New Intel RST drivers v9.5.6.1001 available

[DZand]

At Station-Drivers there are new Intel AHCI and RAID drivers v9.5.6.1001 available. They are dated 12/30/2009 and belong to the new Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology. You can get the new RST Console and driver pack here: http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel%20raid.htm http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel%20raid.htm

Currently only the 64bit driver version is available.

The new RST Console and driver v9.5.6.1001 does support all Intel ICH7-10 and 5-series Southbridges running in AHCI and RAID Mode.

I installed the new 64bit driver v9.5.6.1001 onto my Intel ICH10R system running 2x160GB Postville SSD's as RAID0. My first impression is very good.

It would be interseting to know, if these drivers do support the Trim command.

Regards

Fernando

[idata]

Are these drivers also suitable for non-raid/AHCI only setups?

Fernando wrote:

At Station-Drivers there are new Intel AHCI and RAID drivers v9.5.6.1001 available. They are dated 12/30/2009 and belong to the new Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology. You can get the new RST Console and driver pack here: http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel%20raid.htm http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel%20raid.htm

Currently only the 64bit driver version is available.

The new RST Console and driver v9.5.6.1001 does support all Intel ICH7-10 and 5-series Southbridges running in AHCI and RAID Mode.

I installed the new 64bit driver v9.5.6.1001 onto my Intel ICH10R system running 2x160GB Postville SSD's as RAID0. My first impression is very good.

It would be interseting to know, if these drivers do support the Trim command.

Regards

Fernando

Please define 'very good' as your first impression.

@Trim support: I don't expect there is any trim support for raid yet, but on the other hand it would be very strange if trim support is still absent for AHCI also.

[idata]

Very good driver !

[idata]

So can someone from Intel reply if TRIM is supported through these on single drives? I've got a X25-M G2 160GB here I'd love to get off the MS ACHI driver if possible

[idata]

What is the difference between the Rapid Storage Technology (RST) and the Matrix Storage Manager (MSM) drivers?

[DZand]

DaOtherOne schrieb:

What is the difference between the Rapid Storage Technology (RST) and the Matrix Storage Manager (MSM) drivers?

The Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" (RST) is the successor of the "Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager" (MSM), which will not be updated anymore.

The main difference is the completely new RST Console application. Furthermore the RST drivers are optimized for being used with Windows 7 and Intel SSD's.

Regards

Fernando

[DZand]

Here is an update of my start post:

Today I found the 32bit RST drivers v9.5.6.1001, which are still missing within the RST package offered by Station-Drivers.

For those, who want to try them, I have added the 32bit drivers to the pack and uploaded it to MediaFire.

Here is the download link to the complete RST package v9.5.6.1001 inclusive the Console software and the 32bit and 64bit drivers:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?e3mkzmzc2m3 http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?e3mkzmzc2m3

By the way:

At OCZ Forum I found an interesting thread about the new RST drivers v9.5.6.1001 and the question regarding their Trim support.

Look here: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67541 http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=67541

Have fun!

Fernando

[PPapp]

I wish Intel actually interacted with their customers via the forum.

[idata]

No kidding. Can I get a job at Intel working as a liason between the enthusiast community and product development? I think it'd be worth the money to start a program like this. Intel has the tech, but needs to embrace all aspects of the market.

[TSven]

Hi Fernando

Do you know why the hard disk and DVD/Bluray are not shown in the Devices and Printers when you use the Intel AHCI driver?

Both devices are shown with the MS AHCI driver.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

Chipset: Intel BAD AXE 2

Disk: Intel SSD 160 GB G2

[DZand]

Nighthawk schrieb:

Hi Fernando

Do you know why the hard disk and DVD/Bluray are not shown in the Devices and Printers when you use the Intel AHCI driver?

Both devices are shown with the MS AHCI driver.

Are you sure, that all your SATA drives are connected to Intel SATA ports?

It seems to be impossible, that the SATA devices, which are managed by the exactly same Controller (in your case: Intel(R) SATA AHCI Controller) may use different drivers.

[TSven]

Hi again Fernando

Yes, all my Sata drives are connected to the Intel SATA ports

On the picture you can see how my Devices and Printers looks with the MS AHCI drivers.

As soon I install the Intel AHCI driver in the device manager, my Intel SSD and SONY Bluray are not there.

Not a big problem, since they are shown in Computer, just not in Devices and Printers

Here you can see my Device manager with the MS AHCI driver.

I don't know why port 0 is listed 2 times.

SSD disk is connected to port 0 and the bluray to port 2

With the Intel AHCI driver only port 0 is listed

[DZand]

@ Nighthawk:

I doubt, that any of your SATA drives is using the Intel AHCI driver v9.5.6.1001, because only the MS AHCI Controller is listed within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of the Device Manager.

If you want to get the new Intel RST driver installed, you have to force the installation, because the driver is not yet digitally signed by Microsoft.

[idata]

RST drivers appeared on Intel official download site. They are the "old" 9.5.0.1037.

Something is moving.

[idata]

Brama, I just installed those new drivers and seeing the same loss of performance as I had when I tried the unoffical leaked drivers. You have better luck?

Before (IMSM v8.9.0.1023):

After (RST RST v9.5.0.1037):

[DZand]

@ Ziggy:

With my 2x160 GB Intel SSD's as RAID0 I got the following benchmark results:

1. with the MSM drivers v8.9.01023:

2. with the RST drivers v9.5.0.1037:

3. with the RTS drivers v9.5.6.1001:

Conclusion for my system:

1. The RST drivers have better write speeds than the MSM ones, especially with small and medium sized files,

2. The RST drivers v9.5.6.1001 are slightly better than the official v9.5.0.1037 ones. Furthermore they seem to be more stable.

Regards

Fernando

[idata]

Well, you certainly can't complain about the new figures with RAID but anyone else have any experience running single drives? I might give those newer leaked drivers a try. I don't see the performance loss with the official RTS's as catastrophic but I was hoping for things to move forwards rather than back with these. If I get a chance to try the 9.5.6.1001 revision I'll post updated benchmarks.

[DZand]

Ziggy schrieb:

If I get a chance to try the 9.5.6.1001 revision I'll post updated benchmarks.

Where is the problem? These drivers are available for everyone. For download links you may look into my posts of the first page.

[idata]

Problem? Not sure what you mean. I've already downloaded and tried earlier revisions with lower performance, as above. If I do decide to try these newer ones will post new benchmarks like I said.

[idata]

According to what they say they should implement soon the Window-Trim in the new version of RTS, i will install it once it will be ufficial

I am lazy to run manually the TOOLBOX everyweek so i will just run MS-AHCI till they dont release the new version (hopefully 1 or 2 mounth)

[idata]

Pekish, you can add a schedule using the SSD Toolbox so that it'll run weekly, daily, whatever you decide without you having to do this manually.

According to what they say they should implement soon the Window-Trim in the new version of RTS

Have a link to the source? Many of us eager for news updates about possible TRIM support with the Intel drivers.