Monstieur
Yeah, File Explorer does use the cache. Other applications were always slow for me.

Which applications were slow for you, please? I would like to try them to see what I get.
 

Monstieur
I was able to use the full 280 GB cache on my Optane 900p just a few months ago before I got rid of my last HDD. My incremental backups are over 100 GB and they all went straight to cache at maximum speed. The apps are just hosted on the Microsoft Store. There's no indication they aren't being developed by Intel. You can download the native version directly from Intel. The 64 GB limit was for non-Optane SSDs when using Intel Smart Response Technology as a caching solution.

Intel tech support themselves told me on their forums that they are EOLing their own version, that everything is handed over to Microsoft, and that whole drive support was never official so whatever Microsoft Store version has will be official.

ZoranC
Which applications were slow for you, please? I would like to try them to see what I get.
 
Intel tech support themselves told me on their forums that they are EOLing their own version, that everything is handed over to Microsoft, and that whole drive support was never official so whatever Microsoft Store version has will be official.

Remuxing 4K video with MKVToolnix. Creating ISO images from video files. These activities always wrote at the speed of the HDD. Writing to a standalone SSD was at the expected speed.
 
Optane just uses the regular RST driver that's developed by Intel. It's used for all of their chipsets' SATA and NVMe ports. The application shell around it doesn't matter. The driver doesn't come with the application from the Microsoft Store. You need to install the driver separately or from Windows Update. You don't even need Windows to use Optane - you can set it up in the UEFI for the full capacity of the Optane drive and Windows will see the configuration when you login.

Thanks for the information Monstieur. That will help clarify things when I install it on Win10+. I am however using it on Win7 and it doesn't work like it does on other motherboards. VROC,RST and RSTe all are supported in Win7, but the Dark seems to have compatibility problems with it since there is not another raid device listed besides the c220/c600 sata driver. There should be another raid controller that accepts the vmd nvme raid driver but it isn't listed. You mention that a key isn't needed but in Win7 since there is no storage spaces it has to rely on the rst/irst drivers to work. If a data drive is created there is a 90 day trial before it can't be accessed anymore. I am going to do an install in Win10 as well after I get it all working in Win7 for my older programs. It sound like Win10 will be much easier. 
 
It looks to me like it has to have an Intel key and Intel drives to not have a trial period and to make it bootable in Win7 on X299. So my decision to replace the Dark will be made on how it supports nvme raid in Win7. The Dark is compatible with everything else in Win7 so it might be something they chose not to include in their bios, while other manufacturers have. I'll have more information on what works later in the week. I was wanting a 6 drive Raid 5 array, but to make it bootable it can't span vmd's so I will have to do a 2 drive raid 0 and a 4 drive raid 0 or 5 most likely.

There was a period where NVMe RSTe was renamed to VROC while SATA RSTe was still called RSTe. As of now both are called VROC. The consumer boards don't even have SATA RSTe as it's a workstation / server board feature. Consumer boards are just NVMe VROC and SATA / NVMe RST.
 
You can create a VROC RAID array on a secondary installation of Windows and it will work indefinitely on your primary installation without using the trial.
 
I can confirm that you can create a RAID0 array with Intel drives straight from the UEFI without a key. Non-Intel drives will never boot on X299 in any RAID configuration with or without a key. The feature is simply broken on all X299 boards.

JK_DCthere is not another raid device listed besides the c220/c600 sata driver. There should be another raid controller that accepts the vmd nvme raid driver but it isn't listed.

The VROC device will appear only when you actually have an NVMe drive in the slot where VROC is enabled. You don't need to create a RAID array for this. The moment you enable VROC on a slot, the native drive will disappear from Windows and be replaced with a VROC device. It creates a separate VROC device for each individual drive if you have not created a RAID array yet.

Monstieur

ZoranC
Which applications were slow for you, please? I would like to try them to see what I get.
 
Intel tech support themselves told me on their forums that they are EOLing their own version, that everything is handed over to Microsoft, and that whole drive support was never official so whatever Microsoft Store version has will be official.

Remuxing 4K video with MKVToolnix. Creating ISO images from video files. These activities always wrote at the speed of the HDD. Writing to a standalone SSD was at the expected speed.

I'm not using MKVToolnix so I can't comment with certainty what might be going there. All I know is that I haven't yet noticed any signs of write cache being bypassed and that Crystal DiskMark sequential write speeds didn't show that either. So if my experience doesn't end up shown as inaccurate (I'm not in position to test right now) only things that might explain difference in our experiences are either you created pool with Microsoft's default WBC size which is too small and cache is getting trashed, or those apps use I/O requests that force flush cache, or both.
 

Monstieur
Optane just uses the regular RST driver that's developed by Intel. It's used for all of their chipsets' SATA and NVMe ports. The application shell around it doesn't matter. The driver doesn't come with the application from the Microsoft Store. You need to install the driver separately or from Windows Update. You don't even need Windows to use Optane - you can set it up in the UEFI for the full capacity of the Optane drive and Windows will see the configuration when you login.

