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x299 VROC Raid Problem

DP_
Novice
8,087 Views

Mainboard: ASUS WS SAGE x299

CPU: i9 7980xe

 

4x Intel 1TB 760p M2

 

The Problem is: Only 1 of 4 Intel SSD show up in BIOS.

I tried it with both the Asus Hyper M2 X16 card and the Asrock Ultra Quad M2 Card. I tried all 16x pcie slots, set to vroc mode in bios. I also tried different Bios versions and to populate only half of the m2 slots etc. I also tested the m2 drives individually, they are working.

 

I read about this problem before, but I found no solution yet and i am running out of ideas.

What makes it especially frustrating is the lack of information. All i find are scattered forum posts here and there. I still dont know for sure if you can use other SSD brands or not, but to be on the safe side i bought intel SSD's.

I bought the more expensive Premium HW Key too, to have all options available. Only to read a few weeks later somewhere, that this keys do not work on x299, quote Intel:

"The X299 will be compatible with Intel SSD's and will need the VROCISSDMOD, can be used with the mentioned purpose. Other keys are compatible with server systems."

 

Information like this should be everywhere x299 VROC is promoted, at least on the mainboard box/manual. Odd enough i have to buy vroc keys separately from strange little vendors. I read somewhere the VROCISSDMOD for example was at 10 bucks in the beginning and i still find offers for around 25 on the internet. But the price skyrocketed on most vendors, at least the ones shipping to germany and i have to spend another 150 Euro which makes it 300 now for keys only. If Intel gets still only 10 dollars from that, it makes no sense. It should be included with a 1700 Euro CPU or a 500 Euro Mainboard or 1500 Euro Intel SSD's.

But the drives should show up without a key in pass-through mode anyway.. right?

I talked to Intel support before buying the workstation because i did not know where to get the HW keys. They were motivated to help, but did not know the answer and sent me some VROC papers after the call. But as i learned later on, these were for server systems only.

 

Not sure if i can still return the hardware after weeks of testing and waiting but if this also leads nowhere i will definitely try. I think i have a chance because the marketing regarding x299 VROC is kind of misleading. And so is the implementation on the Asus WS Sage board by the way. I bought it to have enough pcie slots for other cards but if you activate vroc mode in bios, half of the slots get locked for storage.

Regards,

David

24 Replies
idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shader,

 

 

Thanks for contacting the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) support forum; in regards to your situation I'll be more than glad to provide you the required support.

 

 

About your situation, Intel® VROC on X299 Chipset-based platforms currently supports our line of Professional and Data Center SSDs; the compatibility of the Intel 760p SSDs is under review, but at this time we don't have an ETA of when it will be compatible or added to compatibility list.

 

 

Please find attached the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) support on X299 Reactive Q&A document with additional information about this technology.

 

 

We're sorry to hear that you had problems to get appropriate and accurate information about Intel® VROC and please be sure that we'll forward your feedback and also if you have questions or have issues with the technology we'll be more than glad to assist you.

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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DP_
Novice
3,093 Views

Hi Chris,

thank you for your reply. Could you attach the documents again please? I can't find a link.

Regards,

David

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DP_
Novice
3,093 Views

Again thank you for the answer, but i am a bit confused. As it looks to me now, Intel VROC officially supports consumer drives on the server side, but only server drives on the consumer side.

Data-Center SSDs are not an option, they are not retail. And i don't find any that come close to the Intel 760p or Samsung Pro in terms of speed (or size).

And i have seen x299 builds successfully running 4x 760p or 4x Samsung Pro in Raid 0 without a HW key. There are articles using these setups:

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/storage/4x_intel_760p_1tb_m_2_nvme_raid0_review_overkill3d/2 https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/storage/4x_intel_760p_1tb_m_2_nvme_raid0_review_overkill3d/2

https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Intel-VROC-Tested-X299-VROC-vs-Z270-RST-Quad-Optane-vs-Quad-960-PRO/ASUS-Hyper-M2-X1 Intel VROC Tested! - X299 VROC vs. Z270 RST, Quad Optane vs. Quad 960 PRO | ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Card Closer Look, Wrap Up…

It seems to work on the Asus Rampage 6 Extreme mainboard and i am willing to give it another shot by switching out the mainboard.

