Software Storage Technologies
Virtual RAID, RSTe, and Memory Drive Technology
Announcements
Looking for our RealSense Community? Click HERE

Looking for RAID, VROC? You found the forum to ask questions!

VROC Cofiguration?

SLang5
Beginner
4,829 Views

Hello,

I'm attempting to configure a 3x Intel 760p 512GB NvME RAID5 using VROC. However I'm running into several issues. I'd like to confirm my system is VROC ready.

System Configuration:

Motherboard: ASRock X299 TaiChi XE

CPU: Intel Core i9-7980XE

Storage: 3x Intel 512GB 760P NVMe (For VROC RAID5)

VROC: 1x VROCPREMMOD Key

Storage: (to be installed on ASRock Ultra Quad M.2 Card): 3x Samsung 500GB 960 EVO NVMe

Storage: 1x WD Blue 1TB SSD

RAM: 128GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-2133

Display Adapter: 2x Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 1080 in SLI (on PCIe x16 1 & 3)

Corsair H150i CPU Cooler

EVGA Supernova 1000 G2

I've removed the ASRock Ultra Quad M.2 Card and the WD SSD so the only drives connected are the 3 Intel 760p NVMe on the motherboard in the 3 provided slots. I don't know if you can give me the specific step by step instructions on how to enable VROC on my motherboard but I found an article in my research that stated VROC was not compatible with CPU's running 44 lanes. Can you confirm this and provide me with any assistance you can as to how to enable and configure the RAID5 using this hardware configuration? My main issue is the actual config of VROC and RST in the bios but I'll have to post on the ASRock forums for that one... unless you can help there as well.

Thank you,

Steve L.

0 Kudos
12 Replies
idata
Employee
1,392 Views

Hello Steve.L,

Thank you for contacting the Intel® Virtual RAID on CPU support

In regards to your question about if Intel® VROC is not compatible with CPU's running 44 lanes.

No, Skylake X processors are compatible with Intel® VROC

We noticed that you are trying to use a VROCPREMMOD Key, For Intel x299 systems the required key is the VROCISSDMOD key since it is the only key compatible.

The VROCPREMMOD keys are for enterprise systems running Intel® Xeon Processors

You can check the Intel® VROC admin guide https://downloadmirror.intel.com/27135/eng/RSTe%20VROC%20Users%20Manual_1.0.pdf here page 10 - 15 about how to enable Intel VROC

Best regards

 

Luis H
0 Kudos
idata
Employee
1,392 Views

Hello Guys,

 

 

As an update, please bare in mind that the Pro7600 is supported by VROC. Currently there are no plans to add support for the 760p.

 

 

Hope this information helps to clarify your questions.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Juan N.
0 Kudos
SEric
Novice
1,392 Views

A couple of things.

The Asrock board has 3 M.2 slots, only one goes to the CPU, the others go through the chipset.

VROC does not work through the chipset, hence the name/Acronym Virtual Raid ON CPU.

(The "C" in VROC stands for CPU not chipset)

VROC, to be bootable needs ONLY Intel drives.

You can VROC/RAID non-Intel drives but they will NOT be bootable.

Period.

The Intel drives MUST be on the same VMD to be bootable.

Bios/UEFI MUST be set to x4x4x4x4 for the slot in which the Ultra Quad card will be used, bootable or not.

The ONLY VROC key that can be used for X299 VROC is VROCISSDMOD,

no other VROC key will work on X299.

PERIOD.

Last I looked, mouser.com had the VROCISSDMOD keys or $10 or less plus shipping.

FFern8
Beginner
1,392 Views

Actually, the key is priced at $229USD plus shipping!

0 Kudos
SEric
Novice
1,392 Views

That price is wrong.

Mouser has messed that up a few times.

The key is about 10 bucks.

Call them and find out.

800-346-6873

In addition, you can still raid the Intel drives without the key.

Make the Raid array in the bios.

When loading windows, boot it to the USB drive that is labeled "UEFI" and it will load.

When you get to "where to install Windows",

Have the RSTE "floppy" f6 driver on a second usb drive,

find the one labeled VROC for Windows 8 64 bit and load that driver.

Once loaded, if your raid array doesn't show hit refresh and go from there.

Once in Windows, load your "inf" and then Intel management engine and the RSTE program.

Load the rest of your drivers (graphics, sound, lan, etc)

and you should be good to go.

0 Kudos
FFern8
Beginner
1,392 Views

Thank you for the info! I will call them in the morning!

0 Kudos
SEric
Novice
1,392 Views
0 Kudos
FFern8
Beginner
1,392 Views

Hello Birdman941, I called Mouser this morning and unfortunately they confirmed the price at $229. Maybe eBay will be in your near future? :-)

0 Kudos
SEric
Novice
1,392 Views

Try it without the key. I have and there did not seem to be any difference whatsoever. Others have and seen no difference. Hotmail me if really needed

0 Kudos
SLang5
Beginner
1,392 Views

OK, so I replaced my VROCPREMMOD key with the VROCISSMOD one. I can finally get the VROC menu to show up but am still unable to properly configure it. Anyone who can help with this please let me know. Still using 3x Intel 760P NVMe drives. I managed to get the first drive showing in the VROC menu but cannot get m.2 # 2 or m.2 # 3 to become available to configure the RAID. Please see original post for full system specs. Doggonit Intel, can you please get your act together and properly support your product?

0 Kudos
FFern8
Beginner
1,392 Views

So I had a very long conversation yesterday with ASRock's Tech Support Department re: the X299 board and here's what I learned:

Only the M.2_1 slot is connected directly to the CPU - M.2_2 & M.2_3 are available as PCIe or SATA however they do not connect directly to the CPU.

If you're wanting to use VROC and are wanting to use more than one M.2 drive, all of those drives need to be Intel brand (such as the 760P), the VROC key must be used and the additional drives must be connected via a PCIe expansion slot utilizing a card such as the ASRock Quad M.2 Card. This together with the VROC key will allow you to RAID those drives as one logical unit.

Alternatively, you can just install one drive (any brand such as Samsung 960 Pro) in the M.2_1 slot without the need for the VROC key. This will allow you to load your OS Sys and boot from this drive. As for the M.2_2 & M.2_3 slots, you can use whatever brand you want (again such as Samsung 960 Pro) and RAID those two slots as you wish but they will have their own drive letter.

I'm planning on setting mine up this way - M.2_1 with Samsung 960 Pro 2TB and then using M.2_2 & M.2_3 with Samsung 960 Pro and RAID 0. No VROC key required. Tech support said that they are seeing much faster speeds using this method as opposed to VROC.

I hope that this helps.

P.S. I'm certainly no computer wiz, just repeating what I was told yesterday.

0 Kudos
SLang5
Beginner
1,392 Views

That makes more sense than anything I've been told so far. Thank you GulfStreamPilot for your assistance. As you suggested I put the 3 Intel 760p drives into the ASRock Ultra Quad m.2 x16 PCIe card. Now I can see them all in VROC manager. However my VROCISSDMOD is still only showing as "Pass-Thru". It's as if they key is not even connected as the only option I have is RAID-0. Spoke to Intel at length today to no avail. After an hour they passed the buck to ASRock. I've still gotten no response from them. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'm finding it hard to believe I got a defective key the first time I've used this tech. However no matter what I do, it seems impossible to get RAID-5 to come up as an option.

0 Kudos
Reply