Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver for a single SSD?

[Ronin13]

I'm getting conflicting info in my research on this - some say it isn't needed for a single SSD, if you aren't using (or will ever use) RAID, others say to just install it.

My specific setup is a single 850 EVO, using Samsung's Magician software.

I have not installed the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver as this point, but I'm wondering if I should.

If so, should it be safe to install now, or should I first uninstall Magician and then re-install it after the IRST driver? (Or any other install recommendations.)

 

[bradly1101]

I was under the impression that it should be installed. It has always been on my motherboards' lists of drivers to install. I never compared speeds without it, but with it all my drives run at their max speeds. As far as installation order, I don't know...but my guess is that it doesn't matter.

 

[Berryracer]

It is not only for RAID, it is an updated/enhanced controller driver. The default MSAHCI driver is dated back to 2006 and it is good as its best for compatibility across thousands of computer but it you want to squeeze every bit of performance out of your SSD you need to install the IRST driver.

 

[Fernando 1]

@ Ronin13:
An Intel RST driver is not really needed for a single SSD running in AHCI mode, but it is usually a better choice than the in-box MS AHCI driver.
I have done several benchmark comparison tests regarding this point.
You can find the results >here<.

 

[Ronin13]

Thanks for your replies (and Fernando, that looks like a lot of work!).

So, I installed the IRST driver that came with my ASUS Z97-AR mobo. Here are some quick results from the Performance Benchmark within Samsung Magician (all with 'OS Optimization' set for 'Maximum Reliability'):


Without IRST:

Sequential Read: 548 Sequential Write: 525

Random Read: 74349 Random Write: 73397


With IRST:

Sequential Read: 549 Sequential Write: 528

Random Read: 96839 Random Write: 88940


The next two are with RAPID mode activated in Samsung Magician:


Without IRST:

Sequential Read: 1342 Sequential Write: 5209

Random Read: 225170 Random Write: 161151


With IRST:

Sequential Read: 5879 Sequential Write: 5166

Random Read: 206342 Random Write: 161155

 

[Ronin13]

And now that IRST is installed, I have the icon sitting in my notification area. Do you guys keep it there (and maybe rely on it's ability to show notifications on 'Storage system errors'), or do you remove it?

Also, I can see I now have 'Intel Delayed Launcher' on my startup list. Keep/disable?

 

[Berryracer]

Double click on that icon, then in IRST, go to the performance tab and disable link power management then restart your computer then wait for it to be idle for 3 mins then benchmark again

 

[Fernando 1]

And now that IRST is installed, I have the icon sitting in my notification area. Do you guys keep it there (and maybe rely on it's ability to show notifications on 'Storage system errors'), or do you remove it?

I personally prefer to install just the Intel RST AHCI driver from within the Device Manager and to avoid the Intel RST Software, which is automaticly running in the background and may drop the system performance.

 

[Berryracer]

I personally prefer to install just the Intel RST AHCI driver from within the Device Manager and to avoid the Intel RST Software, which is automaticly running in the background and may drop the system performance.

1) it doesn't drop system performance. It uses 11 MB of RAM and 0% CPU utilization.

2) If you don't install the full IRST app, then you don't get advanced performance options such as the ability to disable link power management.

 

[Ronin13]

Double click on that icon, then in IRST, go to the performance tab and disable link power management then restart your computer then wait for it to be idle for 3 mins then benchmark again

I can't find a quick explanation of what 'link power management' is or does.

Is it something that was always there, but that now can be disabled through IRST, or is it something that came with IRST, but that is better disabled? (Why?)

(As for Power Management, I already have it set to 'Never put the computer to sleep'.)

 

[Fernando 1]

1) it doesn't drop system performance. It uses 11 MB of RAM and 0% CPU utilization.

The Intel RST Service is permanently active (unless you disable it manually).

2) If you don't install the full IRST app, then you don't get advanced performance options such as the ability to disable link power management.

According to my knowledge it stays disabled even after having uninstalled the RST software (like the Write-Back Feature, which is only available for RAID systems).

 

[Coup27]

I made this thread ages ago on this subject:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2266472&highlight=

I don't have the benchmarks hosted anymore but the ones taken after the IRST software had been installed were significantly higher than when just the AHCI driver was installed.

The AHCI driver was installed during installation of Windows using the F6 procedure so whether this results in a performance penalty compared to installing with MSAHCI and updating to IRST via device manager is also unclear, although it should be the same.

 

[Ronin13]

Well, I have it installed now as there seems to be no reasons not to.

Still unsure on the following:

Do you let the IRST icon sit in the notification area (and maybe rely on it's ability to show notifications on 'Storage system errors'), or do you remove it?

What is 'Intel Delayed Launcher' and should I let it run on Startup?

Do I need to disable 'link power management'? Why?

 

[Stuka87]

I cannot think of any reason to not install IRST. You get significantly better performance WITH it installed.

Link power management is more for mobile systems. In a desktop it should not be an issue. Basically the AHCI drivers puts the SATA link into low power mode whenever there is no IO. Problem is you then have a delay for it to kick into normal mode, and it can actually get put back into low power mode even during disk activity if there are any pause states.

Personally I just leave it in my system tray on both of my systems with Intel SSDs. Have not seen a reason to pull it out.

 

[Coup27]

Personally I just leave it in my system tray on both of my systems with Intel SSDs. Have not seen a reason to pull it out.

You can always disable the notification icon from within the IRST software if it bugs you.

 

[CakeMonster]

Does it make any difference for a regular harddisk, especially if its the boot drive?