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Hey there, My Server is using Proxmox as Hypervisor (KVM backend) to spawn VMs. I wanna use the HAB (specs) to passthrough my 4HDDs to a TrueNAS Core VM. In order to do that, I first enabled the IOMMU support in the BIOS/UEFI. After that, I booted into Proxmox and checked whether IOMMU is detected. It spitted out the following output [ 1.332679] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: IOMMU performance counters supported [ 1.344441] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: Found IOMMU cap 0x40 [ 1.345378] perf/amd_iommu: Detected AMD IOMMU #0 (2 banks, 4 counters/bank). which in my mind means that IOMMU is already enabled, even if I never configured it in the GRUB cmdline. I also checked the IOMMU groups, to validate the HBA is in its own separate group. [...] IOMMU Group 25 2d:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller [0107]: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2308 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [1000:0087] (rev 05) [...] And in fact, it is in its own dedicated IOMMU group. Did someone encounter this before, or is my understanding of IOMMU at some point wrong ? Server Specs: - AsRockRack X570D4U Mainboard - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - x2 16GB Crucial Micron ECC RAM - x2 Seagate Ironwolf 4TB - x2 WD RED 4TB - LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2308 HBA

Back story: Planning to build a workstation. Virtualization support in general is the primary aim for me, and a specific feature that is a requirement for me is passing through a USB controller to a guest machine. The intention is that I'd be able to keep a usb device connected to the guest machine, even if the device power cycles. Question: - The main thing I'm not sure about is does the motherboard need to support PCIe passthrough (IOMMU on the AMD side, if I am not mistaken), or only the cpu? - I believe only one of pcie slots is connected directly to the cpu, and the others to an external pcie controller. If so, would the other slots require pcie passthrough support from the motherboard? or would all the slots behave the same? - Is there benefit in going x570, in the context of virtualization?

So my Lenovo flex 3's USB ports all stopped being recognized at once althought they were still getting power so I looked into some solutions online. As it turns out some random internet guy said that the same thing happened to him and the only solution for him was to sudo nano /etc/default/grub cmdline line to iommu=soft. I followed in his footsteps and lo and behold, nothing happened. Didn't even fix my ports. So I decide to give her an old reboot, of course I had to sudo update-grub before this. So everything is normal except grub no longer features the advanced UEFI option anymore. Okay, boot to bios to check it out. Secure boot - disabled. So I for some reason wanted to see what would happen when I enable and clear the pk Kek db whatever. So reboot. Now I am fucked. Any ideas? I've tried cmos reset, boot with USB into dos, ventoy, windows, and Linux. Idk what to do. Am I fucked? All I have is a phone and an SD card and an SD card adapter to make it a USB to work with. Halp

Hello everyone! I'm fairly new to the server space, so please bear with me while I run you guys through some of my research and ideas. The main features I want to incorporate in my server are a Nextcloud NAS, some home automation with home assistant, a Jellyfin media server, some MC game servers and some code development environment. I plan to virtualize this all using Proxmox. In order to keep this project financially interesting, I knew I had to prioritize efficiency and power consumption. This soon brought me to the Alder Lake processors, and to be exact the i7-12700k. I choose this since it supports ECC RAM when paired with the W680 chipset, and due to its integrated GPU and efficiency with regards to media transcoding using Intel's QSV. Unfortunately it is very hard to get hold of a W680 chipset motherboard, and even if I could they would be very expensive. So, I decided to look around for another motherboard while I get familiar with the software side of things, and when W680 motherboards are more mainstream I will switch to that combined with ECC RAM. This brings me to my problem; I've been searching through countless of forums to find what motherboard manufacturers in combination with what chipset would yield good results for virtualization, but unfortunately I haven't gotten much wiser. Some people say that any modern Intel chipset should be sufficient, while others seem to have had negative experiences with regards of the IOMMU groups of specific manufacturers. I've heard that micro-ATX motherboards are usually more power efficient than their ATX counterparts, so this is what I have limited my research to currently, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I stumbled upon the MSI MAG B660M MORTAR DDR4, it does not support overclocking, but that is not a deal breaker to me. My main concern is how good the IOMMU-groups are, since these aren't published my MSI themselves. Some people seem to swear by other chipsets like Z690 or Z790, but again I have no idea with what motherboard manufacturer I should pair these.. If anyone has had success stories with regards to Alder Lake and virtualization, I would very much be interested in hearing what your setup is like! Sorry for the rambling nature of this post, but I'm desperate for information. Any help is much appreciated! Cheers!

