Asus Rampage III Extreme ZioMod Bios (Latest: 1601_S17)

[ZioGTS]

I've read several reports of performance and stability issues with 11.5 roms on non-enterprise chipsets, that's why I'm asking about benchmark results...

[Fernando]

I've read several reports of performance and stability issues with 11.5 roms on non-enterprise chipsets, that's why I'm asking about benchmark results...

Do you call Intel's X79 chipsets "enterprise" ones?
By the way: My actual Intel RAID equipment (v11.5.0.1414 ROM and v11.5.0.1184 drivers) is running very stable and performant with my Intel Z68 system and the RAID0 array (2x128GB Crucial M4 SSD's).
According to what I have read >here<, I expect very soon a new all-in-one AHCI/RAID driver generation for all actual Intel chipsets on the basis of the v11.5 series (with an additional SCSI filter driver). If I am right, Intel will not continue the developmet of special RSTe drivers for X79 chipsets (v3.x.xxxx series).

[sinders]

It would be a lot better if they did combine and release a all-in-one AHCI/RAID driver for all Intel chipsets and features
like Trim in RAID0 would be enabled during install depending on your OS and detected Intel OROM version etc.

At the moment, there are too many RST driver series, 11, 11.1, 11.0.5, 11.2, 11.5 etc.

[sinders]

Well I just gave a test of the Intel OROM 11.5.0.1414 and 11.5.0.1184 drivers on my
Asus Rampage III Extreme board and Windows 7 and I am getting the same problem
I had before when trying out the 11.5 Intel OROMs and 11.5 driver generation, very
unstable and slow speed, sluggish in RAID0 using 2x256GB Crucial C300 SSD's.

I am also getting the iaStorA.sys BSOD blue screen of death crash in Windows as
been reported on the internet by people when using the 11.5.0.1184 drivers and
trying to load up softwares like CrystalDiskInfo and FinalWire AIDA64.

I won't be trying out another Intel OROMs 11.5, RSTe 11.5 driver series again
until they are out of beta and become final official or Intel combine and release
a all-in-one AHCI/RAID driver for all Intel chipsets. I had a funny feeling before
trying these, it wasn't going to work out just like when I tried earlier versions
of the 11.5 series OROMs and RSTe drivers.

I have went back to the Intel OROM 11.2.0.1527 and normal RST series,
11.2.0.1006 drivers as these work best on our board (no slowdowns
whatsoever and stable) with SSD's in RAID0.

Actually I haven't had any problems at all with normal 11.0, 11.1, 11.2 series
Intel OROMs and the normal RST drivers that go with these.

It just seems to be with the 11.5 series Intel OROMs and 11.5 RSTe drivers.

Ether the 11.5 series has a lot of bugs, incompatibility problems and etc with our
board or when using older chipsets such as x58 that our board has or the current
11.5 series is really meant for more modern chipsets above x58 like Z68 etc.

[ZioGTS]

That's exactly what I thought. Fernando is luckier because X79 seems to work well with 11.5 drivers, but us X58 users should stay away from those.

[Fernando]

I have went back to the Intel OROM 11.2.0.1527 and normal RST series, 11.2.0.1006 drivers as these work best on our board (no slowdowns whatsoever and stable) with SSD's in RAID0.

Just a side note: My RAID0 array has been created by the Intel RAID ROM Utility v11.5.0.1347.

[sinders]

I haven't tried to recreate my RAID0 array using the 11.5 Intel OROM Utility but I don't think this will make any
difference anyways because it didn't when I went from Intel OROM 10 series to the 11 series.

I might try it but I very much so doubt it will make any difference.

[Fernando]

@ sinders:
Don't forget to delete the iaStorF registry entries after having switched back from the v11.5 RST(e) drivers (iaStorF.sys + iStorA.sys) to the "normal" RST driver (iaStor.sys).
Otherwise you will get a performance drop. For details look >here<.

[sinders]

@ Fernando:

I don`t have iaStorF.sys but I do still have a iStorA.sys driver
loading on my system that is from the 11.5 branch.

I have tried removing the driver from the Non-Plug and Play
Drivers list in the Device Manager but it comes back on
next restart of windows.

I am not sure how to stop the iStorA driver from loading or
remove this driver completely.

   

[ZioGTS]

You can try setting its START property to 0 in the registry.