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

[Jens Krehbiel-GrÃther <xen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all!

I got this answer in a forum about this MSI board:

...
I have this board (MSI 890FXA-GD70), there is no bios support for IOMMU. 
MSI presales told me that it was supported before I bought it, I am 
thinking there might have been some miscommunication there. I have been 
waiting about a week for a response as to when/if they plan on adding 
support in the bios.
...


Jens

Am 10.06.2010 09:23, schrieb Sander Eikelenboom:
> Hi All,
>
> I have send a mail to a number of motherboard manufacturers about the IOMMU 
> support in their bioses.
> At the moment MSI has replied (in Dutch) that the MSI 890FXA-GD70 should 
> support it. But it would be nice if it has user confirmation.
>
> I'm  thinking about putting a table on the wiki, stating the replies from tech. 
> supports, and a column with user experiences.
>
>
> --
>
> Sander
>
>
> Thursday, June 10, 2010, 9:12:03 AM, you wrote:
>
> > Hi!
> > I ordered a Asus Crosshair Formula IV for testing. Will report next week
> > if it works.
> > And I contacted Asrock support again and told them that Asus supports
> > it. They will give the informations to their bios-team in Taiwan.
> > Meanwhile there is a very good and active discussion in the forum
> > http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-890fxa-ud5-iommu-bios-switch-39801/index7.html
> > about boards with 890fx and iommu.
> > Jens
>
> > Am 09.06.2010 22:26, schrieb Wei Huang:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > We talked with AMD client managers. They believe all 890FX platforms
> > > should be capable of supporting IOMMU. There must be mis-communication
> > > with motherboard vendors. We are in the process of contacting with them.
> > > Hopefully the vendors will turn on this feature soon. For now, please
> > > just purchase the motherboards with IOMMU enabled (I think Joerg pointed
> > > out ASUS at least. I can't verify it myself though.).
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > -Wei
> > >
> > > Sander Eikelenboom wrote:
> > > > So in principle they would like to support it , but they can't / don't
> > > > know how.
> > > > Very interested at AMD's answer then, unfortunately Wei Huang seems to
> > > > be on vacation until June 7th.
> > > >
> > > > For what i understood in the past was that AMD's solution would not
> > > > depend on cpu support (as intel's vt-d does).
> > > > And with vga passthrough, iommu on the desktop looks like a good use
> > > > of an iommu in my opinion.
> > > > --
> > > > Sander
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Thursday, June 3, 2010, 12:51:23 PM, you wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > I got this answer from asrock support:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > <answer>
> > > > > So, I get more/final answer from Taiwan department:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > For H/W part:
> > > > >  From chipset spec, RD890(890FX) did support IOMMU.
> > > > > But IOMMU also need CPU to support. Till now, AMD has no plan to support
> > > > > IOMMU on desktop CPU (AM3 socket).
> > > > > It only support with server CPU.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > For BIOS part:
> > > > > AMD has removed IOMMU related registers.
> > > > > So there is no chance to let IOMMU work on our 890FX board unless AMD
> > > > > can
> > > > > provide such a process, and registers.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > Best regards,
> > > > > ASRock Support
> > > > > </answer>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > So they say it is AMD's fault. :-(
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > Regards,
> > > > > Jens
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > On Thu, 3 Jun 2010 11:23:10 +0200, Sander Eikelenboom
> > > > > <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
> > > > > > 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
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