I recently purchased the ASRock Z97 Extreme6 motherboard and it should be arriving around Friday. This motherboard will be replacing an Asus Z97-WS that I had purchased recently, and I had mistakenly believed that the Asus board would support Virtualization over Directed I/O (VT-d). As it turns out, Asus claims that both the Z87 and Z97 chipsets don't support VT-d! I know that ASRock is one of the few manufacturers that have consistently supported VT-d on their motherboards, and I'm glad to be getting one of these boards for this reason (I wish I would have done so from the beginning).
I'd like to ask about VT-d support, and specifically what tests are done to ensure VT-d is supported. Does Intel require certain tests to pass in order for motherboard manufacturers to claim VT-d support? The Asus rep I talked to about this said there were 50 VT-d tests, and that none of their boards pass all of them (which is why they are not claiming VT-d support). But instead of taking blame and stopping there, he said the Z87 and Z97 chipsets don't support VT-d, and that any manufacturer claiming differently had more lax testing standards than Asus. He seemed to forget that his company also claimed support on some of their own Z87 boards. All of this conversation is in the following thread if anyone is interested:
ASUS Z97 Motherboards - Official Support Thread - Page 14
I know VT-d works on ASRock motherboards, as there are numerous threads on various forums where people have posted successful VT-d tests on Z87-based systems. I'm sure the same will be true for Z97 boards. It makes no sense to me that Intel would produce multiple chips like the i7-4790, which has VT-d support and is Z97-compatible, if VT-d wasn't possible with a Z97 chipset.
If there are 50 VT-d tests from Intel, then does anyone have a link to details on these tests? Also, how do the ASRock motherboards do on these tests? I'm wary of how this VT-d support has been handled by all parties involved at this point. My goal is to build a computer that will be used for virtualization, gaming, work, multiple users. A critical aspect of this is VT-d and VGA passthrough. ASRock seems to be the best source for motherboards that adequately handle this technology, so hopefully they can provide details on this
I'd like to ask about VT-d support, and specifically what tests are done to ensure VT-d is supported. Does Intel require certain tests to pass in order for motherboard manufacturers to claim VT-d support? The Asus rep I talked to about this said there were 50 VT-d tests, and that none of their boards pass all of them (which is why they are not claiming VT-d support). But instead of taking blame and stopping there, he said the Z87 and Z97 chipsets don't support VT-d, and that any manufacturer claiming differently had more lax testing standards than Asus. He seemed to forget that his company also claimed support on some of their own Z87 boards. All of this conversation is in the following thread if anyone is interested:
ASUS Z97 Motherboards - Official Support Thread - Page 14
I know VT-d works on ASRock motherboards, as there are numerous threads on various forums where people have posted successful VT-d tests on Z87-based systems. I'm sure the same will be true for Z97 boards. It makes no sense to me that Intel would produce multiple chips like the i7-4790, which has VT-d support and is Z97-compatible, if VT-d wasn't possible with a Z97 chipset.
If there are 50 VT-d tests from Intel, then does anyone have a link to details on these tests? Also, how do the ASRock motherboards do on these tests? I'm wary of how this VT-d support has been handled by all parties involved at this point. My goal is to build a computer that will be used for virtualization, gaming, work, multiple users. A critical aspect of this is VT-d and VGA passthrough. ASRock seems to be the best source for motherboards that adequately handle this technology, so hopefully they can provide details on this
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