Motherboards and Servers that work with ESX 4.x and/or ESXi 4.x Installable

This table contains a list of systems, motherboards, storage controllers and network cards that have been tested and found to work with ESX 4.x or ESXi 4.x Installable. 

Please check out the Server/PC column for a system you are considering using, as some systems will include special steps to enable ESX / ESXi to run on that system or have other issues to overcome. 

None of these systems are supported by VMWare for running ESX. In some cases for ESXi, the system may be booting from a USB flash drive and be using no local storage.

NOTE: this list includes a number of SATA controllers that provide RAID functionality via a software component in the drivers supplied with the controller. Examples would be the Intel ICH series and the nVidia MCP series.

ESX 4.x and ESXi 4.x do not support that software RAID functionality thus you will only be able to access the individual drives connected to controllers such as these.

Servers / PCs Storage Controller
Acer Aspire M3100 
Dell Dimension 5150 
Dell Dimension 8400 
Dell Dimension 9100 
Dell Dimension E521 
Dell Inspiron 530 
Dell Inspiron 545Intel ICH9R
Dell Inspiron 546 
Dell Inspiron 580 i3 530 
Dell Inspiron 580 i5 650 
Dell Latitude D630Intel ICH8M
Dell Latitude E6400Intel ICH9
Dell Latitude E6500Intel ICH9M
Dell OptiPlex GX 280 
Dell OptiPlex 330 
Dell OptiPlex 580 
Dell OptiPlex GX 620 
Dell OptiPlex 740 
Dell Optiplex 745 
Dell OptiPlex GX 755 
Dell OptiPlex GX 760 
Dell OptiPlex GX 780 
Dell OptiPlex 980 
Dell PowerEdge 840 
Dell PowerEdge 1800Dell CERC 1.5/6CH SATA RAID Card
Dell PowerEdge 1950 
Dell PowerEdge 2800 
Dell PowerEdge 2850 
Dell PowerEdge R200Intel ICH9
Dell PowerEdge R410 
Dell PowerEdge R510 
Dell PowerEdge SC440
Dell PowerEdge SC1420
Dell PowerEdge SC1425
Dell PowerEdge SC1430
Dell PowerEdge SC1435
Dell PowerEdge T105
Dell PowerEdge T110
Dell PowerEdge T310
Dell PowerEdge T410
Dell Precision 390 
Dell Precision 490Added Adaptec 2610SA
Dell Precision 490Intel 631xESB/632xESB
Dell Precision M6500
Dell Precision T3400
Dell Precision T5500
Dell Precision T7400
Dell Studio XPS 435Intel ICH10R
Dell Vostro 400
Dell Vostro 410
Dell XPS 400 / DXP051
Dell XPS 410
Dell XPS 420
Dell XPS M1330
Dell Zino HD
Fujitsu Siemens (ASUS) A8NE-FMCK804 Serial ATA Controller
Fujitsu Siemens E7935 
Fujitsu Siemens Econel 100S2 
Fujitsu Siemens TX150 S6LSI MegaRAID SAS 1078
HP 6005 SFF
HP 6550b
HP 6910P
HP 8440p
HP BL460C G1
HP dc5800
HP dc7600 SFF
HP dc7700
HP dc7700p
HP dc7800
HP dc7900
HP dc7900 SFF
HP DL145 G2
HP DL145 G1
HP DL165 G7
HP DL360 G4
HP DL360 G4p
HP DL360 G6
HP DL380 G4
HP Elite 7000
HP Elite 7200
HP Micro Server
HP ML110 G4
HP ML110 G5
HP ML110 G6
HP ML115
HP ML115 G5
HP ML150
HP ML150 G6
HP ML 350 G4
HP ML 360 G5
HP N36L Microserver
HP Pavillon a6000 (Asus M2N68-LA)
HP Pavilion p6320y
HP Pavilion p6710f
HP RP5700 SFF
HP xw4400
HP xw4600
HP xw8400
HP xv6200
HP Z200 SFF
HP Z400
HP Z600
IBM Intellistation M Pro (6225-27G)
IBM xSeries 346
IBM xSeries x306m
IBM xSeries x326m
IBM xSeries x3650 (7979C1A)
Intel SR2600Intel ICH10
Lenovo ThinkCentre M57e (6305b6u)Intel ICH7
Lenovo ThinkCentre M58Intel ICH10
Lenovo ThinkCentre M90p 
Lenovo ThinkCentre 8000t 
Lenovo ThinkPad T400 
Lenovo ThinkPad T61 
NEC PM-ML7 (Intel D915 MB)Intel ICH6
PowerSpec B318
  