Hi there, my plan was running Proxmox 7.3-3 with virtualized OPNsense and NIC passthrough. This is my hardware: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 ASRock B450M Pro4 (UEFI P5.70, up to date) 4x16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO schwarz DDR4-3600 DIMM CL18 ADATA SX8200PNP 512GB 1x SanDisk Ultra 3D 2TB 2x SanDisk Plus 2TB 1x Mellanox ConnectX-3 10GbE 1x Mellanox ConnectX-3 Pro (HP) 2x10GbE So far I have enabled SVM and SR-IOV. Everytime I try to enable IOMMU the board just power cycles two times and the setting is disabled again. I just read at the ASRock page, that an upgrade beyond UEFI P3.50 is not recommended for Pinnacle Ridge. Maybe that is my problem. Are there any other possible solutions other than an UEFI downgrade? What else could I try? Thank you in advance.

Hello, I am trying to install Proxmox on my system so that I can passthrough my hardware for a Windows VM (For gaming) while also utilising other virtual machines for other tasks like pfSense and Active Directory. I followed this tutorial: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Pci_passthrough#GPU_Passthrough to setup my GPU in passthrough mode, and the monitor does get an output! As you can see in the image, when trying to boot from the virtual DVD drive (Windows ISO) it will "time out". Then it will try to network boot, but essentially the machine is unable to boot into the ISO properly... at least on the PCI GPU Display. After some tweaking and further looking, I noticed that I can view the virtual machine by not selecting "Primary GPU" and using the KVM console. This shows that the machine will boot to the ISO perfect, just not on my GPU! It's almost like having a second machine! This issue semi-persists with Linux ISO's. For example with Ubuntu, it will boot to the GRUB boot loader, but freezes there. Please take note of the 2 cursors on the screen, in the middle on the left and right. Here is the VM config: bios: ovmf bootdisk: scsi0 cores: 4 cpu: host efidisk0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-1,size=4M hostpci0: 26:00,pcie=1 ide2: local:iso/Windows10.iso,media=cdrom,size=5294394K machine: q35 memory: 8192 name: WinGaming net0: virtio=C6:02:34:54:C2:9F,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1 numa: 0 ostype: win10 scsi0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-0,cache=writeback,size=50G scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci smbios1: uuid=bd9a4bed-89aa-4a30-b02f-575f9fd0052d sockets: 1 usb0: host=1-2,usb3=1 vga: none vmgenid: 757d6bd1-5c67-4e6f-a294-0cec5c2ac9e1 Here is some information about my host: AMD Ryzen 9 3900 (OEM Part) 16GB ADATA DDR4 3000Mhz MSI B450M TOMAHAWK MAX Gigabyte Gaming RX570 4G Samsung 860 EVO 500GB My lspci -nn output: root@pve:~# lspci -nn | grep "VGA" 26:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480] [1002:67df] (rev ef) root@pve:~# lspci -nn | grep "Audio" 26:00.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590] [1002:aaf0] My VFIO config (/etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf): root@pve:~# cat /etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf options vfio-pci ids=1002:67df,1002:aaf0 disable_vga=1 Proxmox Info: GRUB Flags: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet amd_iommu=on pcie_acs_override=downstream,multifunction" lspci -vnn (Just GPU): 26:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480] [1002:67df] (rev ef) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Ellesmere [Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X/590] [1458:2304] Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 75 Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=2M] I/O ports at e000 [size=256] Memory at fcf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?> Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [58] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010 <?> Capabilities: [150] Advanced Error Reporting Capabilities: [200] #15 Capabilities: [270] #19 Capabilities: [2b0] Address Translation Service (ATS) Capabilities: [2c0] Page Request Interface (PRI) Capabilities: [2d0] Process Address Space ID (PASID) Capabilities: [320] Latency Tolerance Reporting Capabilities: [328] Alternative Routing-ID Interpretation (ARI) Capabilities: [370] L1 PM Substates Kernel driver in use: vfio-pci Kernel modules: amdgpu 26:00.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590] [1002:aaf0] Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Ellesmere HDMI Audio [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590] [1458:aaf0] Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 76 Memory at fcf60000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?> Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3 Capabilities: [58] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00 Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+ Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010 <?> Capabilities: [150] Advanced Error Reporting Capabilities: [328] Alternative Routing-ID Interpretation (ARI) Kernel driver in use: vfio-pci Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel I'd appreciate any troubleshooting information or tips you could give me. I'm not too knowledgeable in regards to IOMMU and GPU passthrough, so if I am missing out on something crucial I apologise. Thanks.

So does somebody know what x370 boards support iommu? What Ryzen x370 motherboards are compatible with iommu.

Hey all, I'm trying to build a citrix xenserver and have a gpu passed through to a vm to test some configurations for a project. I have Vt-d enabled on the server however every time I try to start the virtual machine with the GPU passed through it throws an error saying that the server does not have VT-d enabled. Why is this? Specs bellow: 4790k Asus z97 k(?) 32gb RAM 1tb hdd gpu1: gt210 gpu2: gtx 750ti

Hi, I need some help passing my gpu to my windows vm. I'm using Arch Linux with the latest kernel and the following gpus: GTX 1080 (which is placed in the first pcie slot to get x16, so it is used as boot gpu) GTX 1050 Ti (which is placed in the second last slot and only gets x8) IOMMU is supported by all devices, the gpus are in different iommu groups and I don't have an iGPU I want to passthough the 1080 to my qemu vm and use the 1050 Ti for the host system (maybe it's even possible to use it as boot gpu?) Is there someone who can help me getting there? If I forgot some information feel free to ask.

Hei guys! After being inspired by LTT videos about Unraid, I decided it's my time to dive in there as well. As I had some older hardware easily available (Dell Optiplex 790 sff), I decided to play around on that. I was able to set up IOMMU (1050ti gpu passthrough to a windows vm) on that Dell motherboard with an i5-2500s. But then I decided that I want to upgrade at least parts of my server (case, MB, CPU, additional drives, PSU). So now I have the following setup: i7-2600 GA-Z68AP-D3 rev 1.0 16GB DDR3 RAM bunch of drives, ssd's for cache This is working quite great for me as a home server (seafile, nas, plex, etc), but I also wanted to make a Windows VM with GPU passthrough to be able to do some light gaming on the living room TV. So I made all the cabling (10m hdmi, 10m active usb cables), plugged all in, went into BIOS, made sure the virtualization was enabled, but when booting into unraid, I get this: When googling about this issue with my particular motherboard, I came across this post, which does not seem too optimistic about IOMMU on this boad - link. ;( I am wondering if anyone has any tips or suggestions on what to actually try before I go about switching my board again. Best regards, Peteris

Hi, I'm in the process of building a new box to run mainly windows and osx and would like to know if anyone could be so kind to let me know a good motherboard with nice IOMMU grouping, etc. to be used. I would really apprecitate it. I would like to passthough mainly my graphic card and usb ports. Cheers!

