ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha X399 HEDT Gaming Motherboard AMD Threadripper 2 (TR4) EATX DDR4 M.2 10G LAN USB 3.1 Gen2

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M6SD5GP/

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813119186

 

A video card in PCIe slot 1 will pass through to a VM if you dump the card's BIOS and pass it in on the VM configuration, however, a nVidia drivers will detect KVM and will not initialize (Code 43). Not passing through the BIOS results in no video for the VM in slot 1. The PCIe 4 (x4) slot can't be passed through (it's grouped with a SATA controller) without PCIe ACS override. Slots 2, 3, & 5 were able to be passed through to a VM with PCIe ACS override set to "Disabled".

 

nVidia drivers do not detect KVM and report a Code 43 if Slot 1 has a graphics card dedicated to unraid and the nVidia card is in a different slot passed through to a VM.

 

To enable full virtualization for unraid in the BIOS:

Advanced > CPU Configuration > SVM Mode: Enabled

Advanced > AMD PBS > Enumerate all IOMMU in IVRS: Enabled

 

NUMA Node info for the 2990WX

Node 0: PCIe 3 & 5, CPUs 0-7/32-39

Node 1: CPUs 16-23/48-55

Node 2: PCIe 1 & 2, CPUs 8-15/40-47

Node 3: CPUs 24-31/56-63

 

Notes:

The onboard video can take a bit to display on power up, be patient.

After a BIOS update, the system will automatically reboot and your screen will be black/off for awhile. Be patient.

6-7 watts at power off
86-88 watts at OS/idle, one spinner powered down, 3 SSD's

No watt measurement under load taken yet

Primary slot-1 video card does not init if not attached to a monitor. No option in the BIOS to change which slot is the primary video.

If you have the BIOS set to remember the last power on state in the event of power loss and it keeps powering back up after shutting down, change the BIOS setting to disabled, save, and then change it back to remember.

The PCIe clamps tend to re-engage after unlocking when you start to pull the graphics card out.

If VM's are extreamly slow to start after flashing a BIOS, load the defaults and reset the Enable virtualization.

 

Onboard Controllers passthrough

A    [1022:145f] 48:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin USB 3.0 Host controller

B    [1022:145f] 0d:00.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin USB 3.0 Host controller

C    [1b21:2142] 0d:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller *1

D    [1b21:2142] 0f:00.0 USB controller: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM2142 USB 3.1 Host Controller *1
E     [1022:43ba] 01:00.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] X399 Series Chipset USB 3.1 xHCI Controller (rev 02) *1

F     [1d6a:07b1] 09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Aquantia Corp. AQC107 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet Controller [AQtion] (rev 02) *2

G     [8086:1539] 05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03) *1

*1 Requires PCIe ACS override=Multifunction

*2 Does not always survive a reboot with a Graphics Card also passed through
 

It looks like the wifi & SATA controllers can be passed through if the PCIe ACS override is set to Multifunction but I did not test and don't plan on testing. I did not find a USB controller for the two USB2 ports located near the lower USB3 port on the motherboard itself.

 

If passing through the 10GB LAN to Windows, install the LAN driver in the VM prior to doing so.

 

The attached IOMMU groups shows the details with three video cards and one USB3 card.

PCIe ACS override=Both.txt

PCIe ACS override=Disabled.txt

PCIe ACS override=Downstream.txt

PCIe ACS override=Multifunction.txt

 

 

Edited October 29, 20196 yr by jbartlett

Added onboard USB3 controllers that could be routed to a VM

Thanks for this, about to head down a similar road.

 

So when passing through a GPU in the secondary slot, do you have anything at all plugged into the Primary, or just a single GPU?

Edited April 20, 20197 yr by cybrnook

8 hours ago, cybrnook said:

So when passing through a GPU in the secondary slot, do you have anything at all plugged into the Primary, or just a single GPU?

Yes, a GeForce GT 1030 single-slot card using it's fan to also bring air over the USB3 card which I have in the 2nd slot.