Shuttle SD37P2Intel ICH7R
Shuttle SG33G5Intel ICH9
Shuttle SG45H7Intel ICH10
Shuttle SH55-J2-BK-V1 
Shuttle SH67H3 
Shuttle SN95G5 v3 
Shuttle SP35P2 Pro 
Shuttle SX38P2Intel ICH9R
Shuttle SX58J3 
Supermicro PDSMi+
Supermicro X7DVL
Supermicro X7DVL-3
Supermicro X8DTi
Sun V40Z
 
ZT Systems (MSI X58 Pro)
MotherboardsStorage Controller
Abit IP35PIntel ICH9
Abit KN9 
AOpen MP57-d 
  
ASRock 4Core1333 
ASRock 890GX Extreme3 
ASRock ALiveNF6G-DVI
ASRock ALiveNF6G-GLANnVidia MCP 61
ASRock ALIVENF6G-VSTA AM2
ASRock E350M1/USB3 
ASRock K10N78FullHD-hSLI R3.0 
ASRock N68C-S 
Asus A8N-E 
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe 
Asus A8N-SLI Premium 
Asus A8N-VM CSM 
Asus Crosshair Formula IV / AMD X6 1090T 
Asus E35M1-I Deluxe Mini-ITX 
Asus K8N 
Asus K8NS Pro 
Asus KFSN4-DRE/SAS 
Asus L1N64-SLI WS/B 
Asus M2A-VMATI SB600
Asus M2N SLI Deluxe 
Asus M2N-E SLI 
Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe 
Asus M2N32 SLI Premium 
Asus M2NPV-VMnVidia MCP 51
Asus M2N-E 
Asus M2N-E SLI 
Asus M2N68nVidia MCP 67
Asus M2N68 Plus 
Asus M2N68-AM Plus 
Asus M2N-LR 
Asus M2N-MX SE 
Asus M2N-MX SE PlusnVidia MCP 61
Asus M3A78 Pro 
Asus M3A79-T Deluxe 
Asus M3N78 
Asus M3N78-EMnVidia MCP 78
Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI 
Asus M4N72-E 
Asus M4A78 Pro 
Asus M4A78-E 
Asus M4A78-EM 
Asus M4A78LT-M 
Asus M4A78T-E 
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 
Asus M4A785-M 
Asus M4A785D-M 
Asus M4A785T-M 
Asus M4A785TD-M EVO 
Asus M4A79 Deluxe 
Asus M4A79XTD EVO 
Asus M4A87/TD-USB3 
Asus M4A88T-M 
Asus M4A88TD-M 
Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3 
Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 
Asus M4A88TD-V EVO 
Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 
Asus M4A89GTD Pro 
Asus M4A89TD Pro/USB3 
Asus M4N68T-M-LE 
Asus M4N72-E 
Asus Maximus IV Extreme B3 
Asus NCCH-DL 
Asus P2-M2A690G 
Asus P5B 
Asus P5BV-C/4L 
Asus P5BV-M 3200 
Asus P5E-VM DOIntel ICH9
Asus P5E-VM HDMI 
Asus P5E WS Pro 
Asus P5G41M 
Asus P5G41T-M LX 
Asus P5KIntel ICH9
Asus P5K-EIntel ICH9R
Asus P5K PremiumIntel ICH9R
Asus P5K SE EPU 
Asus P5KPL-AMIntel ICH7
Asus P5KPL-CM 
Asus P5KPL-VMIntel ICH7
Asus P5M2Intel ICH7R
Asus P5M2/SAS
Asus P5N-DnVidia MCP51
Asus P5N-E SLI
Asus P5N-EM 
Asus P5N32-E SLI 
Asus P5N-T Deluxe 
Asus P5NT WS 
Asus P5Q 
Asus P5Q-E 
Asus P5Q-EM
Asus P5Q-EM DO 
Asus P5Q-VM DO 
Asus P5Q Deluxe 
Asus P5Q SE2Intel ICH10
Asus P5Q3 
Asus P5QD 
Asus P5QL-Pro 
Asus P5QL-VM DO 
Asus P6T 
Asus P6T SE 
Asus P6T WSIntel ICH10
Asus P6T WS Professional 
Asus P6X58D-E 
Asus P7F-M 
Asus P7F-X 
Asus P7H55-M 
Asus P7H55-M Pro 
Asus P7P55 LX 
Asus P7P55D 
Asus P7P55D-LE 
Asus P7Q57-M DO 
Asus P8H67-M EVO 
Asus P8P67 
Asus P8P67 Pro 
Asus P8P67 WS Revolution 
Asus P8P67-M 
Asus P8P67-M PRO 
Asus RAMPAGE II GENE X58 S-1366 MATX 
Asus Sabertooth 
Asus Sabertooth X58 
Asus V2-M3N8200 
Asus V2-P5G33 
Asus Z8NA-D6 
Asus Z8NA-D6C 
Asus Z8PE-D18 
BFG nForce 680i 
  
