X470 motherboards IOMMU groups

I am buying a new Ryzen “workstation” (R5 2600) for light IOMMU/VFIO and would like some help. Here in China it seems X470 boards are the cheapest option now, so I am considering:

  • Biostar X470GT8 (apparently very picky with RAM, but I guess it should work with B-Die Samsung which are plenty here, will I be able to put it to work with new AGESA BIOS?)
  • ASUS X470 motherboards
  • AsRock X470 Taichi - obviously no compromise, but also much more expensive

I read here on the forums that same level of BIOS updates should result in same IOMMU groupings, so I’d like to know if the preference of AsRock Taichi’s here is based on multiple failures to make IOMMU work on other X470’s or is it just a point of convenient reference.

Many thanks in advance for your responses.

I’ve always been a fan of Asus motherboards. I know they have had some delays in updates lately, but their motherboards and other hardware (including their laptops) seems to be well designed and sturdy.

I feel their Prime/TUF series are well priced for the quality of the gear.

I just ordered the Biostar X470GT8 and will try some RAM configurations first - probably on Sunday. If it is really picky with sticks I might switch to an AsRock or ASUS board.

ECC works, IOMMU works, but does this IOMMU Grouping look alright (compared to Asrock X470 Taichi for example)?

IOMMU Group 0 00:01.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 10 00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:790b] (rev 59)
IOMMU Group 10 00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:790e] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 0 [1022:1460]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 1 [1022:1461]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 2 [1022:1462]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 3 [1022:1463]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 4 [1022:1464]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 5 [1022:1465]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 6 [1022:1466]
IOMMU Group 11 00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 7 [1022:1467]
IOMMU Group 12 01:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:43d0] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 01:00.1 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset SATA Controller [1022:43c8] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 01:00.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Bridge [1022:43c6] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 02:00.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 02:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 02:02.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 02:03.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 02:04.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 12 05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1539] (rev 03)
IOMMU Group 13 08:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GK208B [GeForce GT 710] [10de:128b] (rev a1)
IOMMU Group 13 08:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GK208 HDMI/DP Audio Controller [10de:0e0f] (rev a1)
IOMMU Group 14 09:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin/Raven/Raven2 PCIe Dummy Function [1022:145a]
IOMMU Group 15 09:00.2 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Platform Security Processor [1022:1456]
IOMMU Group 16 09:00.3 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin USB 3.0 Host controller [1022:145f]
IOMMU Group 17 0a:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin/Renoir PCIe Dummy Function [1022:1455]
IOMMU Group 18 0a:00.2 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7901] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 19 0a:00.3 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) HD Audio Controller [1022:1457]
IOMMU Group 1 00:01.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) PCIe GPP Bridge [1022:1453]
IOMMU Group 2 00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 3 00:03.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 4 00:03.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) PCIe GPP Bridge [1022:1453]
IOMMU Group 5 00:04.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 6 00:07.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 7 00:07.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus B [1022:1454]
IOMMU Group 8 00:08.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 9 00:08.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus B [1022:1454]

Please reply if these IOMMU groups feel sane to you. I intend to run a host on Linux and maybe some VGA passthrough for light work in Windows (MacOS for my wife if it is possible). Comparing to the Asrock X470 Taichi it seems rather different and a lot of “bridges”, will this be problematic in setting up VFIO?
I have a 1 week return policy for the motherboard and should decide until Saturday, otherwise I may be stuck with it.
Thank you.