Board: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R, G33, Socket-775,
CPU: Intel Xeon X3220 2.4GHz
Memory: Crucial DDR2 PC5300 4096MB CL5 * 2
NIC: 2 * HP NC7170
Storage: 3 * Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB

Graphics: onboard
PSU: AKASA Powersupply ATX/EPS 12V 460W

onboard NIC not supported, also original 8492MT 1000/100/10MT nics did not work for long (see E1000 driver issues with ESXi).

An additional note, PCI passthrough does not work due to an apparent lack of Intel VT-d support on this motherboard.

I know this is super old but, could you provide some details about which version of ESXi you installed?
I've got this board and I cannot get 4.1 installed. I've tried a number of different combinations of BIOS settings that pertain to IDE/SATA/RAID, I've disabled the onboard NIC, audio and 1394 ports with no luck.

I've posted additional details here http://communities.vmware.com/message/1835439

I would really be grateful if you could share a bit more about your experience.

This is old but any chance you can share some additional information about what version of ESXi you got installed, what the BIOS settings were for onboard IDE, SATA RAID/AHCI or disabled and whether the SATA 0-3 Ports were in normal mode?

I've got the same board and I can't get 4.1 installed. I've spent the evening going through various BIOS options, disabled the onboard audio, 1394 and NIC, added 2 Intel NICs but it fails loading the vmfs3 module. More information can be found here http://communities.vmware.com/message/1835439.

Tomorrow I'll try pulling out the two NICs and removing any other excess hardware, which isn't much to be honest, then trying 4.0.

3.5i works like a champ, but I need 4.x.

Many thanks