Re: [Xen-devel] IOMMU and AMD 890fx

[Sander Eikelenboom <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, June 3, 2010, 10:53:29 AM, you wrote:

> The ASRock 890FX Deluxe3 doesn't support the IOMMU technology too.
> http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=383&threadid=134410

> I'm very disappointed that main board manufacturers don't enable all
> features for the processor and main board.


> On Thu, June 3, 2010 10:19 am, Sander Eikelenboom wrote:
>> Thx for the forum threads, i have changed the wiki about vt-d/iommu to
>> reflect these new experiences.
>>
>> I was hoping AMD would be able to do a better job than Intel, and have
>> learned from the BIOS missery Intel has with there VT-d, and instruct/help
>> the manafacturers getting their bioses right.

> I have a feeling that it's not AMD but the main board manufacturers who
> don't enable IOMMU in the BIOS. (It might be a hidden feature, for people
> who want to hack the BIOS at your own risk).
> http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Ofcourse you are right, but as chipset manufacturer I would be pretty pissed 
and contact them.
Also I don't know how hard AMD and Intel make it to implement the feature in 
the bios. Since most of the time it's or disabled or broken.
On the other hand, they only support "microsoft windows" and that doesn't do a 
lot with an IOMMU. So in essence it's an unsupported feature.

It's too bad though, it seemed to be a very nice virtualization platform, 6 
cores, iommu, affordable ...

Hmm guess i'm going to write every manufacturer if they supported, and/or if 
there are plans to support it.
Hopefully one will do it in the end ...

--
Sander

>> It's a pity that a nice feature isn't supported. No sense in upgrading my
>> setup then to a six core and mobo with IOMMU. :(
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sander
>>
>>
>>
>>> Gigabyte motherboards don't support IOMMU:
>>> http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-890fxa-ud5-iommu-bios-switch-39801/
>>
>>> MSI boards have the same problems:
>>> http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.xen.user/58630
>>
>>> ASUS Crosshair IV Formula has IOMMU, but I cannot find if it works with
>>> Xen.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 11:38 PM, Sander Eikelenboom
>>> <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>
>>>> Hello Wei,
>>>>
>>>> I hope motherboard manufacturers do a better job with supporting this
>>>> iommu
>>>> in the bios than they did with intel's. Especially Asus made a mess of
>>>> it,
>>>> and hasn't fixed it in newer bioses for multiple motherboards.
>>>> And since all motherboard reviews don't mention nor test the iommu it's
>>>> hard to know upfront if it's supported :-(
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Sander
>>>>
>>>> > Leonardo,
>>>>
>>>> > I can confirm that AMD 890FX supports IOMMU v1.22. It was briefly
>>>> mentioned by external sites, such as
>>>> http://techreport.com/articles.x/18825. It looks like Asus, Gigabyte
>>>> and
>>>> MSI will ship motherboards with 890FX chipset. Xen 4.0 fully supports
>>>> AMD
>>>> IOMMU v1.2. Note that IOMMU needs support from BIOS (ACPI IVRS table).
>>>> Please pay a bit attention to this area.
>>>>
>>>> > -Wei
>>>>
>>>> > From: xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
>>>> xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Leonardo Prosperi
>>>> > Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 1:02 PM
>>>> > To: xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> > Subject: [Xen-devel] IOMMU and AMD 890fx
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> > Hi,
>>>> > All the reviews for the AMD 890fx chipset reported that it supports
>>>> IOMMU
>>>> v1.2.
>>>> > But I cannot find any mention of that on AMD site.
>>>>
>>>> > Does 890fx support IOMMU?
>>>> > Do 890fx motherboards with IOMMU exist?
>>>> > Does Xen support 890fx?
>>>>
>>>> > Regards,
>>>> > Leonardo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>  Sander                            mailto:linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Best regards,
>>  Sander                            mailto:linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xen-devel mailing list
>> Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
>>





-- 
Best regards,
 Sander                            mailto:linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel