MSI X58 Platinum and Intel VT-d support

[kekerode]

Hi All,
I am planning to build i7 920 based rig as my high performance test machine and gaming rig.
Right now I have two choices - ASUS P6T mobo or MSI X58 Platinum mobo.
From pictures and specification of mobo ASUS P6T, I am sure it supports Intel VT-d (option is provided in BIOS).
But for MSI X58 Platinum mobo, in BIOS only Intel VT option is given and that even in CPU Technology Support.
Intel VT-d is feature of chipset and not dependant on CPU. So can anybody please let me know whether Intel VT-d is enabled/supported on MSI X58 Platinum or not?
Regards,
Kekerode

 

[tornoth]

I too am looking to find this out...does the X58 Platinum (or Platinum SLI) have Intel's vt-d enabled, or just support for vt-x?

 

[HU16E]

I'm not sure if any of us forum users know the answer to that. You might try contacting tech. support; http://ocss.msi.com/ 

 

[oschistad]

I, too, am disappointed at the apparent lack of VT-D support on my X58m motherboard. It seems that there are certain ACPI structures which are missing or corrupt, so Xen and VMware ESX are unable to use PCI passthrough. This is very annoying since the chipset and CPU are ready to use this feature, but the BIOS fails to do its job.

And the problem isn't limited to MSI boards either - most of the non-Intel boards based on the X58 chipset have the same problem, and AMI bios seems to be the common demoniator....

 

[Jack the Newbie]

and AMI bios seems to be the common demoniator....

The fact the AMI BIOS Implementation are used is probably not the problems as such.  After all, we are just talking about the BIOS Code Base when we point to AMI or Phoenix/AWARD, not what is actually done with the code.

To keep it simple, there are basically just two explanations that actually make sense:

1. the VT-D is not implemented at all
2. the VT-D is not properly implemented.

Whatever the case is, you need to contact MSI Technical Support about it:

http://support.msi.com/

I suspect that option #1 is the best explanation at the moment.  And the fact that VT-D-Support is obviously not implemented on any other non-Intel-platform that could theoretically support it, is reason enough avoid to turn this whole thing into a "Disappointment" Case. 

Perhaps Intel only allows this feature under a special license.  This would explain why currently mostly genuine Intel Mainboards support this feature. 

I know there is one Asus X58 Board for which there is a specific BIOS Release available that enables VT-D Support.  However (and interestingly) this Release is not officially available which makes me wonder if this has to do with some sort of Intel Veto:

http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/VTdHowTo

ASUS P6T Deluxe (Intel X58 chipset) requires (currently non-public) BIOS update to correct DMAR-table issue

This is actually the only non-Intel-X58-Mainboard that currently has VT-D-Support (non-officially of course).

In terms of support expectations, the reasonable thing to do is to accept the fact that (currently) this feature is simply not part of the feature list of any non-Intel-Mainboard.  Expecting something else and then act disappointed in here is not really necessary or justified.

 

[~Mia~]

VT-D(Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O) is for platform,VT-X is for CPU.I get some information about which chipsets support VT technology from <b><a href=http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-030922.htm>Intel site</a></b>. Maybe it is userful for you. :grin: