# Intel Matrix Storage Manager to Intel Rapid Storage Technology



## 95Viper (Mar 8, 2010)

I guess I was asleep on this one. I was wondering why there has been no update to the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.  

Intel has changed the Intel Matrix Storage Manager to Intel Rapid Storage Technology.

On their site it is not easy to find by just looking.  There is buzz about it on their forum.
They only have (that I can find) ver. 9.5.0.1037 on their site.  However, This site, Station-drivers.com has a list of them.

I have downloaded and am using the Ver. 9.5.7.1002.  I have not seen any increase in read/write rates, but the interface is easier to use(IMO).

Info here at Intel's site.
Which Intel® chipsets and Intel® I/O controller hubs (ICH) are supported?
What features are supported on each I/O controller hub (ICH)?


EDIT:Product name change info


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## AsRock (Mar 8, 2010)

Well running 8.9 will have to try these later.  Chances are it be bug fixes and updates for newer controllers.

Never seen a boost since 8.3 although had some fixes and one ( at least ) i actually needed.

Check your Mobo's manufacture's site out they might have a updated bios for the conntroller like mine did. Although it only went to 8.7 lol.

Looks like x38 and x48 are supported.


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## 95Viper (Mar 8, 2010)

Yep, the last bios update, from Gigabyte, updated my Intel ACHI/Raid rom. They are a little slow over there about bios updates, the F3B (beta) is the last (official) one and it been a beta since Sept., 2009.  There is a F3C ( not offically released ), but that caused a problem and removed a couple of options in the bios set-up.


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## TIGR (Mar 8, 2010)

Just noticed this myself a few weeks ago and was quite confused by what this Rapid Storage Technology stuff was for a while.  Notably however, it seems Intel uses "Matrix RAID" to refer specifically to multiple RAID volumes on one array functionality, while "Rapid Storage Technology" refers more broadly to the entire RAID technology.


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## AsRock (Mar 8, 2010)

TIGR said:


> Just noticed this myself a few weeks ago and was quite confused by what this Rapid Storage Technology stuff was for a while.  Notably however, it seems Intel uses "Matrix RAID" to refer specifically to multiple RAID volumes on one array functionality, while "Rapid Storage Technology" refers more broadly to the entire RAID technology.




Well from my testing over the last 2 years with this mobo  6 HDDs in 2 Arrays is faster than having one Array.

Last test was with Raid 10 ( still using ) and is much slower than setting up 2 Raid 5's. Best i have got is Raid 5 for OS with another Raid 5 with a Raid 0 with the same HDD's.


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## TIGR (Mar 8, 2010)

AsRock said:


> Well from my testing over the last 2 years with this mobo  6 HDDs in 2 Arrays is faster than having one Array.
> 
> Last test was with Raid 10 ( still using ) and is much slower than setting up 2 Raid 5's. Best i have got is Raid 5 for OS with another Raid 5 with a Raid 0 with the same HDD's.



Curious—what kind of testing do you do on these setups? Are we talking file copying, Windows Experience ratings, HDTune or other synthetic benchmarks, or what? Different configurations will be better for different things. For example, 6-drive RAID 10 is going to smoke two smaller arrays if you're writing data from an external source, or reading data from the array, but the two smaller arrays will beat 6-drive RAID 10 if you're copying files from one array to the other.

Here's hoping I'm making sense.


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## Disparia (Mar 8, 2010)

AsRock, your board supports a 6-drive RAID-10? I haven't seen this ability on any of the ones I've used.


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## TIGR (Mar 8, 2010)

Jizzler said:


> AsRock, your board supports a 6-drive RAID-10? I haven't seen this ability on any of the ones I've used.



6-drive RAID 10 support came with ICH9/10 IIRC.

Edit: I am looking for a source, don't quote me on this.


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## AsRock (Mar 8, 2010)

TIGR said:


> Curious—what kind of testing do you do on these setups? Are we talking file copying, Windows Experience ratings, HDTune or other synthetic benchmarks, or what? Different configurations will be better for different things. For example, 6-drive RAID 10 is going to smoke two smaller arrays if you're writing data from an external source, or reading data from the array, but the two smaller arrays will beat 6-drive RAID 10 if you're copying files from one array to the other.
> 
> Here's hoping I'm making sense.



Raid 10 has failed big time for me.

2 raid 5 arrays with the second one with a Raid 0 array is my favorite way.

HD Tune forget any thing like that i find the best way is to test real apps. File copying to the same array is slower than copying a file from one array to another all so another benefit of  using 2 arrays is you can have the pagefile ( with the OS ) on the 1st array and your second array your games and apps.

Array 1 Raid 5 ( OS's + a back up partition ).
Array 2 Part Raid 5 ( Games and App partitions ) with building a Raid 0 on the 2nd array for your games which is you have enough space back up on array 1.

Thats the best way for me as OS loading times i don't care about it's my game loading times i do.

I partition the 1st array 80GB\80GB ( as i install 2 OS's as i hate down time lol ).  The rest is backup.  For the second Array Raid 0 enough for my games then make the rest Raid 5 for apps.

This way the OS gets it's own dedicated Array and so does your games\apps.

