I'm trying to build a white box ESXi server with VT-d so I can do some I/O tests with VMFS5 vs RDM (http://communities.vmware.com/message/2025131). I have bought a i7-3770 which definitely has VT-d enabled (note the 3770K doesn't) and was going to use an ASUS P8Z77V-LX motherboard until I read this post and others suggesting ASUS don't have VT-d support.
Edit: ASUS note: I found http://support.asus.com/Search/KDetail.aspx?SLanguage=en&no=FAAEFAAE-E173-829C-A73E-719972F26277&t=2 which says "For the P8B WS motherboard, you have to update the BIOS to 0604 or later version to support the VT-d function. And you can enable the function in Advanced > System Agent Configuration > VT-d of BIOS menu." Unfortunately to run an IB processor you need the new (16 May) BIOS 2009 version but to upgrade the MB from 0904 (previous version) you need a SandyBridge processor...
So, whilst it's more expensive, the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H does seem to support VT-d (see page 54 of manual v1003 http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4139#manual). Norbs - have you had VT-d successfully working (e.g. USB pass through into a VM)?
Now, looking at NICs - the Gigabyte website and manual it doesn't give the NIC chips, only:
- 1 x Atheros GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN1)
- 1 x Intel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) (LAN2)
There's a discussion here where someone has had trouble with the drivers for a physcial OS install. Gigabyte only have Windows drivers to download at the moment. Any clues as to what the NIC chips are? It might be possible to include the drivers from somewhere in an oem.tgz if we can work out what they are.
Norbs - apart from this is ESXi 5 working OK?
Message was edited by: Simon.H - added ASUS note