sandybridge buying advise - Mainboard with Intel VT-d Technology Directed I/O

[n00b]

hi guys

what S1155 Gigabyte mainboard is equipped with the Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O feature ?
It seems intel is now shipping the bugfixed B3 chipsets. Iam going to order a S1155 server system in the next days.

cpu will be a i5 2400 or 2500

for example..... will be the P67A-UD3 B3 support the VT-d feature ?

In the past i was totally satisfied with all my gigabyte hardware. I hope someone can help me with my request.

best regards

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte forum.

I think that the board does indeed support VTD. The link here is to the website page for this board:

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3763#sp

[n00b]

I dowloaded the manual of the P67A-UD3 now. There is only a "Virtualization Technology" option - see manual page 42
This seems to be the the Vanderpool VT-x technology for virtualization.

I want to be sure before buying if its supporting vt-d virtualization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization

[Dark Mantis]

I will ask our Tech support and get back to you with the answer.

[Dalamar]

The boards support VT-d but afaik the K series cpus do not.

In which case if you plan to use VT-d, then get a H67 board and non-K cpu.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2133898

Pretty idiotic move on Intel's part. With the direction Intel is going, I hope AMD gets their act together and crushes them.

[n00b]

as mentioned my choice will be a non"k" cpu. AMD is NO option for me. Intel has better efficiency / performance per watt.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-efficienct-32-nm,2831.html

There are many confusing facts if mainboards support VT-d or not. TheVT-d feature must be supported by the cpu + chipset + bios.
For the p55-usb3 gigabyte provides a unofficial bios with vt-d support. Maybe they doing the same for S1155 customers.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/42234-ga-p55-usb3-missing-features-vt-d.html

[Dalamar]

There are many confusing facts if mainboards support VT-d or not. TheVT-d feature must be supported by the cpu + chipset + bios.
For the p55-usb3 gigabyte provides a unofficial bios with vt-d support. Maybe they doing the same for S1155 customers.

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/42234-ga-p55-usb3-missing-features-vt-d.html

P55 != P67/H67. P55 = 1? 2 years old? You can't compare it to the brand new series.

Sandy Bridge was designed to support VT-d from the start; we're still left clueless why they dropped it on the k models at all.

[n00b]

My prob isnt the K model strategy. I can choose a non K model .. prob solved.  A Virtualization Server based on a i5-2500 (non K) is still a good value for money deal compared to a Intel Xeon Server.
The prob is still which s1155 board from gigabyte will support vt-d out of the box.Sure, i cant compare the p55 and the p67. But for the old p55 platform Gigabyte solved the prob and there is solution for the vt-d support prob. I will be happy if gigabyte will release  bioses with vt-d support for customers with virtualization projects.

[Dark Mantis]

I dowloaded the manual of the P67A-UD3 now. There is only a "Virtualization Technology" option - see manual page 42
This seems to be the the Vanderpool VT-x technology for virtualization.

I want to be sure before buying if its supporting vt-d virtualization.

I have just received an answer from Gigabyte regarding this particular issue. It is as follows.

"Currently our P67/H67 series motherboards do not support VT-D. They support  Virtualization Technology (VT-x) now (bios option "Virtualization Technology") which is different from VT-D (Virtualization for Directed I/O). But we can prepare special bios on customer's request. It usually takes a few weeks. The request can be applied by GGTS for instance for the particular MB model.

The same situation applies to support of VT-D on our socket 1156 and 1366 motherboards.
Please note that the CPU also needs to support VT-D to have all platform supporting this technology."

[n00b]

Hello Dark Mantis

This are really good news. Thanks for your help with this issue. Will request for the special bios now. I ordered 2x GA-P67A UD3 B3 now. When all is going fine i will post my success story here.

[Dark Mantis]

Glad to be of help and that you have managed to get sorted. Yes, please do let us know how you get on.

[runn3R]

Hi All

I have received special bios with support of this function for P67A-UD3-B3. If anyone is interested please let me know by replying here, then I will post it.

[absic]

Hi All

I have received special bios with support of this function for P67A-UD3-B3. If anyone is interested please let me know by replying here, then I will post it.

Just one of the reasons why I like Gigabyte. 

[Dark Mantis]

That's good news runn3R. I know it doesn't affect a huge number of people but for those that do use it that will make things easier.

[GMontag]

I'm running into this same problem with the H67MA-UD2H-B3. How would I go about making a similar request for a BIOS for that board that has vt-d enabled?