Which are the "best" Intel AHCI/RAID drivers?

Hi !
Since i’m running out of options in my head, i’d like to ask,
ok, first, i have sound glitches, pops and clicks, running Youtube in Brave browser.
I have re-installed win10 few days ago, installed everything back like it was, but this appears now.
I remember it was years ago the same, but don’t know how did I solved this.
I did try other suggestions mentioned at Brave forum or on net, but,
before i try some experimenting, does Chipset SATA AHCI Controller version has anything to do with this ?
I have version 12.9.4.1000, for Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family.
All drivers are up to day, just like before,
Latencymon doesn’t show any problems.
Firefox works fine, but I don’t use this browser, was just for testing.
Maybe any tip or suggestion, since system is still clean and empty, i can experiment little :slight_smile: Best,
Matej

Not pointing AHCI driver issues on this situation
YT api uses graphics acceleration whenever possible…

@schmety
There was no reason to start a new thread. Please read the start post of this thread.
As long as you are running your SATA connected SSD(s)/HDD(s) in AHCI mode, I recommend to to use the generic Win10/11 in-box MS AHCI driver named storahci.sys.

Sory, it wasn’t on purpose.

Thanks for your recommendation, will try now.
Do you recommend the same for my second machine where I have Z170 chipset with Win 11 ?

Thanks.

Yes!

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Do you mind sharing where in the registry those keys would be located (in general)?

Interested for curiosity’s sake, for future troubleshooting awareness. TIA

Which sort of keys do you mean?

Hello Fernando. I hope you can help me, so i’ve been trying different sata drivers and for the moment, i decided to stick with v12.9.4.1000, they seem to work well on my SSD’s on an MSI H81M-E33 based system. The standard ones are not bad either, but these seem a bit better, boot time is slightly quicker. But i have an issue here, sometimes when changing these type of drivers to different version, sometimes i would get glitches related to the I/O, can’t understand why.

For example, when i decided to rollback to Windows standard sata driver from v12.9.4.1000 and tried a couple of games, the load times were insanely long and the SSD would spike to a 100% constantly in the game, only due to me rolling back from a non-standard sata driver. The problem went away once i upgraded to a newer sata driver, then rolled back and deleted all newer driver remains and files. But i am not even sure if that’s enough as with some games i still get unusually high I/O load in some games for seemingly no reason, for example, in RE2: Remake, it can spikes up to 60% when switching areas, on an SSD, just why?

Is it possible Windows standard sata driver or other non-standard drivers can get damaged/corrupt if you switch them a lot to test them? And if so, how can i troubleshoot or fix this and delete old remains or fix the driver without fully reinstalling Windows?

Thanks!

I have never encountered such problem during my extended tests.
It is not a good idea to delete any storage driver file, which has been used by the OS.
By the way - which OS are you running?
Anyway here is my tip: Once you have found the “best” AHCI driver, you should stick with it and use it until the next clean Windows installation.

I am running Windows 10 20H2. I have done benchmarks and overall, seems to be fine, just that for some reason the storage usage in some cases goes way too high, even between different sata drivers, so i would just assume is that some games or programs are not that well optimized, who knows.

I don’t really understand, I am confused:

Am I supposed to “Mix and match” the driver package components?

According to the picture above, I go to the thread:

And then I download the “Pure mod+signed driver” v13.2.8.1002 but then for the RAID function I download the v15.5.3.1054?
Or do I just pick one and only install either ACHI or RAID?

After I pick one and install one, I install the “Suitable original Software Installer Set”?

I will not make any changes to my system until I am completely sure what to do. For now it appears to be working fine. Perhaps there is no point in trying this.

I have a AsRock z77 Extreme 4 and I had to go to the AsRock page and look under Windows 8.1 64bit to find an old RST driver that appears to be working fine. But if there is any benefit to attempting this upgrade I can try it out. I just dont want to break my system.

@BobbyBadBoy
I am sorry, that you became confused after having read the first post of this thread.
Here is my comment:

  1. Nobody with an Intel chipset system running Win7 or later needs to install any Intel AHCI or RAID driver, because the original OS supports all on-board Intel SATA Controllers out of the box.
    This thread has been started by me for users, who either have troubles with the in-use Intel AHCI/RAID driver or want to optimize the performance of the SATA connected HDDs/SSDs.
  2. Depending on the related BIOS settings The on-board Intel SATA Controller of your mainboard can run either in AHCI or in RAID mode, but never in both modes simultaneously. So if you want to install the “best” Intel AHCI or RAID driver for your specific system, you should concentrate your view onto the matching column (AHCI or RAID) of the table, which is at the bottom of the start post.
  3. The installation of a complete Intel AHCI/RAID Drivers & Software Set only makes sense for users, who have created or want to create an Intel RAID Array.
  4. Since the Intel SATA AHCI and RAID Controllers are using the exactly same real driver (named iaStor.sys or iaStorAC.sys), but need to get the related driverpack installed in a completely different way (layed down within the related *.inf files), you should never try to install a driver mixture, whose components belong to different version numbers. That would not work.

Hoping, that your confusion has disappeared now…

1 Like

Hi Fernando.
I am planing to build a raid1 Array using an Intel Raid of Chipset Intel B790.
Which Driver is the bedt for this?
Kind regards
Thomas

@ThomasBln
Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum!
As far as I know an Intel B790 chipset doesn’t exist.
Please give me a link to the mainboard of your PC.

Hi Fernando. I am sorry. Its the B760 Chipset of this MB:
https://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=1103

Which Driver you would recommend?

Kind regards
Thomas

@ThomasBln
Since you have a brandnew mainboard with an Intel B760 chipset, you can use the v20 platform Intel RST VMD drivers (currently latest: v20.0.0.1038 WHQL). You can find them within the first post of >this< thread.
Regarding the requested Intel RAID array you should better look into your mainboard manual. I am rather unsure, whether the creation of such RAID array is supported at all by Intel B760 chipsets.

Hello ! Thanx for your time Dieter. What kind of Intel Drivers&Software you’ll recommend for ASUS Rampage III mobo + Windows 7 in 2024 =) For using without any raid as usual HDD + SATA SSD Samsung 870 EVO + ASUS NVME additional PCIE board.

@root_m
Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum!
I have moved your post into this better matching thread. You can find my recommendation for your mainboard and its X58 chipset within the table at the bottom of the start post.
Since you obviously are running your SATA SSD in AHCI mode, I do not recommend to install any Intel RST/RST(e) Drivers & Software Set. Your system only needs the “pure” AHCI driver.
Good luck and enjoy the Forum!

Thanx for your quick reply ! Should I use latest v.20.1…0.1015/v9.0.3.1026 or Universal 64bit Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v11.7.4.1001 mod+signed by Fernando.rar ? Sorry for stupid question. But I’d like to clear it out before =)! I can ruin working system …

@root_m
You should consider, that the latest drivers are designed for latest Oprerating Systems and Chipsets.
If you want to run Win7, I recommend to install the Intel RST(e) AHCI driver v11.7.4.1001 WHQL. It supports your on-board Intel SATA AHCI Controller DEV_3A22.