Hi Fernando , My new Motheboard , the Asus X99A II , has a 14 series OROM shown in the Bios (once the F11 Wizard turns it on, setting Raid manually doesn’t seem to allow access inside the bios) , so I assume I should use the best 14.xxx series driver in the OP ? but I also see there is a 4.xxx series Driver for the X99 Chipset but that may depend on the OROM used by the MB manufacturer ? is that right ?
The choice of the “best” Intel AHCI/RAID driver for an Intel X99 Chipset system depends on the SATA mode (IDE/AHCI/RAID) of the on-board Intel SATA Controller and on your BIOS settings regarding the Rapid Storage Technology (RST resp. RSTe mode).
The Intel RAID ROM resp. EFI “RaidDriver” version within the BIOS of your mainboard is only relevant, if you are running your storage drives in RAID mode.
Hi , thanks , I am using raid 0 for my data disks not the OS drive, though it is on the Intel Controller too, thus in raid mode , but I am not certain I understand the difference between RST mode and RSTe mode in the Bios , If I turn on Raid mode I can see in the Advanced settings it is using OROM 14.8.0.2.377 but I don’t think I have the ability to chose a mode , so perhaps that is decided for me by ASUS ? as it is using the 14.xxxx OROM , thus I should use the 14.xxxx series Driver, is that correct ?
This verifies, your your Intel SATA RAID Controller is running in RST mode.
Yes, as long as your mainboard BIOS ASUS doesn’t contain an Intel RAID ROM/EFI RaidDriver v15.x.x.xxxx, I recommend to use the latest Intel RAID driver of the v14 line, which is v14.8.9.1053.
hi Fernando!
what is the best Intel RST for my Lenovo y570?
I have many problems with drivers from official Lenovo website
- Windows 8.1 x64
- Intel 6 Series/C200
- Intel Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller
@Ghoulty :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!
As you can read within the start post of this thread, I recommend the Intel RST(e) driver v12.9.4.1000 WHQL for AHCI users with an Intel 6-Series Chipset system.
Which Intel RST driver version offers Lenovo for your system?
Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)
There are people, who feel better, when they are running the latest drivers no matter whether these drivers do support their system at its best or not. I always compare the different driver versions and choose the driver version, which seems to be the best for my system.
Then you have done something wrong. Please repeat the procedure.
By the way: I do not create or modify any driver (= .sys file). All I do is customizing the related text file (.inf) to make the driver installable with Controllers, which are natively not supported.
If this driver is the best for you, why not? By the way: The Intel RST driver v14.8.0.1042 is not the latest from Intel.
My personal experiences with my old Z77 and Z68 systems were different (look >here<).
Hi Fernando, sorry for the quick follow up post, but may I ask where your Z77 benchmarks went? I tried to refer to it as linked in your post, but you removed them because you gave the systems away. Not sure what the reference point for Z77 is now.
They are still stored on one of my HDDs. It doesn’t make much sense to keep the benchmark results published from tests, which were done in winter 2014/15.
There is no big difference to 6-Series systems regarding the performance and the choice of the “best” Intel RST driver.
If you want to know, which Intel RST driver version I recommend for Intel 7-Series Chipsets, you should look into the start post of this thread.
You are cordially invited to do some benchmark comparison tests using different Intel RST drivers and publish the results within >this< thread.
Have you been aware of the issue in RST v14.x drivers (and newer) discussed here:
https://communities.intel.com/thread/77335
The problem seems to be that drives which are part of a RAID array do not spin down any more. It works with the 13.x series driver, but not any more with the 14.x
I also checked with RSTe which seem to have this issue for an even longer time (went back until v3.2).
Just wanted to update you on mission accomplished thanks to your forum. The “bricked” 500 GB HDD couldn’t be seen by Windows 7 but could be read by Linux (Ubuntu 14.04). I purchased new 240GB SSD and installed Win 7 under ACHI. Installing RST for Windows showed drive G (the bricked 500GB HDD) as inaccessable. I rebooted and changed BIOS ACHI to Intel RST. Then I rebooted and successfully used <Control>+i to invoke RST in BIOS. I deleted the 500GB HDD from acceleration / RAID. I rebooted and changed BIOS back to ACHI. It’s all good for the time being with new 240 GB SSD, newish 120GB mSata SSD and old 500GB HDD which I will accelerate again some day…
@Rick_Lee :
Thanks for your feedback! It is fine, that you were able to solve your problem with the “bricked” HDD.