But i also saw this, i don't know if it is server or x299 related:

"Trial mode seems to work with everything (but not bootable). VROC key enables *supported* drives, but none on the list are retail products. Installing VROC premium key *kills* a 960 PRO RAID that was working perfectly in trial mode."

So my question is this: if i return the Asus Sage board, buy the Rampage 6 board and lets say the 760p would work perfectly without a key in Raid 0. Is there a chance that the drives get deactivated by the HW Key itself (VROCISSDMOD) as soon as i insert it? Because i need a raid 5 or 10 to work. And as far as i heard, the trial mode without a key has a time limit. Maybe you can tell me if the HW Key locks out the Intel 760p drives like it does with the Samsung Pro, or not.

An answer would be very much appreciated as it could safe me a lot of time.

Thank you,

David

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shader,

 

 

Thank you for all the feedback you provided us

 

 

We would like to remark that Intel® VROC on x299 systems are only compatible with Intel Professional and Data Center SSD's. In regards of third party SSDs we don't recommend using them with VROC since the platform is only compatible with intel Drives.

 

The Intel VROC key is also required in order to get the best performance and in order to use all the features such as boot from NVMe raid.

 

 

Best Regards

 

Luis H
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bp3
Beginner
3,093 Views

you said

"About your situation, Intel® VROC on X299 Chipset-based platforms currently supports our line of Professional and Data Center SSDs; the compatibility of the Intel 760p SSDs is under review, but at this time we don't have an ETA of when it will be compatible or added to compatibility list."

i say

"not only his situation. i also bought into the promiss;) of INTEL propaganda and the availability of hardware required to

install a vroc system on a X299 with throughputs unbelieveable and performance supreme.

4 x 760p and the p is for professional - p - for a vroc solution, which should be mighty fast and robust.

but nada! only 1 visible. checked all 4 in different slots. all good. minimal configs. resets bios up- and downdates.. resets.

bought new hardware. switched from the expensive asrock soution to the asus and we could not believe - the same result. only ever the 1st port.

Just ONE INTEL 760p DISK

visible - with serial number verification..

after trying all pci slots and resets and all possible combinations INTEL is at fault. "

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shader,

 

 

Thanks for your reply and we would like to inform you that the "p" on the Intel® SSD 760p Series SSD does not stand for professional, it stands for PCIE. You can take advantage of our Intel ARK website in order to check for our professional or data center SSDs models, the website also provides the specs for each drive and has feature to create a comparison between multiple drives in order to find the appropriate model for the system you intend to build.

https://ark.intel.com/# @SolidStateDrives https://ark.intel.com/# @SolidStateDrives

We hope this information will be useful for your situation and also, please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist you

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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DP_
Novice
3,093 Views

Hi Chris,

 

can you confirm the "Intel SSD Pro 7600p" is supported for x299 vroc and you can create a raid 10 array using the VROCISSDMOD?

It is the only Intel professional SSD available on retail here. It is listed unter professional SSDs under the link you provided.

 

Thank you,

David

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shader,

 

 

Thanks for your reply and in regards to the Intel® SSD Pro 7600p Series currently it's compatible with Intel® VROC using the VROCISSDMOD on systems based on the Intel® X299 Chipset; so you shouldn't have any issues configuring RAID 0/1/10/5 with this drives.

 

 

Please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist you

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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DP_
Novice
3,093 Views

Hi Chris,

thank you for your reply.

I read in /message/521685# 521685 another thread on this support forum from a user:

"Intel ssd 7600p is not compatible for vroc. neither 760p. i tried them already. but 600p worked, because 600p is pcie 3.x and 760p and 7600p are pcie 3.1 x that why."

With the last post saying "still being investigated".

Could the PCIE 3.1 specification be a compatibility issue? Just want to make sure before i buy another 4 drives.