Hello LTT community I have some interesting new to share with the tech community and what better place to share it than here. I have been doing a lot of research on hypervisors and specifically GPU pass through to virtual machines, in my research i have found a number of skeptical and contradictory articles and posts. I plan to discuss and share my findings, first off ill list my system specs, installation of esxi 6.0.0 (aka vsphere), the creation of my windows vm, pci passthrough and finally gaming and benchmarks ( graphs to come in the future) The System: Bequiet Silent Base 800 Asus x99 deluxe Intel I7 5930K (OC'd to 4.1GHz) esxi stability is important so im not pushing it. Kingston fury x 16gb 4x4 2133mhz kit (upgrading to 32gb 4gbx8 2666 gskill kit) Bequiet Dark Rock Pro 2 Cpu cooler ( minor case mod to fit, one of the tabs on the side panel fan cover had to be cut down) EVGA GTX 970 SSC (for pass thru) PNY GTX 750ti (for esxi since the x99 platform has no igpu) Corsair HX 850i 850w platinum powersupply samsung ssd's; 256gb 950 pro for VM's and 250gb 850 evo for storage and a few other drives not configured in vmware yet Other components include an APC 1500va UPS for good measure ok now on to the installation, I started by downloading the free version of esxi the fired up vmware workstation to create a USB image of esxi so i didnt eat up my valuable drives instructions i followed are here http://www.vladan.fr/install-esxi-6-to-usb-as-destination-or-have-it-as-source/ once that was create i installed the usb in an nzxt internal usb extension that also has 2 usb "A" ports fire up the PC and mash F8 to get boot devices and pick the esxi usb next go to the address esxi gives you as there is no gui so your gonna need a laptop or a second computer to configure esxi from the web gui is how you configure esxi for pci pass thru and create your vm First you have to create a data store, i called mine VM's and Games as the evo would be attached to the vm as a secondary vdisk just for games click on storage, click create new data store and follow the steps and add the drives you want now click on virtual machines, click create virtual machine, the nice part about creating a vm with esxi is you have the ability to use the client machine as the CD/DVD drive so you can mount and install images from a laptop remotely my vm is using 8gb of ram and running on 4 virtual cores and as a side note use vmxnet3 for your network as e1000 and e1000e have issues getting to the internet once your virtual machine is up and running with Windows 10, (im using build 1607 for my vm) shut down your vm now we will add pci devices click on manage right under host then click the hardware tab, note that not all devices can be passed thru, on the devices that say disabled you can check the box and click toggle passthrough and that device will be unavailable to the host and now be available to add to your virtual machines. once youve toggled all the devices you want you will have to reboot the host before the devices will be passed through Once the host is back up and before you start your vm, click on virtual machines and click on your vm, click edit and add other device, select the pci devies you wish to add to your vm the click save now before you boot up you vm and this is IMPORTANT if you OWN an NVIDIA Consumer GPU (GEFORCE CARDS) you will have to edit the config file and add 2 lines. to get to the config click virtual machines, click the machine you want to edit, click edit settings, click the VM options tab, click advanced and scroll down and click edit configuration now that the config is open click add parameter and in the KEY: hypervisior.cpuid.v0 Value: FALSE and the second parameter is KEY: pciHole.start Value: 2048 not that in the first parameter that is a ZERO after the "v" Now your ready to start your VM fingers crossed you have an output on your display and your gpu passthrough is working correctly once your back into your vm you will need to download and install nvidia drivers and in device manager uninstall and delete the SVGA adapter. Now running games is to my eye showing now loss, i have yet to notice any frame rate dips Playing the Division i was getting between 35 and 45 fps on ultra @ 1440P and on a base windows install i was getting the same, i will however post some benchmarks of my vm and try to get some benchmarks of the pc running these games on windows on the baremetal if you have any questions dont hesitate to comment or PM me Thanks

Linus, Luke, John - if you’re out there, can you hear me calling? tl;dr: Does that AsRoc ITX x99 board support VT-d? Is the 5900 series if Core-i processors going to work with it (VT-d? If anyone else knows, can you help me out? 1. Budget & Location My budget is variable, and the shipping costs are my own concern. Basically, whatever it takes to complete the build. Location is Bermuda (The island in the middle of the Atlantic) 2. Aim Build a small (for portability and coolness factor), Linux based hypervisor for running everything from: A private mirror package repository for raspbian and other linux flavours A steam (on windows) gaming box (needs vt-d support) Emulation stuff that can't be handled by retroarch on a pi NAS controller (and possibly storage. Will be using Ceph to link multiple storage locations) Maybe even VDI for my SO. 3. Monitors I have all I need. There will be a 1080p dell for regular gaming, a 1080p TV for emulation and a 4k screen for testing, a bit of content creation, 3d modeling and possibly gaming. 4. Peripherals None needed at the moment, I have my trusty Apple USB keyboard and ssh for all configurations. 5. Why are you upgrading? I don't have a desktop at the moment. I thought about running with an eGPU setup on my macbook pro and bootcamping windows 10, but experience has broken me down and demands at the very least a dedicated machine for this. I may split it out in the future, but for now, this is what I’m going with. I want more than just gaming, I’m tired of kludges and virtualisation is my business - so I get to flesh out my professional knowledge whilst building a sweet hypervisor for personal profit! I've wanted to try out VT-d with graphics for a long time, but never could get used to the form factor of having a honking great big tower somewhere near me, as opposed to in a datacenter somewhere. LTT gets full credit for tickling my inner nerd enough to move ahead with this. Inspirations: My inspirations for this build were “2 gamers one CPU” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJYMCbIbPk, “7 gamers 1 CPU” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXOaCkbt4lI and “The MOST Compact Gaming PC” https://youtu.be/MjDJNwAANwA Hardware: I have already purchased the Silverstone sg13 mesh as used in the LTT video “The MOST Compact Gaming PC” I have gone with the Silverstone 80+ Gold 600W SFX power supply. ---- The Remainder ---- I’m currently looking at: The AsRoc mini itx x99 motherboard The 59xx series of processors (which combination of mobo and CPU is going to give me vt-d and the gaming performance I need) Titan X over 980ti I may possibly wait for the Pascal line up to have a few options as well. (I have an old EVGA 660ti to tide me over until I can afford either of the cards, so price doesn't really factor in this decision) ---- So here’s where I am so far. Between listings on wikipedia and Intel ARK for which CPU’s support VT-d I have leanerd: The 5920k will The 5930k will The 5960x will The motherboard appears to. The problem lies in that, RMA’ing from Bermuda or even just returns would really suck (if they'd even take an open box CPU back) Has anyone tried VT-d with this board, does it work? I would really like the NVMe slot and 3.1 USB slots for 10GBit networking, but will downgrade if I have to. Cheers! sunbear

