (moded with Spectre micro codes covering CPU 206C2, ICHR10 RAID 0 with trim and >4GB disks, JMicron “best” OROM, Marvel SATA 6G “best” OROM and Intel “best” ethernet OROM ). That was quite and adventure and what “best” is, is really difficult to say. I started with 1601 beta (last official Asus) and it turned out it was a bad base line BIOS. Once I changed to 1502 as a base line and patched from there I got everything to work - Everything as in moded with Spectre micro codes covering CPU 206C2, ICHR10 RAID 0 with trim and >4GB disks, JMicron “best” OROM, Marvel SATA 6G “best” OROM and Intel “best” ethernet OROM + and add in Marvell based RAID card. ALL running and accessible from the BIOS - super happy now!
So next up is my two Rampage II Extreme boards based PCs.
Give me a day or 2 and I’ll get something working - we’ll see what I can make work. I found that the combinations of OROMs you choose and enable (in the BIOS) can impact as well so it’s quite a lot of trial and error. Small incremental changes (swapping in and our OROMS) is the key to figuring out what can be done. and R2E and R3E are very similar save for the extra Marvel SAT 6G and USB 3.0 on R3E.
Great to hear! I’ll wait.
I’ve enabled Jmicron and Marvell
Ok I rebuilt the ROM attached.
It contains:
- Base ROM: 2101 from ASUS (official) with intel Spectre patches added (can be found here: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threa…rboards.246101/)
- upgraded this ROM’s Intel ICH10R RAID ROM - V8086 D2822 - OROM module to version: 10.1.0.1008 CPLO with TRIM support for RAID 0 set ups
Tested:
1) Tested the following things enabled: Jmicron (ACHI +IDE), Marevell Ethernet both ports (network boot was disabled), Firewire IEEE1394, HD sound - in essense all was enabled
Result: boots well and all boot screen shows. I can boot into:
1) the v10.1.0.1008 RAID module BIOS GUI no problem
2) the JMicron BIOS GUI no problem
3) ASUS main BIOS no problem
All works as it should!
Tested that trim works on both the RAID and the single SSDs in Windows 10. And it did work confirmed!
I used the BIOS EZ Flash 2 utility to update without problem.
I have 4 SSDs (one RAID 0 of 2 SSDs and 2 stand alone SSDs unraided) attached only to the ICH10R (not using JMicron) all show up well in the v10.1.0.1008 RAID module BIOS GUI.
Have not tried the other RAID modules yet. i.e. v10.5.0.1034 (I know 100% that this one can handle huge drives)
I think v10.1.0.1008 can handle 4TB SSDs but i did not try yet.
I’ll try with a 4TB SSDs probably tomorrow to test if that works as it should.
r2xr101t - Copy.rar (853 KB)
I will also push the limits on the other modules (Marvel Ethernet, JMicron) and see how far I can upgrade without failure. I’ll try that tomorrow.
@build4fun
Unfortunatelly, I still have a problem with start Intel Matrix Storage Manager at start when RAID is enabled in BIOS 
All others options looks fine.
When I again flash original BIOS 2101 from ASUS with IMSM v8.0.0.1038 it shows screen with Raid Volumes, Physical Disks and opttion CTRL+I for configuration.
When I flash yours BIOS - nothing shows
I recorded films from computer starting. I uploaded it to wetransfer:
https://we.tl/t-0p5j82MZlS
One shows computer start with original ASUS BIOS, second - with BIOS modded by you.
Maybe someone can look and tell me why this BIOS is not worked for me…
Ok I’ll look at this on Friday - too late in the evening for me now.
It’s weird though.
@Artur ,
I saw your videos.
i can think of several reasons.
1) too many controllers enabled. I saw Jmicron was enabled and I read earlier that you had IEEE1394. I also saw that you have a RAID 3Ware card installed. could be you run out of memory
2) X5690 CPU this is a great choice and can be had on ebay for $100 today. I had a Core i7 920 in my test that has CPUID 106A5 and is different from X5690’s CPUID 206C2. The CPUID determins what micro codes are loaded at boot time. So if the BIOS detect 106A5, the CPU loads different microcodes compared to if it detects a X5690. I have a W3690 I bought on ebay for $78 and I am planing to swap it in to boost the machine.
What you can try:
a) disable Jmicron in the BIOS reboot again - does the IMSM boot scren show now? (also does no look like you are using it anyway)
b) dissable firewire IEEE1394 (just for now) - does the IMSM boot scren show now?
c) disable 3Ware RAID card (keep Jmicron disabled) just for now and reboot again - does IMSM boot scren show now?
@build4fun
Thank you for help!
I’ll try it and inform you.
I have one more idea.
As you can see on the video - when I use the original Asus BIOS, IMSM sees the volume created from disk drives in RAID 1+0.
It should be deleted (I do it some times ago) - but I noticed on the recording that IMSM still sees it.
Is it possible that a new version of IMSM, which sees disks differently (as 4TB and not 2TB), has a problem with booting because of such a volume created in a previous version of IMSM?