Biostar A770e3 
Biostar A780L 
Biostar A780L3G 
Biostar H55A+ LGA 1156 
Biostar NF61S-M2A 
Biostar TA785G3HD 
Biostar TA890FXE 
  
DFI LANPARTY DK 790FX-B M2RSH 
DFI LANPARTY UT NF4 SLI-DR 
  
ECS A780GM-A 
EVGA Classified SR-2 270-WS-W555-A2 
ECS GeForce6100PM-M2nVidia MCP 61
ESC P45T-A 
EVGA 650i Ultra 
EVGA 680i 
EVGA Classified SR-2 270-WS-W555-A2 
EVGA X58 
EVGA X58 SLI LE 
  
Foxconn A7DA-S 
Foxconn A7GM-S 
Foxconn A88GMX 880G (AMD Phenom II X6 1055T) 
Foxconn G31MXP 
Foxconn M61PMVnVidia MCP 61
Foxconn RenaissanceIntel ICH10R
  
Note: Gibabyte MBs don’t seem to like the
default partitioning of ESXi when booting from a
USB flash device. Check the forums for a
solution to that problem.
 
  
Gigabyte EP45-D3SRIntel ICH10R
Gigabyte EP45-UD3 
Gigabyte EP45-UD3PIntel ICH10
Gigabyte EP45-UD3R 
Gigabyte 73PVM-S2H 
Gigabyte 790GP-UD4H
Gigabyte 870A-UD3 
Gigabyte 870A-USB3 
Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H 
Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3 
Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H 
Gigabyte 965P-DS3 
Gigabyte EG41MF-US2HIntel ICH7
Gigabyte EG45M-UD2H 
Gigabyte EP35-DS3 
Gigabyte EP43T-UD3L 
Gigabyte EP43T-USB3 
Gigabyte EP45-UD3L 
Gigabyte EQ45M-S2 
Gigabyte EX58-UD4PIntel ICH10R
Gigabyte G31M-ES2L 
Gigabyte G31M-S2L 
Gigabyte G33M-DS2R 
Gigabyte H55N-USB3 
Gigabyte H55M-UD2H 
Gigabyte H55M-USB3 
Gigabyte H57M-USB3 F5 
Gigabyte H67N-USB3-B3 
Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 
Gigabyte M52L-S3 
Gigabyte M52L-S3P 
Gigabyte M57SLI 
Gigabyte M61P-S3 
Gigabyte M61PME-S2 
Gigabyte M68M-S2P 
Gigabyte M720-US3 
Gigabyte MA770-S3P 
Gigabyte MA770-UD3 
Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P 
Gigabyte MA78GM-DS2HAdded Dell Perc 5/i
Gigabyte MA78GM-US2H 
Gigabyte MA78GPM-DS2HATI SB700
Gigabyte MA78LM-S2H 
Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H 
Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4HAMD 790GX + SB750 (AHCI mode)
Gigabyte MA790GP-UD4H 
Gigabyte MA790GPT-UD3H 
Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P 
Gigabyte P35-DS3Intel ICH9
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R 
Gigabyte P55-UD3L 
Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R 
Gigabyte X58A-UD7 
Gigabyte P35-DS3LIntel ICH9
Gigabyte P67A UD3 
Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 
Note: Gibabyte MBs don’t seem to like the
default partitioning of ESXi when booting from a
USB flash device. Check the forums for a
solution to that problem.
 
