Archives Discussions

[bvarnai]

Can I expect AMD-V and IOMMU in a desktop combo?

I have been planning a home brew virtualization server, on a tight budget. Server grade components are out scope, so I have to decide between Intel's VT-x/VT-d or AMD-V/IOMMU. By now it's pretty clear that Intel has carefully positioned it's products, not to make these technologies in easy reach in the mainstream segment of 2ng generation i3/i5 with LGA1155. Intel proved again, why don't like way they do business.

On AMD's website, there is insufficient information on which processors and chipsets are capable. However it states, all processors are AMD-V enabled. I got a few questions to clear things up for the Phenom II line :

• AMD-V includes IOMMU? Or it's a different chipset feature?
  
• AMD-V is supported in alll Phenom II processors?
• Which chipset support IOMMU? Do I need a supported BIOS?

Thanks! I am lost in the virtualization marketing mess.

[optiplex]

only limited suport.

[bnborg]

I am using Microsoft Hyper-V on two servers with Phenom II x6 1090T, MSI 870A-G54 (870/SB850 chipset), and 16 GB of DDR3 1333.  You can build such a machine for around $600 these days.

I previously used Hyper-V with Phenom x4 9600, Phenom II x4 940 and Athlon II x4 630 on motherboards with 785G/SB700 chipsets.  I think most, if not all, of the AM2, AM2+ and AM3 cpus and the chipsets that support them support AMD-V.  I don't know what IOMMU is or whether my current or previous setups have it.

[bingo88]

I've only seen IOMMU (AMD-Vi) on certain Opteron chipsets so far...