Problem description: When booting up my Win 10 VM the screen goes black and nothing else happens. The VM works just fine with VNC. My Setup and Settings: I checked that IOMMU and HVM both are enabled, My Vm is running as Q35-2.5 with OVMF Bios. I am trying to use a gtx970 (Inno3d Herculez) with 6 cores of a 6700K on an MSI Z170 Krait Gaming (the "old" one). Any ideas what might help at that point?

Hello fellow LinusTechTips users! I originally tried to build a multi-person gaming system using ESXi/VMware, and it was incredibly difficult and I gave up. Seeing the 2 in 1 video Linus made gave me hope once again, and unRAID is so nice/clean and straight forward, so I've been diving into a cheap "entry level" 2 person gamer. I have one VM going fine, everything is forwarded correctly, and was able to run Heaven bench and 3Dmark Fire Strike without hitches and running on par to the hardware used. I'm having issues with my "extra" GPU for the server to grab, so both gaming cards are available to be forwarded to the VMs. I have an HD7870 in PCI_E2 and an R7 360 in PCI_E4, and an HD5450 in the first PCIE x1 slot (PCI_E1). All show up in the IOMMU list, but the HD7870 in PCI_E2 is showing as 01:00.0 and the HD5450 is showing 05:00.0 Is there anyway I can get the ports to switch or am I screwed into having to use my HD7870 in a 1x slot or get a new motherboard? Thanks! Hardware used: AMD FX-8320E MSI 970a Krait SLI 2x8GB Mushkin Stealth 1600 1 x 240GB PNY SSD - Cache 2 x 1TB WD Blue - Storage Powercolor HD5450 Sapphire HD7870 Sapphire R7 360 Nitro Thermaltake Smart 650w Bronze

So I have been attempting to pass through one of my 760's to use in a VM in Arch GNU/Linux using the guide found in this reddit post. Everything has gone smoothly so far except for the fact that when I run: lspci -nnk I get this: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 760] [10de:1187] (rev a1) Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:360b] Kernel driver in use: nvidia Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia 01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 HDMI Audio Controller [10de:0e0a] (rev a1) Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:360b] Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel 02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 [GeForce GTX 760] [10de:1187] (rev a1) Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:360b] Kernel driver in use: nvidia Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia 02:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GK104 HDMI Audio Controller [10de:0e0a] (rev a1) Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:360b] Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel The issue is that both GPU's have the same PCI ID (10de:1187, 10de:0e0a). This is stopping me from binding only the second card to pci-stub so the nvidia driver wont use it, and I can then pass it through to a VM. When I try binding the two given id's to pci-stub it stops nvidia from using both cards, and when I run "startx" it errors. I also compiled the linux-vfio kernel and I am currently using that. Does anyone know a way to get the GPU's to have different PCI ID's? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