Updated OP: The 10GB LAN port can be passed through

Testing the intended use of this motherboard, I've been ingesting four 4K Brio's via an USB3 add-on card passed through to a Win10VM and outputting a 4K stream to YouTube as well as outputting those 4K Brio's via NDI. Stable as a rock after 12 hours. I also had 4 additional USB2 web cams (Logitech 922/930, 2 each) passed into it via the motherboard's USB3 ports who's controller was passed through to the VM. The USB2 cams were able to be passed through as a USB passthrough (no controller) though that was a shits-n-grins test.

Edited April 23, 20197 yr by jbartlett

Twice now, the 10GB onboard LAN wouldn't work and would disable/enable itself every 10 seconds or so. It happened using it as unraid's port and when bound to a VM. Rebooting the box fixes. Not sure yet what causes it but when bound to a VM, it started when I rebooted the VM after a day of heavy usage. I've rebooted the VM several times since then with no issues with the 10GB port.

Edited April 24, 20197 yr by jbartlett

Okay - whittled it down a bit. Seems like sometimes the 10GB controller survives a reboot/reset, sometimes it doesn't, when passed through to a VM.

Edited April 24, 20197 yr by jbartlett

17 hours ago, jbartlett said:

It happened using it as unraid's port

This still true?

12 hours ago, cybrnook said:

This still true?

My memory might have been faulty.

Slot 4 can be passed through to a VM with PCIe ACS override set to Multifunction. In progress of testing what else I can pass through in this state.

10 hours ago, jbartlett said:

My memory might have been faulty.

Time for upgrade? Memory is cheap right now 🙂 

Oh man, I wish!

OP updated with additional onboard passthrough information.

 

Also learned that the 10GB passthrough issue only happens if a video card is also passed through. Dropping the video card after the 10GB isn't responding and starting up the VM, the 10GB works - and doesn't if I put the video card back on. The two Quadro's don't need their BIOS dumped and included to work but I wonder if that's somehow affecting things by not doing it.

With Downstream set, I was able to pass a video card and an onboard LAN to a VM once. The VM would start after shutting down but there'd be no response from it. Haven't tried combinations of one or the other yet with Downstream set though I suspect the issue is related to the above. I plan on investigation further but won't be able to until tomorrow.

Fantastic work John. It look like I will be getting this board with a TR 2990wx. I will keep  you updated. 

 

Thanks John.

4 hours ago, authorleon said:

Fantastic work John. It look like I will be getting this board with a TR 2990wx. I will keep  you updated. 

 

Thanks John.

I just picked up a 2990wx to switch into this board. Exciting times! Needed the extra juice.

What do you have in there now, and are you getting rid of it? (CPU wise)

11 hours ago, cybrnook said:

What do you have in there now, and are you getting rid of it? (CPU wise)

2950 - I planned on building two of these, it'll go into the 2nd build.

On 5/1/2019 at 11:29 PM, jbartlett said:

I just picked up a 2990wx to switch into this board. Exciting times! Needed the extra juice.

Fantastic... Well.. As we are in the same boat I am really looking forward to working with you....!!! As I need to install a video capture card. THanks

 

Also excited to be joining. Board I already have, 2950x (Budget just couldn't swing the 2990) and RAM are on their way. Hopefully this weekend I can start.

Edited May 8, 20197 yr by cybrnook

LSTOPO PCIe assignments for the 2990WX

 

48 minutes ago, jbartlett said:

LSTOPO PCIe assignments for the 2990WX

 

Absolutely fantastic work John. 

 

I have my 2990WX and ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha X399 For over a month now and I have not even booted it once. What a pain in the arse. But it's because I'm working too much at the moment and next week I shall boot it for the first time.

 

I am really looking forward to getting UNRAID working on it really well, 

 

Thank you very much John.

7 hours ago, authorleon said:

I have my 2990WX and ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha X399 For over a month now and I have not even booted it once. What a pain in the arse. But it's because I'm working too much at the moment and next week I shall boot it for the first time.

That's kinda funny - the 2990WX sat there for three weeks before I swapped out the 2950X with it and then it sat for another week before I finished putting the CPU cooler on. Same reason, major remodel in progress. Only thing staying the same is one bathtub.

 

FYI - New BIOS released last month

Edited June 6, 20197 yr by jbartlett

this lstopo is great! was trying to do that myself

 

So NUMA#0 or NUMA#1 goes to first PCIE slot ?

 

I'm trying to get more frames on windows not sure which numa node use in project lasso.