  
Intel BOXDQ45CB 
Intel BOXDQ57TM 
Intel D510MO 
Intel D525MW 
Intel D975XBX2 
Intel DG33BU 
Intel DG33BUC
Intel DG33TL 
Intel DG35ECIntel ICH10
Intel DG35DO 
Intel DG41MJ Mini ITX 
Intel DG41RQ 
Intel DG43GTIntel ICH10
Intel DG45ID 
Intel DG45FC Mini ITXIntel ICH10R
Intel DH55TC 
Intel DH57DD 
Intel DP35DP 
Intel DP43TF 
Intel DP45SG 
Intel DP55WB 
Intel DP67BA 
Intel DQ35MP 
Intel DQ45CB 
Intel DQ45EK 
Intel DQ57TM 
Intel DQ670W 
Intel DQ67SWB3 
Intel DQ963GS 
Intel DX50SO 
Intel DX50SO2 
Intel DX580G 
Intel S3210SHIntel ICH9R
Intel S3210SHLC 
Intel S3420GP 
Intel S3420GPLC 
Intel S5000PAL 
Intel S5000PSLAdded Adaptec 3805
Intel S5000VSA 
Intel S5520HC 
Intel S5520URIntel ICH10
JetWay NC81-LF Mini-ITX 
  
Magic-Pro MP-GMHD-D3Intel ICH7
  
MSI 760GM-E51 
MSI 785GM-E51 
MSI 785GM-P45 AM3 
MSI 870-G45 
MSI 880GM-E41 
MSI 890GX-G65 
MSI GM965 Fuzzy (Mini-ITX) 
MSI H55M-E33 
MSI H67MA-E45 
MSI IM-GM45Intel ICH9M
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI 
MSI K9A2 Platinum 
MSI K9N Neo V3 
MSI K9N SLI-F 
MSI K9N UltranVidia MCP 55
MSI K9N2G 
MSI MS-7519 
MSI P35 PlatinumIntel ICH9R
MSI P45-D8 
MSI P55-GD80 
MSI P965 Neo-F V2Intel ICH8
MSI X58 Platinum I7 
nVidia nForce 650i Ultra 
  
Sun V40Z 
  
Supermicro S2SBA+II 
Supermicro C2SBA++0 Q33Intel ICH9R
Supermicro C2SBC-Q 
Supermicro C2SBXIntel ICH9R
Supermicro C7X58-0Intel ICH10R
Supermicro H8DIi+-F 
Supermicro H8DME-2 
Supermicro H8QME-2 
Supermicro H8SSL-i 
Supermicro SBI-7126T-S6 
Supermicro X6DH8 
Supermicro X7DAL-E 
Supermicro X7DCL-I 
Supermicro X7DVL-E 
Supermicro X7SPA-HF Mini-ITXIntel ICH9R
Supermicro X8DT3 
Supermicro X8DTi
Supermicro X8DTI-F 
Supermicro X8SAX 
Supermicro X8SAX-O 
Supermicro X8Si6-F 
Supermicro X8ST3-F 
  
TUL TRS690-M1 
  
Tyan Thunder K8QS S4882 
Tyan Thunder T8HM S3892 
Tyan S2865 
Tyan S2912G2NRnVidia MCP 55
Tyan S2915-ELSI 1068e
Tyan S2932-E (Thunder n3600M)LSI 1068e
Tyan S2985 (Thunder K8WE) 
  
XFX 680inVidia MCP61
XFX 750i-72P9 (SLI) 
  
ZOTAC GF8200-C-EnVidia MCP 78
ZOTAC H67-ITX-i5-2400S 
  
Storage ControllerPCI id
  
NOTE: this list includes a number of SATA
controllers that provide RAID functionily via a
software component in the drivers supplied with
the controller. Examples would be the Intel ICH
series and the nVidia MCP series. ESX 4.x and
ESXi 4.x do not support that software RAID
functionality thus you will only be able to access
the individual drives connected to controllers
such as these.
 
  
3Ware 9550SX(U)-8LP 
3Ware 9690 / 9650 
  
NOTE: it appears that there is an issue with some Adaptec cards and EFI MBs. You can find more details here and here. 
  
Adaptec 1210SA 
Adaptec 24059005:0285 (subsystem 9005:02b6)
Adaptec 2405 
Adaptec 2410SA 
Adaptec 2610SA 
Adaptec 2940 (aic7xxxx) 
Adaptec 3405 
Adaptec 3805 
Adaptec 5405 
Adaptec 5805 
  
Areca 1110 
Areca 1210 
  
ATI SB6001002:4380
  
Dell PERC 5/EHas 2 external x4 SAS ports
Dell PERC 5/i 
Dell PERC 6/iR 
  
HP Smart Array B110i 
HP Smart Array E200 
HP Smart Array E200i 
HP Smart Array E212 
HP Smart Array P400 
HP Smart Array P410 
  
Intel SRCS28X 
  
LSI 3041E-R 
LSI 3081 E-R 
LSI 9620 
LSI MegaRAID 150-4 
LSI MegaRAID 300-8X LP 
LSI MegaRAID SAS3028E-R 
LSI MegaRAID SAS3041E-HP 
LSI MegaRAID SAS8308ELP 
LSI MegaRAID SAS8344ELP 
LSI MegaRAID SAS8433ELP 
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-8i 
  
Promise FastTrak TX-4310 
Promise SATA300 TX4 
  
Silicon Image Sil3512 
Silicon Image SteelVine 
  
Sun STK INT RaidSUN re-badged Adaptec 5805 8 port 2x mini-sas PCI-E
  
Network CardsPCI id
  
3Com 3C905B Etherlink XL 10/100 
3Com 3C996-T (PCI-X) 
  
Asus PIKE 1078 8-port SAS HW RAID 
  
Broadcom DCM5741 
Broadcom BCM5761 
Broadcom BCM578414e4:1698
  
D-Link DGE-528T 
  
HP NC7170 (Intel 82576EB) 
  
Intel 82576EB Gigabit Ethernet 
Intel 8492MT Pro/1000 Dual Port 
Intel EXPI9301CTBLK CTPCI-E
Intel Pro/1000 * 
Intel Pro/1000 GT 
Intel Pro/1000 MT 
Intel Pro/1000 MT Desktop Adapter 
Intel Pro/1000 PT 
Intel Pro/1000 XT 
  
Marvell Yukon 88E8056 
  
Realtek 8139 
Realtek 8168 / 8111 
Supermicro AOC-SG-i2 2xGigabit PCI-E(2 x Intel 82575)
Supermicro AOC-SG-i4 4xGigabit PCI-E(4 x Intel 82576)
VIA (VT6130) GbE Adapter 
Storage 
FreeNAS 
Openfiler 2.5 
Opensolaris 
Ubuntu Server 9.04 (iSCSI) 

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