VMware and Threadripper PRO 3975WX compatibility

[WojciechPL]

I am going to build a powerful workstation based on AMD Threadripper Pro 3975WX and ASUS Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI motherboard. The idea is to have a virtualized environment created by means of VMware ESXi (the latest version) to be hosting guest systems like Windows, Linux, etc.
And here comes my problem: I asked an official VMware distributor if ESXi is supported by the a.m. platform and I got the official list of processors compatibility - AMD Threadripper Pro 3975WX is NOT listed (what I knew already before). 
Based on my experience I know ESXi works on some platforms not officially supported but the level of investment is the reason that I need to be 100% sure that I will get what I need.
Does anybody have an experience in such a configuration or may confirm it will work like intended? 
 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Why not go epyc? Simmilar cost, and much more selection of board. Makes much more sense if your using it as a server.

 

But it should work the nics are compatible, and zen has been out for a while to.

[WojciechPL]

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I didn't find any motherboard for Epyc comparable to the one mentioned before (typical server mobos have less I/O interfaces). Could you suggest anything comparable to ASUS Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI dedicated for Epyc? Thanks.

[WojciechPL]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Why not go epyc? Simmilar cost, and much more selection of board. Makes much more sense if your using it as a server.

 

But it should work the nics are compatible, and zen has been out for a while to.

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I didn't find any motherboard for Epyc comparable to the one mentioned before (typical server mobos have less I/O interfaces). Could you suggest anything comparable to ASUS Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI dedicated for Epyc? Thanks.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, WojciechPL said:

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I didn't find any motherboard for Epyc comparable to the one mentioned before (typical server mobos have less I/O interfaces). Could you suggest anything comparable to ASUS Pro-WS-WRX80E-SAGE-SE-WIFI dedicated for Epyc? Thanks.

What exact IO do you want from the board?

 

Normally esxi doesn't use the io on the board very well, and you shouldn't be using things like usb storage drives or wifi in esxi.

 

Do you need just the board? Id just get a premade server, you normally get better options with more io and more features as your not limited to atx/ssi eeb sizes.

[WojciechPL]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What exact IO do you want from the board?

 

Normally esxi doesn't use the io on the board very well, and you shouldn't be using things like usb storage drives or wifi in esxi.

 

Do you need just the board? Id just get a premade server, you normally get better options with more io and more features as your not limited to atx/ssi eeb sizes.

Before I switch to Epyc I need to know 100% if Threadripper Pro is/isn't compatible with ESXi. It's important for me that this setup could also play the role of powerfull workstation. For that I need higher clock speeds (compared to Epyc). I am going to create Windows VM with GPU pass-through for photo and video editing.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, WojciechPL said:

Before I switch to Epyc I need to know 100% if Threadripper Pro is/isn't compatible with ESXi. It's important for me that this setup could also play the role of powerfull workstation. For that I need higher clock speeds (compared to Epyc). I am going to create Windows VM with GPU pass-through for photo and video editing.

Well its not offically supported by vmware, but it should work, a people have gotten esxi to work on those systems, but its not garanteed.

 

 

Id really suggest not putting your workstation in a vm. It normally just causes more issues than you wnt. Id either run windows on the system and use hyper-v/vmware workstation for your guests, or having a separate server for vm use.

[WojciechPL]

9 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Well its not offically supported by vmware, but it should work, a people have gotten esxi to work on those systems, but its not garanteed.

 

 

Id really suggest not putting your workstation in a vm. It normally just causes more issues than you wnt. Id either run windows on the system and use hyper-v/vmware workstation for your guests, or having a separate server for vm use.

Thank you very much for your advice and efforts. The station I am going to build need to be a server at first, for that reason I am only interested in hypervisor type 1 (ESXi) and not inside system like hyper-v or vmware workstation.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, WojciechPL said:

Thank you very much for your advice and efforts. The station I am going to build need to be a server at first, for that reason I am only interested in hypervisor type 1 (ESXi) and not inside system like hyper-v or vmware workstation.

Hyper-v is a type 1 hypervisor. So you can have a full windows desktop, and still the full vm power at the same time. Thats what id do here.

 

Or just get a separate desktop for desktop stuff, and keep the server seperate.

[WojciechPL]

33 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Hyper-v is a type 1 hypervisor. So you can have a full windows desktop, and still the full vm power at the same time. Thats what id do here.

 

Or just get a separate desktop for desktop stuff, and keep the server seperate.

Thank you for reply. Is it possible to restart Windows Server which makes supervision over Hyper-V without shutting down all VMs?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, WojciechPL said:

Thank you for reply. Is it possible to restart Windows Server which makes supervision over Hyper-V without shutting down all VMs?

Nope you can't restart the host without down time to the vms, but it works the same way in every other hypervisor. You can save the vms so it reboots to the same state.

 

 

[WojciechPL]

12 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Nope you can't restart the host without down time to the vms, but it works the same way in every other hypervisor. You can save the vms so it reboots to the same state.

 

 

Thank you again. I need to digest all information I got from you.

[BrianSoCal]

ESXI 7 Update 2 absolutely recognizes the Threadripper Pro 3975wx on the Asus sWRX80 Mobo.   Enjoy!

 

[WojciechPL]

On 5/24/2021 at 5:06 PM, BrianSoCal said:

ESXI 7 Update 2 absolutely recognizes the Threadripper Pro 3975wx on the Asus sWRX80 Mobo.   Enjoy!

 

Oh, what a nice info for me. Thank you very much for posting this!

I have one more question to you if you successfully installed ESXi on this CPU - did you get any warning message at the beginning of the installation process about CPU and lack of compatibility in newer versions of software?