Perhaps @Fernando can explain something about this? His experience with RAID can help a lot here…
Hi. I am new on the forum. Couple days ago I had took out my computer which was packed in a box over 4 years and was completely forgotten after moving to my new house.
Now I am thinking about modding my old Asus Rampage 2 extreme mobo with i7 920 into gaming computer. I have an aportunity to buy some used xeons: X5675, W3670, X5687, W5590 - I am thinking mostly about x5675. Is it going to work with modded bios ( is there a list of supported processors)? If so do You think is it going to be able overclock it over 4ghz with corsair water cooling ( my i7 is stable only below 4ghz)? Do You think some new graphic card like Radeon RX will be able to give my computer a second life or I should buy some older used graphic card ( for at least full hd gaming with highest settings)?
hi @ruffpl .
The Xeons X5675, W3670, X5687 have CPU id 206c2 which menas that the BIOS files I posted would work. W5590 you mentioned have CPU id 106A5 which should also work from a BIOS perspective.
I was able to upgrade 2 Rampage II Extremes boards in 2 different PCs: replacing an old iCore 7 920 and another old CPU (forgot model number) with W3690 I bought for $78/CPU on ebay.
The W3690 has 6 cores and together with the X5690 (the dual socket version) they are the most powerful CPU you can get for the X58 platform.
One of the machines have a R2E board with W3690 24GB of RAM with 2 x Samsung 1TB SSDs in RAID 0 as a 2TB volume, AND a Geforce GTX 1080ti.
And I can tell you it is a rocket for gaming.
So the R2E is definitely good enough for gaming IF paired with a strong enough CPU. However, I would recomend to go with the fastest CPU with as many cores you can get that fits the X58 platform = W3690 or X5690. They are vitually identical runing at 3.46GHz with a 3.73GHz turbo boast frequency. They both overclock well and should be possible to get to run close to 4GHz.
However, above all, the graphics card you pick will decide gaming performance. GTX 1080ti worked for me. Also get good RAM at least 12GB. I put in 24GB in both the R2E machines.
I bet they will do well for at least another 5 years!
Thanks for reply. I bought cheap x5675 ( around 45$). My pc have 12gb of ram in slots 3x2gb+ 3x2gb ( corsair 2000mhz). For now I have 2x gtx 560ti ( but I can not get win10 to work with them in sli mode/ it was ok on win7 many years ago). I am thinking abot upgrading video card to (cheaper) nvidia gtx 1660 or ( expensive) radeon rx 5700. Does cards like that will work without problem on non uefi bios motherboard and will the rest of components allow powerfull cards to work without slowdowns?
The GTX 1660 ti should work very well for 1080p+ gaming. As I wrote, I have one machine with a 1080ti/W3690/24GB RAM setup and that works extremely well!
x5675 should overclock to the same level as a W3690 so it will work well too. (both these CPUs have the same CPU id = 206C2 and are just binned differently from the exact same silicon - the X models are enabled for dual slots while the W models can only be used on single slot boards, e.g. R2E)
12GB of the corsair RAM should overclocks well, I think, so that will help as well. The 24GB I have is really just to future proof the rig a bit more…
With regards to the RTX 5700, I see no reason why it should not work. It is just a question of how well it would work on a R2E board with a X5675. Generally, the CPU will be the bottleneck (even an overclocked X5675 will be a bit of a bottleneck - how much I cannot say). However, what I can say is that I know for sure that the 1080ti will give a tremendous boost and it works 100% on a R2E board at 1440p resolutions. The fact that the PCIe buss is gen 2.0 on R2E and the RX 5700 (and the GTX 1080 ti for that matter) use PCIe 3.0 is less of an issue. In my experience you will hit the CPU bottle neck before the PCIe 2.0 bandwidth limitations comes into play.
If I were you I would go with best graphics card you can afford (without going crazy like a 2080ti), OC the CPU to 4GHz and run with 
If you are not happy you can always use the Amazon/newegg return policy and get a different GPU (I know, not the right thing to do but many do that judging from how many "new" items I have bought that are not really new (but open box)).
Good luck
I got gtx 1660 oc version for half price and it works great ( yes I now, I could buy better ti version but I couldn not get it so cheap) and I overlocked it a little bit with msi afterburner.
I tried oc xeon with settings from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NItI0J5ZR68 and it is fully stable at 4,5ghz. I play games on 4,6 which is maximum I can get -to get more I need to put 2 extra fans on water cooling radiator, but there is not so much space in my htpc case. Anyway all games runs like crazy on maximum settings at 1080p, not like it always was with cheaper cpu and graphic card that couldnt manage. This way I got a great game console in my living room with tons of newest games on hdd instead of buying xbox or ps.
sounds great! congrats!
Hi -
Just a quick question - my x5660 is still going strong at 3.8 on my trusty old asus II extreme board. i had a google and couldn’t believe people still working on it! great. I need to do a reinstall of windows (while also attempting ruining m2 ssd as boot drive in Pciex slot) and I am just wondering if you think this is the most up to date bios i could install. (i don’t need raid)
thanks!