How to create Samsung 950 Pro RAID 0, Z170 OC F?

parsec wrote: maurizio wrote: The next question I have had is whether attaching the NVMe's via certain PCIe slots decreases performance of any devices that are using SATA. There are these passages in a review of the motherboard at TweakTown: There are three Ultra M.2 slots which each run at 4x PCI-E 3.0 and each one shares bandwidth with two of Intel's SATA6G ports/one SATA Express port so that they can RAID. The PCI-E layout isn't too difficult to figure out; all the PCI-E slots except one of the PCI-E 1x slots (PCIE5) are PCI-E 3.0. The first, third, and last PCI-E 16x slots are wired to the CPU. You can run 16x/0x/0x, 8x/8x/0x, or 8x/4x/4x on the first, third, and fourth 16x PCI-E slots. The second PCI-E slot is wired to the PCH at 4x PCI-E 3.0 as is one of the PCI-E 1x flex slots. Each SATA Express/2 SATA ports shares its bandwidth with one of the M.2 slots, so if you occupy all the M.2 slots, then all the SATA Express/Intel SATA6G ports will be disabled. However, ASRock provides four ports through two ASMedia SATA6G controllers, so you still have some SATA even if it isn't from Intel. ASRock provides two internal USB 3.0 headers as well as a vertical USB 3.0 port for easy USB stick access. An ASMedia ASM1187e provides multiple PCI-E 2.0 outputs from a single PCI-E 3.0 input. One of the PCI-E 3.0 1x slots is connected to this chip. Extra controllers that don't require PCI-E 3.0 get their bandwidth from this chip, such as the ASM1061 used for extra SATA. The ASMedia ASM1074 is used as a 1:4 USB 3.0 hub for the USB 3.0 headers.... ASRock uses nine Texas Instruments HD3SS3415 which are PCI-E 3.0 quick switches; each can switch two lanes of PCI-E 3.0. Six are used to switch PCI-E lanes from the CPU to three PCI-E 16x slots. The remaining three are used to switch 2x PCI-E 3.0/ 2x SATA between each SATA Express port and each M.2 connector. http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7334/asrock-z170-oc-formula-intel-motherboard-review/index4.html Not being an engineer or especially technically inclined, I just wanted ASRock to confirm whether PCIe-attached NVMe traffic is completely separate from traffic of devices using SATA in terms of bandwidth. Here's what ASRock Technical Support wrote: PCIE lanes does not shared with M.2. it shared with SATA ports. The PCIE lanes is from CPU and south bridge chipset as well. CPU has 16x lanes. PCIE 1x is used from south bridge chipset and PCIe6 slot would be from south bridge on this board. So going by that, it seems that I can use the NVMe's attached to PCIE1, PCIE2, PCIE4, or PCIE6 in Windows software RAID without having to worry about performance being affected by any devices attached to SATA ports. Have I got that right? Yes you are correct. I think someone else told you about this...

Here is something confusing:

Various review articles seem to say that PCIE1, PCIE4, and PCIE6 carry CPU lanes traffic (the quote from TweakTown above would seem to be saying as much, for example: "The first, third, and last PCI-E 16x slots are wired to the CPU.").  But the tech support statement is that "PCIe6 slot would be from south bridge on this board."

Isn't that a contradiction?

maurizio wrote: I have confirmed that RAID 0 is possible using the Ultra M.2 slots (1 & 2)  with Windows 7 and CSM enabled, OpRom UEFI. The NVMEs show up on the UEFI IRST RAID management page, before Windows even boots, so it doesn't seem that the Windows version is the primary problem. It seems to be a matter of how the PCIe system has been designed (and/or UEFI and IRST). Another possibility, I guess, is the adapters, but they don't keep Windows device manager and disk management from being able to see the NVMEs.

The Windows version, Windows 7 in particular, is a problem IF you want to use your PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 as the OS/boot volume. The RAID array creation is independent of that, as long as you have installed the IRST version 14 software, the latest version preferably, and your board supports it. You can use Windows 7 with PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 as data drives fine, given the CSM configuration you have.

Regarding Intel's statement in their forum, my response to it is talk is cheap.

Show me an example of IRST version 14 software on a Skylake board that allows PCIe SSDs in the M.2 slots (connected to the chipset's DMI3 lanes), to be used independently or combined with PCIe SSDs in the board's PCIe slots and PCIe 3.0 lanes (from the CPU) in the creation of RAID arrays. That is, while allowing the remaining CPU's PCIe 3.0 lanes to function normally with video cards.

The ability of the IRST version 14 software to communicate with both of those separate resources (PCIE 3.0 in the CPU, and DMI3 in the chipset) is the key and what needs to be proven. I am skeptical about that capability.

I would love to be wrong about this, or that it is a matter of some physical design configuration of the mother board, or an internal UEFI firmware configuration. ASRock has always supported the most advanced storage configurations and technologies on their mother boards, before other manufactures did. I learned that long before I became a moderator in their forum. I'm not supporting or defending ASRock here, just relating facts.