But that's the easy part then by copying the files back and forth or loading a game \ app the Allocation unit Size plays a big part too and that can effect speed a lot if done wrong and no default is not always the best.


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## AsRock (Mar 8, 2010)

Jizzler said:


> AsRock, your board supports a 6-drive RAID-10? I haven't seen this ability on any of the ones I've used.



Yep it's there for sure .


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## TIGR (Mar 8, 2010)

Well I cannot seem to find the info on 6-drive RAID 10. I recall seeing it in a chart like this but that one doesn't list it ... anyway, yes you can do it.

Hey, I have 1000 posts.


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## Disparia (Mar 8, 2010)

Well I'll be damned. Wish Intel knew this and had listed this support on their own charts...


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## AsRock (Mar 8, 2010)

Jizzler said:


> Well I'll be damned. Wish Intel knew this and had listed this support on their own charts...



i believe it's mark as 1+0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#RAID_10


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## Disparia (Mar 8, 2010)

I mean on their own ICH spec charts:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-022304.htm
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-028610.htm

They only mention 0 and 5 with six drives. Since I've played around with some ICH7R, ICH8R and ESB2 systems and can confirm that they didn't have support, I never thought to try 6 drives on my ICH10R board, doh! (to try out Matrix RAID-10 + 5)

ICH9R I'm not sure about, only had 5 drives in that system, now that I think about it...


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## AsRock (Mar 8, 2010)

Jizzler said:


> I mean on their own ICH spec charts:
> 
> http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-022304.htm
> http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-028610.htm
> ...



Well they say yes to all to ICH9R and ICH10R.  They just don't say higher than 4 although 4 is minimum.


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## TIGR (Mar 10, 2010)

Sad thing is, I was just talking to an Asus motherboard tech who _assured_ me you can't run more than four drives in a RAID array run off Intel's ICH9/10/R/PCH chipsets.


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## TIGR (Mar 10, 2010)

AsRock, I am once again curious. The screenshot you posted was from your Asus Maximus Formula x38? What does it mean in your system specs where it says modified Matrix Storage Manager driver?


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## AsRock (Mar 11, 2010)

TIGR said:


> Sad thing is, I was just talking to an Asus motherboard tech who _assured_ me you can't run more than four drives in a RAID array run off Intel's ICH9/10/R/PCH chipsets.



Makes ya wounder some times.



TIGR said:


> AsRock, I am once again curious. The screenshot you posted was from your Asus Maximus Formula x38? What does it mean in your system specs where it says modified Matrix Storage Manager driver?



Yes it's x38 and i use modified Raid drivers for XP x64 so you can build a image with raid drivers that way you can see your raid setup when you installing the OS.


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## TIGR (Mar 11, 2010)

AsRock said:


> Yes it's x38 and i use modified Raid drivers for XP x64 so you can build a image with raid drivers that way you can see your raid setup when you installing the OS.



Ah okay—as in, you slipstreamed the RAID drivers into your XP install disk? That always made more sense to me than digging around for a floppy drive whenever it came time to reinstall Windows.  I thought maybe the drivers themselves were in some way modified.


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## AsRock (Mar 11, 2010)

TIGR said:


> Ah okay—as in, you slipstreamed the RAID drivers into your XP install disk? That always made more sense to me than digging around for a floppy drive whenever it came time to reinstall Windows.  I thought maybe the drivers themselves were in some way modified.



No they have to be modified to be able to slipstream them.  It's just how the drivers are made if i remember right it's due to not having a .inf file.


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## TIGR (Mar 11, 2010)

AsRock said:


> No they have to be modified to be able to slipstream them.  It's just how the drivers are made if i remember right it's due to not having a .inf file.



I slipstreamed unmodified ICH9R and 10R drivers into XP installation disks without difficulty. Maybe just different slipstreaming methods? It's been a while and I don't forget the name of the program I had used for it.


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## TIGR (Mar 18, 2010)

Hmm, just discovered my P7P55 WS SuperComputer will _not_ run a 6-drive RAID 10 array. 4-drive no prob, 6-drive no go.


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## AsRock (Mar 18, 2010)

TIGR said:


> I slipstreamed unmodified ICH9R and 10R drivers into XP installation disks without difficulty. Maybe just different slipstreaming methods? It's been a while and I don't forget the name of the program I had used for it.



Maybe, and i used nLite



TIGR said:


> Hmm, just discovered my P7P55 WS SuperComputer will _not_ run a 6-drive RAID 10 array. 4-drive no prob, 6-drive no go.



WOW and this is with a ASUS mobo ?. Maybe it's only with x38\48\58 mobos although i am guessing.


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## TIGR (Mar 18, 2010)

There ya go—nLite was my method as well. And yeah this is an Asus P55 board ... I am downright confused and think I have some more motherboards to test out for this functionality.


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## AsRock (Mar 18, 2010)

Maybe have a look at this if you have not already
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-028610.htm


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## TIGR (Mar 18, 2010)

That's the same page Jizzler linked to above, which we were discussing earlier in this thread for its lack of stated 6-drive RAID 10 support.


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## AsRock (Mar 18, 2010)

TIGR said:


> That's the same page Jizzler linked to above, which we were discussing earlier in this thread for its lack of stated 6-drive RAID 10 support.



Whoops .


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