I found a number of boards on newegg. The 2 I am looking at are

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/06/ ... ard_review

and

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-sabe ... fx-review/

I am just gun shy because I really want to run ESXi and not be forced into Hyper-V server

Cor, that would be a monster of a machine with 32GB of RAM

How many VMs you gunna be running!

I think I have decided to go with a ASUS Crosshair V Formula and 16 GB memory. Add in a Phenom II x6 and I should be good to go for a a couple of years. The FX990 chipset lets me upgrade to the bulldozer without trashing the whole system. I can also add memory add needed long time. I am still actually still debating on the x6. I am using the system as a expensive lab for running just about anything I want. I getting to the 16GB with 2 8GB Corsair Vengeance Blu PC3-12800.. I will use a couple of dual port intel nics but no raid controller yet.. I do have a budget Anyway - I will post when I (fingers crossed) get this up and running. The 990FX chipset is the same as the 890FX just re-branded (go figure) so the board should work - again - fingers crossed.

Quick question, have you ever checked if this board supports the PCI Passthrough, do you have any screenshots of the advanced settings options.

Looking to build a box to do something similar to this, but curious about the capability of the M/B

No I dont think this board supports passthrough.

Strike this board off the list then, thanks mate.

Trying to find someone whos got the ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3, It is rumored to support the IOMMU, but i cant find anyone with proof of this.

Hello !
Have a look at :

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS ... EVO/2.html
and
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS ... EVO/2.html

In both places you can find a specification regarding IOMMU :
"All 9-series chipsets provide DDR3-1866 memory support natively, providing a supporting CPU is installed. Also available is an IOMMU connection, allowing virtual machines to directly access hardware capabilities, rather than offering a software interface using hardware emulation. Although not natively supported in the Windows environment at this time, this feature is more intended for Linux users."

Oooo, me like the look of the M5A97 EVO, do you need specific CPU to get the IOMMU working, i was looking at the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, same chip as i have in another system currently, works pretty good

Thanks for the tip mate, ill be adding one of them to my shopping basket, funky looking UEFI BIOS too

I testet a ASUS M4A89TD PRO yesterday with a six core AMD Phenom. iI patched the ESXi installation to get support for the onBoard RTL8111/8168 NIC. Activate IOMMU in the Bios.

It works! I can use the onBoard NIC and i can use VMDirectPath to connect PCI(e) Devices direct to a VM. I try a PCI ISDN Card from AVM with success.

Later i will realise the All-in-One Concept from her: http://www.napp-it.org/manuals/all-in-one/index.html# with these board.