Thank you,

David

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bp3
Beginner
3,093 Views

Hi Chris,

sacrebleu

one more question please

and thanks for your replies

what is the 0 difference between the 7600p and the 760p?

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shader,

 

 

Thanks for your reply and in regards to the Intel® SSD Pro 7600p and the Intel® SSD 760p series differences, they're the following:
  • 7600p has a hardware-based AES-256 Encryption Engine that encrypts and decrypts data without sacrificing performance (When compared to Software Encryption)
  • 7600p supports TCG's Opal* v2.0 Features
  • 7600p supports Intel® Remote Secure Erase which offers data security features and manageability capabilities
  • 7600p it's compatible with Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC)
The Intel® SSD 760p doesn't offer this features as they're intended for Corporate and Professional usage; you can find more information on our product briefs and ARK for this products available here:

 

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/professional-ssds/pro-7600p-series-brief.html Intel® SSD Pro 7600p Series Product Brief / https://ark.intel.com/products/series/122596/Intel-SSD-Pro-7600p-Series Intel® SSD Pro 7600p Series ARK Website

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/consumer-ssds/760p-series-brief.html Intel® SSD 760p Series Product Brief / https://ark.intel.com/products/series/129831/Intel-SSD-760p-Series Intel® SSD 760p Series ARK Website

 

 

We hope you find this information useful and please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist you.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Chris
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DP_
Novice
3,093 Views

In case someone else reads this, i want to add:

 

After more research, i don't think the 760p is the problem in my case. My Asus WS X299 mainboard is not compatible with a Quad M2 Card, because it cannot access 4 drives through 1 PCIE Slot.

ASUS is marketing their host card to the masses without mentioning the compatibility issues, i don't think Intel is really to blame. But i still hope Intel changes its mind about limiting the drives for VROC on the X299 chipset, because simple 2x or 4x raids do not undermine the server product lines in my opinion.

Anyway, if you have the same problem and see only one drive in a quad m2 host card, make sure your mainboard is on the compatibility list of the Asus Hyper X card, since this functionality is not guaranteed, even if your x299 board is from ASUS and has the vroc feature advertised. It may work with onboard M2 slots only or in my case by using multiple PCIE drives. You can also check the boards online manual what vroc configurations are supported.

If you see all drives in BIOS, but not in Windows, you may need a newer version of the RSTe drivers (WinRaid forums, section C, v5.4)

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shader,

 

 

Thanks for your reply and in regards to this situation, having found that the ASUS* Hyper X16 PCIe M.2 Card was causing the compatibility issue with VROC on X299 not detecting more than 1 PCIe NVMe Drive, we strongly recommend you to contact your OEM so they can investigate on this situation since VROC it's an OEM-based technology that it's provided to the Manufacturers so they are in the responsibility to make the implementation and testing of the technology on their own mainboards, and also to provide compatible Drivers for them.

 

 

We will always recommend to get the most recent drivers for VROC from the Motherboard Manufacturer to ensure compatibility and stability and the use of third party tools like the ASUS* Hyper X16 PCIe Card will be in responsibility of the OEM for their support and compatibility.

 

 

Also, please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist you

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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SL1
Beginner
3,093 Views

Hi,My PC has same problem! Asus Hyper m.2 X16 only show up 2 of 4 Intel SSD Pro 7600P. I could not figure it out. Just set up VROC with two SSD Pro 7600P in raid 0 successfully. But still working on the Problem. Could you guys tell me some threads to get it done?

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shane.Shan,

 

 

Thank you for contacting Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel® VROC) support and in regards to your situation we'll be more than glad to help you; in order to determine which way will be the most appropriate to assist you we'll need that you send us the Technical Specifications of your machine such as:

 

 

Motherboard Model and Manufacturer:

 

Processor Model:

 

Amount of RAM that you have installed:

 

Number of Storage devices and their capacity (SSDs and HDDs) on your machine:

 

Version of Intel® RSTe (Enterprise) that you're using:

 

Operating System Version:

 

Which VROC Key you're using:

 

PCIe Port Speed where you've the Adapter connected (x8/x16):

 

 

If possible please attach us the LOG Files generated by RSTe, depending on your Windows Version they could be found in the C:\Users\[username]\Intel folder or also you can use the Email option on the RSTe GUI to generate a report for your equipment.

