WWPD (or, What Would Parsec Do..) Z97 Extreme6 ?'s

Ok, update, & thanks again you guys for all your help!

Bought another mb, same one (Z97 Extreme6) -

Memory recognized in all dimm slots - the XMP profile for the memory seemed to work to get the memory to 2133 (UEFI shows memory target speed: 2133).

Oddly, mb recognized the graphics card in the PCIe2 slot initally and thru a number of reboots, then, nada.  I think the only difference was connecting the SSD's.  Powered off, plugged in the sata cables, reboot, video came up, got into UEFI, checked storage, and it showed the drives.  Didn't change anything in UEFI & exited, it booted, gave some error messages since the drives were blank, and booted from the optical drive.  Powered off & back on, and, no video.

Powered off, switched cable to mb I/O HDMI, got video that way.  Updated the bios from 2.40 to 2.50, reboot, no difference.  Weird.

Switched vidcard to PCIe4 slot, ta-da, HW monitor showed the slot occupied w/ card, @ x16.  Figured since that's also an x16 slot, vidcard should work @ x16 there, hopefully no differently than in PCIe2.

Didn't bend any mb pins this time either, yay. :p

Got RAID 10 setup using the intel raid utility, RAID setup wasn't showing in UEFI.  Installed 64-bit Windows 7 ok, next step getting vidcard driver, etc. going.

The fun part's over, now twiddling w/ getting the software working.

Here's a pic - tried to keep the cabling to the backside - the GPU is easier to lock into PCIe4 since it's not right next to the cooler, so that's a plus as long as it can do all that it should.

parsec wrote: Where did you install Win 7, on the RAID 10 volume, or... ?

Yes - setup the RAID 10 going by the "Guide to SATA Hard Disks
Installation and RAID Configuration" off the ASRock site.  I did enable CSM and set the Launch Storage OpROM Policy to UEFI Only, but after that, going back to the UEFI Advanced tab, it didn't show "Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology" to get to RAID setup.

The Intel RAID BIOS setup did come up after exiting UEFI, so went through those steps & setup the RAID.  Then installed Windows - had saved settings exiting UEFI, so as far as I know, CSM was enabled when Windows installed.

parsec wrote: The Intel RAID utility will appear in the UEFI (assuming RAID is selected) only if: CSM is Enabled, and the Launch Storage OpROM Policy is set to UEFI Only. CSM is Disabled. Secure Boot is Enabled. The ONLY one of these options you can use now is 1, assuming Windows was installed with CSM Enabled.

I assume you mean the only option I might use to get the RAID creation function to show in UEFI is 1, yes?  It would appear UEFI doesn't like me for that option, has deemed me unworthy, or has a nano-gnome somewhere in there saying ooooh no you don't , not unless you've got 2.2tb or more storage on those ssd's! (or, something like that )

Best I can tell, everything's ok on the raid creation - the intel utility gave me a max stripe size of 64k and not 128k, haven't googled up that yet, although I imagine there's some arcane constraint having to do with how RAID 10 works.

parsec wrote: The PCIE4 x16 slot is electrically an x8 slot when one video card is being used. Check the specs here, in Expansion and Connectivity: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170%20Extreme4/?cat=Specifications

Mine's the Extreme6 mb, but, essentially the same specs.

From the same section for the Extreme6 as in your link:

Expansion / Connectivity

- 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2/PCIE4: single at x16 (PCIE2); dual at x8 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4))

From what you're saying, the specs should be interpreted as "single GPU at x16 ONLY IN PCIe2", and "x8 (PCIE4)" = single GPU in PCIe4 runs x8, maximum.  Dual (linked) GPU's in PCIe2 and PCIe4 run x8, maximum.

The dual meaning of x16 here is a little confusing, I wasn't perceiving that "x16" in "2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots" was a mere adjective of "Slots".  So, x16 is a physical characteristic of GPU cards and their slots, as well as a functional-speed descriptor.  I'll now make sure to note the difference with the presence of the code word "at", which denotes the speed at which the slot runs or is capable of delivering.  The marketing department must be fans of Abbott & Costello routines...

parsec wrote: I'd say the fun part is not over yet, if you can't get the video card to work in the PCIE2 slot.

Misinterpreting specs aside... unfortunately, yeah, that blows my thought to take full advantage of the card running AT x16 in PCIe4!

parsec wrote: No idea why the video card was not working in the PCIE2 slot. Possibly it was moved during the SSD installation, or the power cable was disturbed. I'd try it again, and clear the UEFI/BIOS anytime you move or change hardware like that.

No luck on that front so far... the SSD's were already in place.  I put this new mb in, installed the CPU, cooler, memory, GPU in PCIe2, and plugged everything in, including the sata cables.  I _unplugged_ the sata cables at the SSD end before 1st boot, so no drives would be connected.  Left the HD unplugged until after installing windows, so win would go on the RAID and not the HD.

So, the initial several boots, GPU was in PCIe2, connected to monitor with displayport cable, and UEFI system browser showed the slot populated, nvidia blah-blah-blah, was getting video out the card to the monitor.

It's possible the power cables to the GPU might have gotten disturbed, but they certainly didn't become unplugged or anything like that, and my hands weren't near them or the graphics card when I re-connected the sata cables into the backs of the ssd's, having left them plugged into the the mb sata ports.  Basically, not much got shuffled around there, physically, in the process of connecting the ssd sata cables.  Been using anti-static wristband, so nothing's gotten shocked, at least presumably, I assume I would have felt any static shocks.

parsec wrote: Why would a UEFI update cause the video card to work if it the problem was a bad connection or a power problem? The board will default to the onboard graphics if a video card cannot be found. If you have a cable connected to the onboard graphics, but want to use a video card, you must select that in the Chipset Configuration screen in the UEFI.

The 1st-time boot UEFI-perusal showed the Primary Graphics Adapter set to PCI Express.  Tried a few options there tonight, switching PGA to onboard VGA & back to PCI Express, removing/reinstalling GPU, cmos resets in-between, even tried switched to BIOS B (2.40) with all drives unplugged and GPU in PCIe2 which was the initial setup that had the GPU showing life in PCIe2 - no luck with any of that.  I'll see what else I can try.

parsec wrote: BTW, your Noctua cooler is mounted upside down.

Yep, wasn't looking at that.... symmetry is my friend, in this instance!


Edited by ADuquequax - 18 Feb 2016 at 8:05pm

Found an answer for getting Win10 to see the 2nd HDD off Windows/MS tech support forums -

Method one suggested here worked: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware/windows-10-does-not-recognize-my-second-hard-drive/11f1cf28-0320-4a5e-aabb-e66e13a7526b?auth=1

Previous 'scan for hardware changes' from device or disk manager didn't work, but the above did, maybe it forces different type of scan or parameters or something, have no idea.

In any case, the 4tb Seagate then showed as drive D: so, that problem, solved!

No difference on the utilities working to initialize or download drivers, but relatively speaking, a minor issue, such drivers can be updated manually.