I don't know why statements by Intel's tech support and some other Optane users contradict yours but even if they are incorrect and one could still use full size of Optane drive for cache I feel Optane in such use case is still not for me. My purpose for NVMe + HDD mix is storage volume that is noticeably faster than HDD majority of the time while having much lower cost per TB than pure NVMe. For work where ultimate speed is critical I am using different volume that is pure NVMe at the price per TB that is still much less than Optane.

Just came across another reason why Optane would be a no go for me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fw3bkmm3o0

Monstieur

JK_DCthere is not another raid device listed besides the c220/c600 sata driver. There should be another raid controller that accepts the vmd nvme raid driver but it isn't listed.

The VROC device will appear only when you actually have an NVMe drive in the slot where VROC is enabled. You don't need to create a RAID array for this. The moment you enable VROC on a slot, the native drive will disappear from Windows and be replaced with a VROC device. It creates a separate VROC device for each individual drive if you have not created a RAID array yet.

OK I got 2 670p's in today and put it in the hyper m2 card. I see them in the selection area and can create an array and it says it is bootable. If I enable VROC for the slot it's in I get a 94 error and the pc refuses to POST. If I leave it to non-VROC and I go to disk manager it shows the drives as separate and not in raid at all. If I install the VROC driver it doesn't recognize my sata raid controller but shows the sata drives. It doesn't show the nvme drives at all. I think I have to have the VMD raid driver but it isn't there. I am hoping when I put a VROC key in the slot that it will show the raid device so I can install the driver. It works seamlessly on my AsRock board. It works exactly as you say. So my board might be defective. Are you able to boot the dark with a hyper m2 card in a slot with vroc enabled?
 

JK_DC
OK I got 2 670p's in today and put it in the hyper m2 card. I see them in the selection area and can create an array and it says it is bootable. If I enable VROC for the slot it's in I get a 94 error and the pc refuses to POST. If I leave it to non-VROC and I go to disk manager it shows the drives as separate and not in raid at all. If I install the VROC driver it doesn't recognize my sata raid controller but shows the sata drives. It doesn't show the nvme drives at all. I think I have to have the VMD raid driver but it isn't there. I am hoping when I put a VROC key in the slot that it will show the raid device so I can install the driver. It works seamlessly on my AsRock board. It works exactly as you say. So my board might be defective. Are you able to boot the dark with a hyper m2 card in a slot with vroc enabled?
 

The VROC device which requires the VROC v7 or v8 driver will show up only when VROC is enabled in the BIOS. You don't need a VROC key and don't need to create an array for this. While VROC is enabled, the NVMe drives will not show up in Windows until you install the driver. You cannot install the VROC VMD driver for any other device. Merely enabling VROC will replace each NVMe drive with a VROC device. When you create a VROC RAID array, the individual VROC devices will be replaced with a single VROC device.
 
Error 94 is a PCI device enumeration error. It could be a compatibility issue with other devices sharing the PCIe lanes that belong to the same VMD on which VROC is enabled. If you have the Hyper M.2 in PE4, disconnect PE3 even if you use only x8 lanes in PE4. You can view the VMD grouping in the BIOS. The same applies to PE1 / PE2, and PM1 / PU1 / PE6 / PM2 / PU2.
 
I have used the Hyper M.2 card with 4x non-bootable non-Intel drives in PE4 in VROC mode. I have also used 2x bootable Intel Optane drives in PE6 and PU2 in VROC mode.

Monstieur
The VROC device which requires the VROC v7 or v8 driver will show up only when VROC is enabled in the BIOS. You don't need a VROC key and don't need to create an array for this. While VROC is enabled, the NVMe drives will not show up in Windows until you install the driver. You cannot install the VROC VMD driver for any other device. Merely enabling VROC will replace each NVMe drive with a VROC device. When you create a VROC RAID array, the individual VROC devices will be replaced with a single VROC device.
 
Error 94 is a PCI device enumeration error. It could be a compatibility issue with other devices sharing the PCIe lanes that belong to the same VMD on which VROC is enabled. If you have the Hyper M.2 in PE4, disconnect PE3 even if you use only x8 lanes in PE4. You can view the VMD grouping in the BIOS. The same applies to PE1 / PE2, and PM1 / PU1 / PE6 / PM2 / PU2.
 
I have used the Hyper M.2 card with 4x non-bootable non-Intel drives in PE4 in VROC mode. I have also used 2x bootable Intel Optane drives in PE6 and PU2 in VROC mode.

OK I was able to get the driver to install by enabling VROC on PE3 which has nothing in it, but it doesn't help since it has to enabled for the slot the card is in. I can not boot it in PE4 with VROC enabled. It gives a 94 error. I will try it again, but I disabled all other slots from bifurcation except PE4 and it won't boot. I only have a video card, the hyper card and a wireless card in PE5. None of those should conflict with PE4. The big question is why it won't boot in PE4 with VROC enabled, but it will boot with non-VROC enabled? Both are bifurcated.
 
The other interesting thing is I can create a raid in the rst page in bios on pe4, but only if computer attached storage is on. I believe you said rst doesn't work on pe4?