 

 

Once you've sent us that information we'll proceed with the necessary assistance and if you have additional details to your case or want to ask additional questions please don't hesitate to contact us, we'll be glad to assist you.

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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SL1
Beginner
3,093 Views

Hello Chris,

Thank you for reply!

I still have no idea to make system to detect 2 more 7600P SSD. Below is system specification.

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage VI Extreme

CPU: Intel i9 7980XE

Ram: G.skill Trident Z RGB F4-3200C14D 16G*4=64G

Graphic Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080Ti 2-Way SLI ( PCIE_X16X8_1 slot & PCIE_X8_2 slot)

VORC Key: VROCISSDMOD

Storage A: Samsung M.2 NVME 960 Pro 512G (DIMM.2 slot to CPU, Current booting disk)

Storage B: ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Card (PCIE_X16X8_3 slot)

Intel SSD Pro 7600P 512G*4(Installed in Hyper M.2 X16 Card)

(2 of 4 SSD are used to create Bootable VROC (Raid 0 906.16G) successfully. Other 2 SSD are missing, could not be detected)

System: Windows 10 Home

RSTe Report:

System Information

OS name: Microsoft Windows 10 Home

OS version: 10.0.17134

System name: 7980XE

System manufacturer: System manufacturer

System model: System Product Name

Processor: GenuineIntel Intel64 Family 6 Model 85 Stepping 4 2.601 GHz

BIOS: American Megatrends Inc., 1401

Intel? Rapid Storage Technology enterprise Information

User interface version: 5.3.0.1412

Language: English (United States)

Intel controller: SATA (AHCI)

Number of SATA ports: 8

Intel controller: VMD

Number of NVMe ports: 2

RAID option ROM version: 5.3.0.1052

Driver version: 5.3.0.3006

VMD driver version: 5.3.0.3006

<span style="color: # 333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: ...

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shane.Shan,

 

 

Thanks for the information that you've provided about your equipment; in regards to your situation we'll like that for testing purposes, you disconnect the second GPU (Nvidia* Geforce* GTX 1080Ti on PCIex8_2) and connect the ASUS* Hyper M.2 X16 Card on the second PCIe x16 Slot (PCIex16/x8_3) on your motherboard and try again to see if the missing SSDs show-up.

 

 

Also, please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist you

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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SL1
Beginner
3,093 Views

Hi, Chris

I tried, but it did not work.

After that I swapped slots of SSD, 2 SSD serial numbers showed up was changed.

it seems only The SSDs in first and second slot of Hyper Card can be detected.

Thanks

Shane

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idata
Employee
3,093 Views

Hello Shane.Shan,

 

 

Thanks for your reply and in regards to your situation and for testing purposes could you please connect your ASUS* Hyper m.2 X16 Card into the PCIE_X16/X8_1 Slot and the GPU on the PCIE_X16/X8_3 Slot? Refer to your Motherboard's manual to ensure that the ports are configured as X16 PCIe on the BIOS and please let us know of the result; also when you do this test please generate a report with the RSTe GUI and upload it as an attachment so we can analyze it.

 

 

Also, please remember that if you require more assistance or want to add additional details, we'll be glad to assist you.

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

Chris
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SL1
Beginner
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Hello Chris,

Follow your instruction, I tried it again yesterday. The problem was figured out.

1, After take GPU card out of second slot, I reset BIOS to default. Then set VROC again, after that third SSD appeared.

2, Spend sometime on forth SSD. when I set DIMM.2 SSD slot " From CPU" to "From PCH", Fourth 7600P appwared.

Finally got everything done. VROC Raid 0 has great speed reached 11000MB/s. Maybe Try Raid 5 late, It costs too much time to install OS and drivers.

Intel SSD pro 7600P is very good, better than 960 Pro. it is worth to wait.

Best regard

Shane

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