Haswell/socket 1150 Motherboard with VT-d

Hardware Hub Motherboards
1

I'm looking to replace my aging i3 build, and want to go as close to Linux only as I can. I have been reading about VT-d, where I can install Linux (Mint is my distro of choice) and have Windows 7 as a Virtual machine with direct access to a graphics card for gaming.

To give a general idea of skill: I have would consider myself proficiant (intermediate) in Linux, but have not venturerd into bios/uefi except for boot order and to turn on virtualization (to run x64 OS in virtual machines). In hardware I built my current machine and 4 others (for friends and family).

I can not seem to find a list of Haswell motherboards with VT-d as a feature. I keep getting contridicting info on wheather Z87 supports it, or its just bios versions

I have also read that the haswell 'k' processors do not support Vt-d. So I'm looking at 4770

I also am not sure if the standard requires a compatible graphics card. I'm hoping for GTX 780, but can't find any successful tests.

Any help would be appreaciated.

2

ever thought about an AMD FX8350 8 core cpu? instead of a much more expensive intel i7?

Because it runns VM´s like a champ.

But if you want intel maybe its interessting to look op ivy bridge e 4820K (wenn it comes on sale)  or if that cpu is to expensive,  the i7-3820 X79, is also a cheaper but good choice.

3

I am no expert on this. I have a 4770k and the ROG Hero, and I was able to turn "virtualisation" on in the BIOS. I have read claims that Haswell doesn't support virtualisation, so it might be dependent on the mobo, or simply a misunderstanding.

Hope this gives some indiciation.

4

I am really happy with my 4770 and it's virtualisation capabilities (fooling around with different OSes). 4770k lacks some new instruction sets (TS-X) which may be hindering it in the long run, intel trusted execution and VT-d for a little overclock (compared to the previous generation and AMD counterparts). If you're not interested in OCing then either a 4770 or an FX 8350 will satisfy you.

 

5

you can run a VM on a i7-4770K  VT-d is just a feuture, that makes a vm better utilize hardware by providing better application compatibility inside the vm. but in my opinnion its realy a must have feuture.

in other words VT-d is a feuture that makes it easier to add hardware in a VM

6

http://superuser.com/questions/622505/enabling-vt-d-on-a-haswell-4770k

It doesn't appear to be on the unlocked processors.

7

yes indeed, a i7-4770 is a good choice, so will be a i7-3820, or FX8350.

8

I have the same problem. I didn't want to write about it because it seems like I have to write nothing but negative stuff, and that's not what I want to do. I consider VT-d as a necessary feature because it's obviously the most important technology for the moment. But VT-d has been nuked on X87/Z87/H87. There are a few boards with those chipsets that support it, but not much. The only chipset whereby all boards support VT-d that I know of is Q87, and most B87. There is no real reason why the more expensive X87/H87/Z87 chipset boards won't support VT-d, except that Xen Hypervisor and other virtualization "on the metal" is actively being made impossible on the most popular consumer platforms. Asus boards are the worst, there are practically no desktop Asus boards that support VT-d, yet most of their mid-tier-and-up laptop boards support it. Gigabyte has VT-d support on its cheap mainstream boards, but not on its expensive "gaming" boards, AsRock tries to implement it as much as they can, but not all BIOS is ready yet. It's better to either go for a laptop, or to stay with an older platform. The way things are constantly being manipulated these days is really pissing me off. Why is it that it's suddenly not possible anymore to run closed source operating systems and programs in a safe container without performance loss...

It's always the same story, if there is something new coming out and the marketing boys make a lot of noise, like with Haswell, or Asus with their new mobos, you just know that they're backstabbing you. And it's not only VT-d, there are other things, especially on the UEFI level, that are less than kosher, and they don't talk about it, and there is an obvious information stop about it. I've asked several Asus people for some clarity on the usability of their boards in a serious computing environment, which pretty much implies being able to run hardware virtualization and Xen Hypervisor, but they're just avoiding having to give a clear answer, so that means that they're up to something that isn't right.

Screw all the useless bling bling Windows bloatware Asus provides with it's boards now, either they make good quality boards with full linux support and VT-x and -d, or they can fuck off as far as I'm concerned. With all the bad decisions they've made in the last few years when it comes to their desktop boards, they've lost quite a few customers, including me, except for their laptops, which are still the best available, and I will not buy anything else but an Asus laptop for the moment. And those get even better, because from this month on, most mainstream laptops by Asus are now being offered liberated from Windows, with Ubuntu preinstalled, no locked bootloader, a functional secure boot system based on Fedora, and 100 USD cheaper. Sometimes I wonder if the divisions at Asus even talk to eachother, because the laptops and desktop hardware divisions are such different worlds. I just hope Gigabyte doesn't start like Asus, because I'll be switching over to AsRock in no time and will be taking a lot of potential customers with me.

Anyway, the best solution for the moment is to buy a Q87-based Intel board, or to buy somewhat older technology, or to go with AMD. The Intel Q87 and VT-d enabled B87 boards are not that expensive, and the Q87 board has all the virtualization features enabled. And no, it doesn't work with a k-processor, you'll have to stay with processors that are popular in business machines, because even consumer or "gamer" CPUs are being blocked from VT-d. Why? Other than evil intent? Noone seems to know...

9

Thanks for all the responcess so far, I didn't explain in my issue very well: I want to run Linux Mint as the only OS, and when I do gaming I want to do it in a VM, and the VM needs to have a way of directly accessing my graphics card. I read intel has a solution called VT-d, but have no idea of implementation.

 MisteryAngel: I would definitly go AMD if it is the solution to my original issue, I am currently looking and their standard is called AMD-Vi, which looks like exacly what I'm looking for. Right now I am checking out the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IOMMU-supporting_hardware and checking NewEgg and Canada Computers for reviews. I'll update here if I find anything promising.

Berserker: I had to turn on "Virtualization" in my laptop Bios for example to have an 64 bit OS in VMware Player on a laptop. What I'm looking for is more advanced than that, I need the VM to be able to interface directly with the graphics card for the sake of gaming, so far it looks like intel and AMD have worked independently on standards to allow this.

TropiKo: The 'k' Haswell processors do not have theis VT-d capacity, I am reading that the Ivy Bridge 'k' processors did, so I could go to 3820k, or as MiseryAngel recomended: go AMD.

Zoltan: yeah, I don't post to a couple of fourms any more becuse of hate, I have never seen it here. You are a lot better at discribing my issue: I can't find a motherboard that does exacly what I needed, I'm going to have a closeer look at AsRock, but I am also looking at the AMD-Vi standard. It looks like there are Gigabyte and Asus gaming boards with AMD-Vi.