New 2950x Build SR-IOV Req

Hardware Build a PC
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Techs, I am trying to build a new Threadripper rig for mainly running virtual firewalls & programs within KVM. I am looking for a motherboard that supports SR-IOV with ACS (Virt Tech). This is a requirement for the Firewall for proper throughput & setup.

The rumor mill has been pointing to asrock taichi x399 & Asus Prime A x399 so lets take a look at these 2 options. Do x470 mobos support virt tech & are both chipsets made by AS Media?

ASUS Prime A x399
Has SR-IOV but no ACS support?

ASROCK Prime A x399
Has SR-IOV with ACS? Can only do ACS4x PCI Paths?

I only owned ASUS,Gigabyte,MSI in the past. In all the years I only had to call mobo support only once. Still looking at Asrock technical support makes me cringe as there no phone number but just a way to create a ticket. So I prefer to go with ASUS if its an overall better mobo with the features I want.

I wanted to wait for threadripper 3 but with work requiring me to learn new tech I cannot wait any longer to build a home lab.

Current Specs in Flux:
RAM:
[Flare X (for AMD)] F4-2933C14Q-64GFX

DDR4-2933 (PC4-23400)
64GB (16GBx4)
CL14-14-14-34
1.35 Volt
$805 WTF! Are we back in Rambus days?

Shall I go with slower timings at 539?
[[Flare X (for AMD)] F4-2933C16Q-64GFX]

DDR4-2933 (PC4-23400)
64GB (16GBx4)
CL16-16-16-36
1.35 Volt

Planning to run CentOS7 as base OS since I figured is has the most stable version of KVM as its Red Hat’s baby. Does anybody have experience running CentOS vs any other version of Linux they think is more stable for this purpose? I was also hoping to pass thru my old 290x to a Windows Guest to practice gaming! Navi coming soon!

Thanks

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Can I get some love?

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Make sure to tag your topic. I tagged it this time.

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what sr-iov device(s) you going to be using? I’ve used the S7150 and with sriov its… tricky.

I have the x399 prime a and it’s fine, the bios is the most different, but you can do some cool stuff. I really like different boards for different reasons. With threadripper, Asus boards/(sockets?) have been the most finicky to get high density ram to work well/stable, except for the really cheap gigabyte gaming board (1st gen), it was also problematic. Designare and especially the aorus extreeme and “2nd gen” TR motherboards are very much improved. So get one of those, if you can.

SR-IOV isn’t enablable on MSI boards without getting a special bios from support and… with the s7150… it needs more pcie rom bar space

p.s. its a good thing you wated. TR 2950x are on fire sale and this is, hands down, the best desktop cpu you can get right now if you want more than 8 cores.

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Thanks Brah.

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I am going to be passing Intel nics to Cisco Firepower Threat defense virtual firewall. The Gigabyte boards looks legit. Are there confirmed reports in the wild of SR-IOV support and are the immou grouped like the ASROCK x399 Tachi on Gigabyte mobos?

Thanks