RST or RSTe with X79-UD5

[Stablesgh]

There are two versions of Intel Rapid Storage technolgy available for this motherboard now, the vanilla IRST and also IRSTe.  For IRST, the latest F13p beta BIOS is required, for RSTe, the Gigabyte download page does not say anything.
 
I wanted to take advantage of this new IRST, so I updated my BIOS this morning.  When  I came to set up the BIOS I discovered there was now this choice of two versions of IRST, with a warning that changing between them would make Windows un-bootable.  This Choice was not present with the previous F12 BIOS.  I thought that I had the vanilla IRST installed, so chose this.  Windows declined to boot.  I went back to the BIOS and tried IRSTe, and to my surprise Windows booted as normal.  I checked my IRST and found that I actually had the enterprise version installed.  How, I do not know, as I have no record of downloading it.

My question now is: I assume that it is an either/or choice - in which case which is the better choice?

I cannot find any mention of this new choice on the Gigabyte website.


Later - I tried a different search string and came up with some new information - it looks as though I had IRSTe installed all along.  The new BIOS allows the choice between the two.  Before this you could not use IRST with X79 boards.  There are some claims that IRST offers superior performance to IRST, but these are all with older drivers.

So my question now is - Is there anything to be gained by changing to the new version of IRST with my shiny new BIOS?

[Stablesgh]

Curiouser and Curiouser!

The current version on the Gigabyte downloads page is V3.5.0.1092.

This will not install on Windows 7 - error message:
"this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing this software."

Intel say V3.5 is for Windows 8, and is not recommended for other Windows versions.  They also say V3.2 is the equivalent for Windows 7 - which I am on.

I downloaded V3.2 from the Intel site and this looks as though it will install, but I pulled out before it went too far.

[8 Pack]

All X79 IRST drivers are Enterprise class ones. They are the correct drivers for this Chipset and the ones you should always download and use.

[Scracy]

I have tried both,IRSTe is faster when using raid 0 around 890m/bs using 2 intel 520ssd but degrades in speed rapidly. Im using RST which is a little slower around 830mB/sec but it doesnt slow down over time as using RST enables trim support and drive maintenance with the intel SSD toolbox.

[Stablesgh]

All X79 IRST drivers are Enterprise class ones. They are the correct drivers for this Chipset and the ones you should always download and use.

That used to be the case, but the latest BIOS - F13p - offered by Gigabyte, allows the choice between the two versions of RST, which I why I came to pose the question.

There is also the problem that the currect RSTe driver pon the Gigabyte download page - V3.5 - will not install on a Windows 7 system.  It gives an error message that the system is below the minimum required configuration.  Intel do not recommend using their V3.5 with Windows 7, as it is intended for W8

[Stablesgh]

I have tried both,IRSTe is faster when using raid 0 around 890m/bs using 2 intel 520ssd but degrades in speed rapidly. Im using RST which is a little slower around 830mB/sec but it doesnt slow down over time as using RST enables trim support and drive maintenance with the intel SSD toolbox.

Thanks, I will stick to RSTe, as I am not using SSDs in my RAID arrays.

I asked the question because a year ago, there were many threads claiming that RSTe was flawed and was significantly slower than IRST unless Windows Write Crash Buffer was turned off on the Policies tab of Disk Device Properties.  As I do not use a power protection device, I am reluctant to do this.

[Kain]

I have tried both,IRSTe is faster when using raid 0 around 890m/bs using 2 intel 520ssd but degrades in speed rapidly. Im using RST which is a little slower around 830mB/sec but it doesnt slow down over time as using RST enables trim support and drive maintenance with the intel SSD toolbox.

But in my thread you stated the opposite:

Personally i would use Rst and not Rste as i have tried both and found Rst to offer much better performance than Rste. Also with the latest Gigabyte X79  Bios releases TRIM is now supported which is essential particularly in Raid 0. I have 2 intel 520 series SSD in Raid 0 and can confirm that the Intel SSD toolbox works which helps recover disk speed. When i was running Rste i had a read speed of around 740Mb/s sequential with Rst and the same drives i get 910Mb/s read speed sequential and thats with the drives at about 25% of their capacity.....so yeah go with Rst/

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,11523.msg78323.html#msg78323

[Kain]

There are two versions of Intel Rapid Storage technolgy available for this motherboard now, the vanilla IRST and also IRSTe.  For IRST, the latest F13p beta BIOS is required, for RSTe, the Gigabyte download page does not say anything.
 
I wanted to take advantage of this new IRST, so I updated my BIOS this morning.  When  I came to set up the BIOS I discovered there was now this choice of two versions of IRST, with a warning that changing between them would make Windows un-bootable.  This Choice was not present with the previous F12 BIOS.  I thought that I had the vanilla IRST installed, so chose this.  Windows declined to boot.  I went back to the BIOS and tried IRSTe, and to my surprise Windows booted as normal.  I checked my IRST and found that I actually had the enterprise version installed.  How, I do not know, as I have no record of downloading it.

My question now is: I assume that it is an either/or choice - in which case which is the better choice?

I cannot find any mention of this new choice on the Gigabyte website.


Later - I tried a different search string and came up with some new information - it looks as though I had IRSTe installed all along.  The new BIOS allows the choice between the two.  Before this you could not use IRST with X79 boards.  There are some claims that IRST offers superior performance to IRST, but these are all with older drivers.

So my question now is - Is there anything to be gained by changing to the new version of IRST with my shiny new BIOS?

I just updated my BIOS on my X79-UD3 to the latest F12p beta BIOS. However, I can't seem to find the option where you can select RST or RSTe in the BIOS like you mention on your post. Can you please point out where it is in the BIOS?

[Scracy]

In the short term IRSTe is faster than IRST,but since TRIM is enabled with IRST in the long term IRST is the faster option..hope that clears things up.

[Kain]

I assume you are talking about RAID? If so, which is better for a single SSD?

[Scracy]

Yes im talking about Raid 0 performance i honestly dont know which is better in a non raid set up as i havent tried it.

[Kain]

Ok, thanks.

By the way, I updated my BIOS on my X79-UD3 to the latest one that allows me to install either RST or RSTe. Is there an option in the BIOS that I have to change before installing either? The original poster said that he saw a setting in the BIOS that needs to be changed according to which on you will be installing.

[Scracy]

There is a setting in the bios which you need to set to RST or RSTe. If you choose RST you wont need to install the pre-install driver when you install windows as windows 7 and possibly windows 8 have the neccesary drivers built in. With RSTe you will need to install the pre-install driver during installation of windows 7, you may not need to with windows 8,not sure about that as i havent had a play with windows 8. In the bios there is a BIG yellow warning box telling you that if you switch between RST and RSTe after you have installed windows that you will need to reinstall windows if you switch between the two. There is a way of not having to but its far to complicated to try and even explain it and to be honest i havent tried it.

[Kain]

Will it be possible for you to tell me exactly where this option is in the BIOS? I can't seem to find it. 

[Scracy]

Sure should be under the section of your bios called peripherals...then you should see the option IRST which if you click on it gives you the option of IRST or IRSTe.