This is not easy to understand. You probably mean, that you entered the BIOS and set the Intel SATA Controller from “AHCI” to “RAID” mode. Is that correct?
The driver page for my Asrock Z97 Pro4 hasn’t been updated in almost a year. The RST drivers on that page are ver:14.6.0.1029 (I’m on Win10x64). My current drivers are 13.2.4.100 [PIC] . Are these still the most optimal or should I consider grabbing something more current? Ever since the Win10 Anniversary update, it seems like the responsiveness of my hard drives have gotten a bit slower. Even though that could be many factors other than the RST drivers, I wanted to check here first.
If it’s relevant, here’s a pastebin of all my storage info from Speccy: http://pastebin.com/xxxPKXej
Thanks in advance! I’m really glad I found this forum - I’ve learned a lot while lurking.
EDIT: I’m running AHCI mode (I assume I can’t RAID).
@Tom_Esquire :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!
The newest drivers are not automaticly the best.
Nevertheless: If you want to use a much newer AHCI driver with your Z97 system, I recommend to to install the Intel RST(e) driver v14.8.10.1055.
Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)
Hi ,
I was checking my SSD to see if it was being Trrimmed after AU after reading some had issues but it was still being optimised but I can now see that after the AU update, my 3 Disk Raid Array is no longer showing as being able to be optimised (not available) , I have rolled the Driver Back one set with DM to 14.8.9.1053 for my ASUS X99A II MB (14.8.0.2377 OROM) but that didn’t help and neither did running winsat formal at the CMD PROMPT (SSD FIX only? ) has not forced the Disks in the Array to be recognised as HDD’s yet .
the same 3 disk Array on a X58 MB and the 11.2 Drivers on 1511 is fine BTW.
I am not sure if this is why Minitool Partition Wizard Keeps crashing on Opening with an Error in Loader.exe too?
KB.
Same question but I have Z87, should I try the v14.8.10.1055. Haven’t tried anything else besides v13.2.4.1000.
Thank’s!
The table at the bottom of the very 1st post (OP) tells you which driver is best for what Chipset
KB
@rivage i tried v13.2.4.1000 & v15 too but v14.8.10.1055 is the latest compatible to our mobo so at the end of the day, i ended up with v14 cos it was newer than v13 & fixed other bugs too.
I registered a account to thank you for taking the time to provide drivers especially for aging platforms. I would like share my findings with a recommendation on your page. A X58/ICH10R in AHCI under Windows 10 with Intel RST(e) v11.7.4.1001 WHQL recommended driver causes severe micro stuttering in games. I’ve tested AMD/NVIDIA cards with similar results. Uninstalling immediately removes the symptom. Instead I used your favorite v11.2.0.1006 WHQL and it works flawlessly with improved performance over the built in MSACHI.
@khanmein :
Each new Intel RST driver development branch (e.g. v13.2 or v14.8) starts with new bugs. That is why I recommed to use the latest build of a certain development branch, which seems to be the best for the user’s system. Nevertheless it is an illusion to believe, that the latest Intel RST drivers automaticly have less bugs than older drivers of another development branch.
@Lacan :
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum and thanks for your feedback!
Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)
I saw the post of lacan and i tried it.
I have an ssd phison chipset (kc400) . When I disable c3 , c6 in the gigabyte x58 ud5 i take in as ssd bench in 4k read : 34 mb/s
When i enable c3 c6 i take in 4k read 16 mb/sec with built in ahci drtver windows 10 or intel 11.7 or modded 12.9.
When i have c3 and c6 enabled but with driver 11.2 i take in as ssd 4k : 25 mb/sec , so the lost with c3,c6 is low.
So defenitely somithing is better with 11.2 and an x58 chipset.
All results was after clean installs.