I recently got some money together to get a better CPU. I got an ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Killer motherboard, and bought an i5-4670K the other day for it (won't get here till tomorrow). I've been pretty brand loyal to AMD (still am), but I decided to give Intel a go since I got that motherboard. I should also note that I'm kind of bias against Intel (due to some legal situation a good while back I was part of). The only real problem I see with the 4670K so far is that it lacks VT-d (I needed this feature specifically for GPU-passthrough and virtualization). Considering the old Phenom II X3 720 and the discontinued ASRock 970 Extreme3 R1.0 board I have provides IOMMU (AMD-equivalent of VT-d needed for the passthrough), it didn't even occur to me to check for such a feature before buying that CPU. I figured "it's unlocked and costs a good bit", and just assumed it would have all the features the non-K version had, but just unlocked. Needless to say, I'm pretty disappointed with that to the point of almost not even wanting to give Intel a chance (I don't like encouraging such behavior from companies). The way I also see it as, I could buy the FX-8350, get it unlocked, have full virtualization support, be pretty well set for multi-threading, and get it under $200; or I could choose the i5-4670K, get it unlocked, pay $60-more, and deal with botched virtualization support, but have decent multi-threading, and (significantly?) better single-threaded performance. On the other hand, I'm kind of questioning how viable GPU passthrough would be. Technically, I couldn't do it at all with my current setup on AMD due to me lacking a second GPU anyway, but it would be a fun thing to look into later. Could possibly do it on Intel if I just make the iGPU primary and dedicate my 7850 to the passthrough, but from what I understand, passthrough can be pretty annoying or just not work at all (I hear the guest reboot issue still exists). If I get an additional $200 later, I may want to buy a second GPU, but that'll likely be way down the road at some point if ever. I'm also interested in PCI-E 3.0. I sometimes do Eyefinity with my 7850, and I'm curious to see if it would offer any boost in-comparison to PCI-E 2.0. I'll play around with the 4670K while I have it, but I'm considering either keeping it, returning it (if Newegg allows it), or just re-selling it (but I am open to suggestions). As for what CPU i'll get, that depends on a pending RMA-request from ASRock. The 970 Extreme3 I have now had support for the FX-8350, but it was later removed. There are mixed reviews as to how this mobo handles that CPU. ASRock support told me that it should be fine as long as the VRM is sufficiently cooled, but I'm not 100% sure if I want to take the risk or not (kind of tempted to though; I have some fans lying around). Alternatively, if ASRock does accept my RMA request to exchange the motherboard for one that can handle the 8350 without question, I'm pretty confident I'd just go for that. I could also probably sell the Fatal1ty H97 Killer and buy a new motherboard too. On the note of the 4670K lacking VT-d, my other option is to try for the upcoming 4690K. Intel's product page lists VT-d compatibility (which according to others is strange considering K series usually lacked virtualization features). It seems to be around the same price I paid for the 4670K, so this may also be a valid option depending on how much money I can get back returning or selling the 4670K. As for my computer usage, I don't really play anything too high-end nowadays. I have some interest in getting better performance out of Guild Wars 2. I use Windows 8.1 primarily, but I keep looking to try to make Linux my main OS; gaming usually end up putting me back on Windows though. I have a slight interest in trying out OS X also. Aside from GW2, the only other really resource-intensive games I plan on playing are GTA IV, and possible V later down the road. I don't have a lot of money currently, and also lack patience for the most part (I could of waited a little less than a week to get the 4690K). I do like considering future-usage scenarios though. I would base my decision on overall performance, but I don't really know what sites or people to trust to do accurate/legitimate benchmarks. Some sites show the 4670K being significantly better, others show the 8350 being close or slightly better. Most people that I've seen said they would go with Intel, but I'm almost positive most of those claims have no "legitimate" reasoning for such (other than the usual "Intel + NVIDIA = masterrace tier all day without need of reasoning" bs I tend to hear). I want to see trustworthy comparisons. And then there's the FX-9370 that seems to be $230 on Newegg, which I could probably get with selling or returning the i5-4670K. I'll definitely need a new motherboard though (that i'd probably have to buy; not sure how far ASRock's kindness would extend on that regard), and likely even a new PSU (only have a 3-4 year old hec 585W PSU). I don't think it would really be worth the hassle though personally. And as for another interesting decision, I could go for a micro-ATX APU build, but that might sacrifice a good deal of CPU performance? I have my eyes on a FM2+ motherboard (nothing specific), and the A10-7850K (would still use my 7850 GPU). If I could find a relatively small/portable case to go with such a setup, it might be interesting to have for portability. So without drawing that story any further, here's my main options: - Keep the Fatal1ty H97 Killer motherboard and i5-4670K (it's a sure deal as long as neither the board or CPU are DOA) - Keep the Fatal1ty H97 Killer motherboard, attempt to sell the i5-4670K and get an i5-4690K (not sure how popular a used i5-4670K would be to sell for nearly $240) - Use the 970 Extreme3 board (or exchange with ASRock if they accept), attempt to sell the i5-4670K and get an FX-8350 (could probably sell the i5-4670K for around or more than $200 at least) I'm not too sure how Newegg would handle me trying to return the i5-4670K, but if they allowed for a return, that would be $240. If I recall right, if they wanted a restocking fee, I believe it would be $30. This is the exact i5-4670K I purchased.