Intel SSD Toolbox 3.1.0

Intel SSD Toolbox 3.1.0 released.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455&keyword=SSD+Toolbox&lang=eng


These's also a new Intel WHQL non-official RST v11.6.2.1002
http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel raid.htm

 

Good updates to Windows 8 (I got a little carried away and installed the Intel SSD Toolbox on my SanDisk Extreme based system, lol...).

The IRST made a huge difference on Windows 8 x64 for me - the system (Win8x64, 8GB RAM, i3 350m Arrandale platform powered by 240GB Sandisk Extreme SSD) now feels faster than my i7 2600K O/C'd to 4.5GHz desktop (Win7x64, Intel 510 250GB SSD + 32GB RAM). Note: 'feels faster' i.e., more snap/more responsive - the desktop still does more 'work' though.


Does anyone else get these type of results with their Win8/Win7 setups?

 

Quick update: just did the above two updates to a Win7x64, 16GB RAM, Intel 520 240GB SSD based SNB platform and all the improvements I saw in Win8 I saw with this system in Win7. Very, very noticeably more snappy performance (the IRST driver in this case was upgraded from the Lenovo 10.1 to 11.6.2).

For a more concrete examples: before the installation of the newest IRST driver the system would be 'laggy' (comparatively, after seeing how it can run after the update...) when checking WU, updating/installing a new virus definition version in MSE and generally just a little slower than NOW! when navigating/clicking/selecting/running new programs or simply navigating the O/S.

After the updates (and a couple of reboots for good measure - Win7 finds new hardware with the new drivers), everything seems to happen in real time and Windows feels like a fresh install without any A/V running at all. Yeah - great experience so far, hope that nothing 'breaks' with this newest IRST driver.

I noticed on that station drivers link a beta version of IRST of 12.xx - has anyone tried that vs. the 11.6.2 and seen any difference?

Next, I will be installing the updates on an IB based setup (otherwise identical to the SNB system above) to see if this highly appreciated performance trend continues there too.


(Has nobody else tried this yet? Really? ).

 

The 12 series beta RST didn't do well on my 2 x 240GB Sandisk Extreme R0.

The 11.6.2.1002 works very well.

SD Extremes are updated to 211 firmware.

Now I need to customize my bios to get 11.6 Intel Raid Utility OROM

 

We need a custom BIOS to support the latest IRST drivers? Or is this simply for RAID?

Thanks also for the feedback on the 12 series beta drivers - I won't be so tempted now to try them on one of my systems.

(What did they do/didn't they do specifically for your setup)?

 

For single SSD installation TRIM support is in the SSD firmware.

For TRIM support in R0 array a supported Intel chipset,11 series Intel RST and 11 series Intel Raid Utility OROM are additional requirements.

It's best to use matching OROM and RST like both being 11.2 or 11.6 versions.

 

Thanks for the clarification(s).

Are the notebook manufacturers the only one to release updated OROM's? Or does Intel release those firmware updates along with the IRST drivers too?

Oh, with regards to the beta v12 drivers - was there any specific issues you faced or was it simply slower?

 

Desktop motherboard and notebook makers need to issue bios updates in order for end users to get newer Intel Raid Utility versions or they need to mod their bios themselves.
BIOS-Modding: How to update PCI ROM modules of an AMI/Phoenix/Award BIOS - BIOS/BIOS-Modding - Win-Lite Forum

Also read:
www.station-drivers.com • Afficher le sujet - ROM: Intel RAID ROM v11.5.x.xxxx may open TRIM for RAID0

For MSI,you can pay for custom unsupported bios to be made for you.
Notebook Modified & Private BIOS'ses & EC-FW

The OROM is an Intel Utility for Raid so new official WHQL OROMs are usually first released on Intel Desktop motherboards.

The OROM is the same for desktops and notebooks.

Like RST versions that are WHQL but not official non official OROMs are out there also.

I found OROM version 11.6.0.1702.bin on the web.

As for the 12 series beta RST it was the poor performance in synthetic benchmarks like Anvil Storage Utilities RC5 and CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 compared to performance from 11.2 and 11.6