What happens when there's a mismatch between OROM and driver version?

Important Drivers Specific: Intel AHCI/RAID Drivers
1

I have an x58 ICH10R, and just realized that the BIOS I’ve had implemented for a while has been using a v11.2 Intel OROM while my Win10 has been using the v11.7 AHCI driver. Just curious, what occurs when something like this happens, a mismatch between OROM and driver versions? Would could occur, e.g. slower read/write speeds, or worse, like silent data corruption, etc.?

OROMs still perplex me, as I would think that once the BIOS/UEFI hands everything off to the OS, I would think that there would be no more need for the OROM since the OS would be handling everything at that point. If that’s the case, then I guess I don’t understand why it’s important that OROM and drivers match (though I’m not disputing such)?

2

@Coldblackice :
As long as the-board Intel SATA Controller is running in AHCI mode, the version of the Intel RAID ROM module of the BIOS doesn’t matter, because this BIOS module will not be used by your system.

3

Well that’s news to me that it’s only a matter regarding RAID functionality. Thanks for the info. For curiosity sake, what would the effects of a mismatch be if this was regarding RAID mode instead? What would happen if there was a mismatch between OROM version and driver version?

4

@Coldblackice :
Unless the Intel RAID BIOS module belongs to a newer RST/RSTe development platform (e.g. v6.x.x.xxxx or v17.x.x.xxxx) than the currently installed Intel RAID driver, a version mismatch has no severe consequences regarding the system’s functionality. Reason: All released Intel RST/RSTe driver versions are backwards compatible regarding the Intel RAID BIOS module version.
Nevertheless the user can only expect the best possible RAID perfornance, if the currently in-use Intel RAID driver and the Intel RAID module of the BIOS belong to the same development branch.

5

I’m using the 17.5.2.1024 drivers on a Z370 board with 17.2.5.4046 BIOS module and everything works just fine for weeks. Performance is hardly changed though, there was one driver a while ago that rectified a somewhat significant drop in performance for my 850 EVO from Samsung (I think it was because of the Spectre/Meltdown never-ending fixes), and after that performance and stability remained the same.