Intel RST vs RSTe in X79 Motherboard. Differences?

[Blues_wolf]

Hello Everyone,

This is my setup:
Asrock Fatal1ty x79 Champion
2x Samsung SSD 830 128GB in RAID0 in the Intel controller

Problem:
Intel RSTe driver doesn't support TRIM in RAID 0

Situation:
Intel RST driver does support TRIM in RAID 0
The BIOS lets me choose to set the intel controller as RST or RSTe.

My questions are:
1) What are the differences between RST and RSTe besides the TRIM command? (I didn't find any comparission on the internet showing advantages of one over the other or anything)

2) I thought X79 only worked with RSTe, has anyone with this option in the BIOS tried using RST?

3) Samsung Magician software doesn't detect the SSDs behind the RAID (regardless of RST or RSTe), will Windows 7 or Intel RST software still send the TRIM command when using the controller in RST mode?

I would really appreciate any help you can provide about this.
Thanks!

 

[Dereck47]

Situation:
Intel RST driver does support TRIM in RAID 0
The BIOS lets me choose to set the intel controller as RST or RSTe.

TRIM in RAID-0 is not supported on X79 chipset based motherboards.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/storage-news/intels-trim-support-for-raid-configurations-coming-soon-to-x79/

 

[Blues_wolf]

TRIM in RAID-0 is not supported on X79 chipset based motherboards.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/storage-news/intels-trim-support-for-raid-configurations-coming-soon-to-x79/

From that note:

Current RSTe drivers specific to X79 do NOT support TRIM on RAID 0, but an updated RST driver version coming soon will add support for X79 based systems, including the TRIM on RAID 0 feature. Note that on client 7-series chipsets (non X79), RST driver version 11.0 and beyond supports TRIM on RAID 0. -Intel

So regardless of using RST or RSTe mode in my motherboard, it's not supported for X79 chipsets.
It does say the RST drivers will support TRIM on X79 in the future.

So my question now is, can I change the mode from RSTe to RST in the future without having to re-install my Win7?
Like installing the RST controller drivers, then reboot to BIOS, change the mode, and start Windows?

Thanks

 

[Dereck47]

So regardless of using RST or RSTe mode in my motherboard, it's not supported for X79 chipsets.

Correct.

So my question now is, can I change the mode from RSTe to RST in the future without having to re-install my Win7?
Like installing the RST controller drivers, then reboot to BIOS, change the mode, and start Windows?

Yes, you can install and uninstall drivers (RAID, Video, Printer, etc.) without having to reinstall Windows.

If you're currently using RSTe you can uninstall the drivers and reboot. When you reboot Windows will notice that drivers are missing and install its own default drivers. You then install RST and it will overwrite Windows default drivers.

 

[Blues_wolf]

Best answer selected by Blues_wolf.

 

[Blues_wolf]

Thanks man!

I'll leave it in RSTe for the time being then, who knows.. maybe RSTe will support TRIM before RST does for X79.

Regards!

 

[Whatsisname]

RST 11.6 OROM used with X79 DOES support trim in RAID 0 and also provides for SRT support.

Currently boards from AsRock, Gigabyte and MSI provide this functionality. ASUS users are currently SOL except for a hack on the ROG forum to provide the 11.6 OROM as usable by X79 without changing the SATA controller ID.