Is VROC worth it?

[knotted]

I have seen all the problems people on this board have had with getting VROC to work on the Rampage boards. Special thanks to JustinThyme for all the info provided.
My question is, was it worth it? Is there a noticeable difference in boot times, game level loads, programs opening etc. Or is it only on large file transfers?
Web reviews are full of synthetic benchmarks, but that doesn't help much in real life.

[restsugavan]

For me. VROC has a lot limit for us.
it required special VROC keys to working with many X299 platform on RAID setup ,
we must use Intel SSDs only to make sure VROC setting work efficiently.
Some 3rd party SSD may working but not all 3rd party SSD grant to use VROC on X299 platform.

After setting up VROC already , If you oftenly update BIOS or OS later thus back up devices were require.
Windows Update or BIOS Update may risk the system loss important data permanently.

For gaming I think only use fast NVME SSD or PCIe SSD such as 900P or 905P was more than enough.

For more info ::
1. https://forums.intel.com/sfc/servlet...00Frziu&page=0

2. https://forums.intel.com/sfc/servlet...00Frziu&page=1

If you need the most fastest solution just waiting Cascade Lake SP with Optane DC Persistence memory better.

[knotted]

Thanks, restsugavan. I am somewhat disappointed with VROC. It has great potential but Intel doesn't seem to support it well. Maybe it is still too new. I would love some more lanes on the CPU too. Will check out Cascade Lake.

[Brighttail]

Having walked through many of the trials and tribulations together with Justin, I would say that VROC was a big flop for the x299 platform. I have achieved a RAID 0 bootable array that was far inferior to just a standard windows RAID 0 array when it came to speed. Add to the fact the new Spectre/Meltdown patches and the speed further diminishes.

That being said if you were looking to have a RAID 1 array as a bootable drive, then I could see a reason to have it. Other than that there is no real benefit from a speed or stability standpoint.

[Quozzo]

If you want VROC go AMD. They have it enabled, for free. Not sure about Zen2 but I seriously doubt they will retract features from their previous lineup.

As for the latter question. An NVMe is no faster loading games or programs than an SSD, so RAID with either storage will show negligible gains.

[CharlieH]

Given my 10 Gb network and running VMs I get a huge benefit from VROC I run a 8 drive (intel 900Ps) RAID 0 setup and it is totally worth it and very stable no key required. It really depends on your needs/use.

[CharlieH]

One other note the faster you OC the faster your VROC is.

[JustinThyme]

It’s all dependent on your use.*
Boot times are actually slower and the raid latency drops the Q1 performance. That being said 2 intel drives in VROC gives everything else on the market a spanking. 4 of them in raid 0 hits 10,000MB/S sequential reads beating Samsung hands down. I’m dumping it in favor of a single drive but only to free up lanes so both my 2080 Ti cards can run at X16.*

If you are just gaming and general use I’d say you won’t see much benifit. If you are a power user running VMs or actually put a HEDT to good use with compiling and batch photo process the intel drives are worth it VROC or not. *

I may go back later with a single hyperX 16 and the new M2 optane variants but will wait for it to mature a little. *

[kcmcc]

I've given VROC a shot on my 9900x, TUF x299 Mark 1

hyper m.2 v1, 2tb 7600p x2 drives, bootable

I have 2 1080tis and the thunderbolt ex3 card as well, so using all PCIe lanes now.

When I did my first bench with crystal right after installing windows, I got 5737/703/2621/54 Read -- 3158/644/2866/135 Write on 1GB setting, now I'm lucky if I hit 4500 after installing a few programs. Wondering if it's a driver issue or something or it's just how it is.

Boot times seem slower than on a single nvme.

EDIT: After unlocking Ultimate Performance plan, I've now achieved 5055/450/2242/31 Read -- 2858/413/2491/52 on 8GB setting in CDM

Are there any magic settings I am missing perhaps in BIOS or windows or RST?

[Brighttail]

The only really noticeable increase you will see is seq read/write. Pretty much every thing else will suffer due to latency and the fact that VROC is actually slower than regular windows RAID. Boot up times are longer because it has to load up the VROC drivers.