(For example, I am using an Intel 750 PCIe SSD as the OS drive with Win 10 in my Z77 Extreme4 mother board. Of course I'm using a Beta UEFI that has NVMe support, and an updated CSM option, but otherwise I was UEFI booting my SATA SSDs not long after this board was released.)

Intel, show me where it states these things in your IRST documentation. Or if it can be done with a Windows IRQ configuration.

Back to your situation, some more or repeated suggestions from my PM:

Forget seeing NVMe SSDs in the Storage Configuration screen, use System Browser in the UEFI, and the NVMe Configuration screen in the Advanced section, to verify detection of the NVMe SSDs.

IF you can see NVMe SSDs in System Browser that are in the PCIe slots (with adapters in your case) and in the M.2 slots, at the same time, that is a good start.

Do not dismiss the use of the CSM option as not needed for your needs. If your video source is GOP compatible, setting CSM to Disabled will only help you, it won't cause problems.

Removing all SATA drives (or removing their power) from the Intel SATA ports while you try to get the NVMe SSDs recognized by the IRST utility in the UEFI may make a big difference.

The IRST PCIe Remapping option in Storage Configuration (HA! So much for ignoring the Storage Configuration screen, right? ) must be Enabled when using NVMe SSDs in the M.2 slots, with the goal of using them in RAID arrays. Do we need an IRST PCIe Remapping option for NVMe SSDs used in the PCIe slots on Skylake boards? I don't know.

That seven NVMe SSD RAID 0 array shown with your board must have been created using the Windows software RAID feature. I should have known.   I have seen benchmark results of those arrays with NVMe SSDs being quite good, except for 4K read speeds. That is typical.

clubfoot wrote: If you only use 2x m.2 in RAID0 you should still have two Intel SATA ports available to RAID your HDDs. If you're only using one SSD and one HDD then you're good to go.

The next question I have had is whether attaching the NVMe's via certain PCIe slots decreases performance of any devices that are using SATA.

There are these passages in a review of the motherboard at TweakTown:

There are three Ultra M.2 slots which each run at 4x PCI-E 3.0 and each one shares bandwidth with two of Intel's SATA6G ports/one SATA Express port so that they can RAID. The PCI-E layout isn't too difficult to figure out; all the PCI-E slots except one of the PCI-E 1x slots (PCIE5) are PCI-E 3.0. The first, third, and last PCI-E 16x slots are wired to the CPU. You can run 16x/0x/0x, 8x/8x/0x, or 8x/4x/4x on the first, third, and fourth 16x PCI-E slots. The second PCI-E slot is wired to the PCH at 4x PCI-E 3.0 as is one of the PCI-E 1x flex slots. Each SATA Express/2 SATA ports shares its bandwidth with one of the M.2 slots, so if you occupy all the M.2 slots, then all the SATA Express/Intel SATA6G ports will be disabled. However, ASRock provides four ports through two ASMedia SATA6G controllers, so you still have some SATA even if it isn't from Intel. ASRock provides two internal USB 3.0 headers as well as a vertical USB 3.0 port for easy USB stick access.

An ASMedia ASM1187e provides multiple PCI-E 2.0 outputs from a single PCI-E 3.0 input. One of the PCI-E 3.0 1x slots is connected to this chip. Extra controllers that don't require PCI-E 3.0 get their bandwidth from this chip, such as the ASM1061 used for extra SATA. The ASMedia ASM1074 is used as a 1:4 USB 3.0 hub for the USB 3.0 headers.... ASRock uses nine Texas Instruments HD3SS3415 which are PCI-E 3.0 quick switches; each can switch two lanes of PCI-E 3.0. Six are used to switch PCI-E lanes from the CPU to three PCI-E 16x slots. The remaining three are used to switch 2x PCI-E 3.0/ 2x SATA between each SATA Express port and each M.2 connector.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7334/asrock-z170-oc-formula-intel-motherboard-review/index4.html

Not being an engineer or especially technically inclined, I just wanted ASRock to confirm whether PCIe-attached NVMe traffic is completely separate from traffic of devices using SATA in terms of bandwidth.

Here's what ASRock Technical Support wrote:

PCIE lanes does not shared with M.2. it shared with SATA ports. The PCIE lanes is from CPU and south bridge chipset as well. CPU has 16x lanes. PCIE 1x is used from south bridge chipset and PCIe6 slot would be from south bridge on this board.

So going by that, it seems that I can use the NVMe's attached to PCIE1, PCIE2, PCIE4, or PCIE6 in Windows software RAID without having to worry about performance being affected by any devices attached to SATA ports.

Have I got that right?

I should clarify the last post.
I have confirmed that RAID 0 is possible via the Ultra M.2 slots.
But I don't want to use the M.2 slots because I don't want to give up the Intel chipset SATA3 in order to do so.

I am still looking for info on how to use RAID via the PCIe slots with adapters.