NVMe RAID on Zenith Extreme

Last updated on February 26, 2020

 

Configuring bootable NVMe RAID on Zenith Extreme motherboard from ASUS is a painless and easy process. In addition, updating the BIOS while keeping your array working is also hassle free. Actions described in this post were performed on 1601 and 1701 versions of BIOS.

 

---

BOOTABLE NVMe RAID ARRAY CONFIG

You need at least 2 NVMe M.2 drives – if using only two, the DIMM.2 riser card and slot is a perfect place to put them in. You get x4 PCIe lanes per SSD, and since it’s a Threadripper board, you will not suffer any lane limitations on your standard PCIe slots, like Intel boards do. After that, in Zenith Extreme BIOS settings go to Boot – CSM (Compatibility Support Module) section, and configure the following:

• Launch CSM: Enabled
• Boot Device Control: UEFI Only
• Boot from Network Devices: UEFI Driver First
• Boot from Storage Devices: UEFI Driver First
• Boot from PCI-E Expansion Devices: UEFI Driver First

Go to the Advanced tab – SATA Configuration:

• in SATA Mode: do NOT set SATA to RAID. Leave it at AHCI
• in the AMD PBS setting (at the bottom of the page) set the NVMe RAID Mode to Enabled

Now you should see the RAIDXpert Raid Configuration option, at the very bottom of the tab, under the AMD PBS settings. Erase the NON-RAID volume (if it’s there) and create a new one.

You are ready to start Windows installation. On the screen where it asks where to install the system – click on Load Drivers and load AMD RAID drivers (order is important):

• rcbottom.inf
• rcraid.inf
• rcconfig.inf

RAID volume will become visible during the process of loading the drivers, but make sure to load all three of them, in correct order. After the last of the 3 drivers is loaded, your RAID volume is ready to choose as the OS installation drive.

 

---

BIOS UPDATE

RAID array data is stored on the chip, so there is nothing to fear while updating the BIOS. Your array settings and information will not be touched, however you will temporarily lose access to the system. First, don’t worry. Second, all you have to do to recover is to set up a bootable RAID again, which is explained right above.

For BIOS update, I used EzFlash 3 utility, which is included in the Zenith Extreme BIOS Utilities tab. It’s pretty self-explaining, just set up your IP or use DHCP and let it do its job.