Re: IOMMU and AMD 890fx

["Jens Krehbiel-Gräther" <xen@jkg-it-services.de>]

Hi all!

I got this answer in a forum about this MSI board:

...
I have this board (MSI 890FXA-GD70), there is no bios support for IOMMU. 
MSI presales told me that it was supported before I bought it, I am 
thinking there might have been some miscommunication there. I have been 
waiting about a week for a response as to when/if they plan on adding 
support in the bios.
...


Jens

Am 10.06.2010 09:23, schrieb Sander Eikelenboom:
> Hi All,
>
> I have send a mail to a number of motherboard manufacturers about the IOMMU support in their bioses.
> At the moment MSI has replied (in Dutch) that the MSI 890FXA-GD70 should support it. But it would be nice if it has user confirmation.
>
> I'm  thinking about putting a table on the wiki, stating the replies from tech. supports, and a column with user experiences.
>
>
> --
>
> Sander
>
>
> Thursday, June 10, 2010, 9:12:03 AM, you wrote:
>
>> Hi!
>
>> I ordered a Asus Crosshair Formula IV for testing. Will report next week
>> if it works.
>
>> And I contacted Asrock support again and told them that Asus supports
>> it. They will give the informations to their bios-team in Taiwan.
>
>> Meanwhile there is a very good and active discussion in the forum
>> http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-890fxa-ud5-iommu-bios-switch-39801/index7.html
>> about boards with 890fx and iommu.
>
>> Jens
>
>
>> Am 09.06.2010 22:26, schrieb Wei Huang:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> We talked with AMD client managers. They believe all 890FX platforms
>>> should be capable of supporting IOMMU. There must be mis-communication
>>> with motherboard vendors. We are in the process of contacting with them.
>>> Hopefully the vendors will turn on this feature soon. For now, please
>>> just purchase the motherboards with IOMMU enabled (I think Joerg pointed
>>> out ASUS at least. I can't verify it myself though.).
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> -Wei
>>>
>>> Sander Eikelenboom wrote:
>>>> So in principle they would like to support it , but they can't / don't
>>>> know how.
>>>> Very interested at AMD's answer then, unfortunately Wei Huang seems to
>>>> be on vacation until June 7th.
>>>>
>>>> For what i understood in the past was that AMD's solution would not
>>>> depend on cpu support (as intel's vt-d does).
>>>> And with vga passthrough, iommu on the desktop looks like a good use
>>>> of an iommu in my opinion.
>>>> --
>>>> Sander
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thursday, June 3, 2010, 12:51:23 PM, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I got this answer from asrock support:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> <answer>
>>>>
>>>>> So, I get more/final answer from Taiwan department:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> For H/W part:
>>>>
>>>>>  From chipset spec, RD890(890FX) did support IOMMU.
>>>>
>>>>> But IOMMU also need CPU to support. Till now, AMD has no plan to support
>>>>
>>>>> IOMMU on desktop CPU (AM3 socket).
>>>>
>>>>> It only support with server CPU.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> For BIOS part:
>>>>
>>>>> AMD has removed IOMMU related registers.
>>>>
>>>>> So there is no chance to let IOMMU work on our 890FX board unless AMD
>>>>> can
>>>>
>>>>> provide such a process, and registers.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>>> ASRock Support
>>>>
>>>>> </answer>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> So they say it is AMD's fault. :-(
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>>> Jens
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, 3 Jun 2010 11:23:10 +0200, Sander Eikelenboom
>>>>
>>>>> <linux@eikelenboom.it>  wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> Thursday, June 3, 2010, 10:53:29 AM, you wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> The ASRock 890FX Deluxe3 doesn't support the IOMMU technology too.
>>>>
>>>>>>> http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=383&threadid=134410
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm very disappointed that main board manufacturers don't enable all
>>>>
>>>>>>> features for the processor and main board.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> On Thu, June 3, 2010 10:19 am, Sander Eikelenboom wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thx for the forum threads, i have changed the wiki about
>>>>>>>> vt-d/iommu to
>>>>
>>>>>>>> reflect these new experiences.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>> I was hoping AMD would be able to do a better job than Intel, and
>>>>>>>> have
>>>>
>>>>>>>> learned from the BIOS missery Intel has with there VT-d, and
>>>>
>>>>>>>> instruct/help
>>>>
>>>>>>>> the manafacturers getting their bioses right.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> I have a feeling that it's not AMD but the main board manufacturers
>>>>>>> who
>>>>
>>>>>>> don't enable IOMMU in the BIOS. (It might be a hidden feature, for
>>>>
>>>>> people
>>>>
>>>>>>> who want to hack the BIOS at your own risk).
>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Ofcourse you are right, but as chipset manufacturer I would be pretty
>>>>
>>>>>> pissed and contact them.
>>>>
>>>>>> Also I don't know how hard AMD and Intel make it to implement the
>>>>
>>>>> feature
>>>>
>>>>>> in the bios. Since most of the time it's or disabled or broken.
>>>>
>>>>>> On the other hand, they only support "microsoft windows" and that
>>>>
>>>>> doesn't
>>>>
>>>>>> do a lot with an IOMMU. So in essence it's an unsupported feature.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> It's too bad though, it seemed to be a very nice virtualization
>>>>
>>>>> platform,
>>>>
>>>>>> 6 cores, iommu, affordable ...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Hmm guess i'm going to write every manufacturer if they supported,
>>>>
>>>>> and/or
>>>>
>>>>>> if there are plans to support it.
>>>>
>>>>>> Hopefully one will do it in the end ...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>>> Sander
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>> It's a pity that a nice feature isn't supported. No sense in
>>>>>>>> upgrading
>>>>
>>>>>>>> my
>>>>
>>>>>>>> setup then to a six core and mobo with IOMMU. :(
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>>>>> Sander
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Gigabyte motherboards don't support IOMMU:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-890fxa-ud5-iommu-bios-switch-39801/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> MSI boards have the same problems:
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.emulators.xen.user/58630
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> ASUS Crosshair IV Formula has IOMMU, but I cannot find if it works
>>>>
>>>>> with
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Xen.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 11:38 PM, Sander Eikelenboom
>>>>
>>>>>>>>> <linux@eikelenboom.it>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Hello Wei,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I hope motherboard manufacturers do a better job with supporting
>>>>
>>>>> this
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> iommu
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> in the bios than they did with intel's. Especially Asus made a mess
>>>>
>>>>> of
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> it,
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> and hasn't fixed it in newer bioses for multiple motherboards.
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> And since all motherboard reviews don't mention nor test the iommu
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> it's
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> hard to know upfront if it's supported :-(
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Sander
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Leonardo,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I can confirm that AMD 890FX supports IOMMU v1.22. It was briefly
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> mentioned by external sites, such as
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> http://techreport.com/articles.x/18825. It looks like Asus,
>>>>>>>>>> Gigabyte
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> and
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> MSI will ship motherboards with 890FX chipset. Xen 4.0 fully
>>>>
>>>>> supports
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> AMD
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> IOMMU v1.2. Note that IOMMU needs support from BIOS (ACPI IVRS
>>>>
>>>>> table).
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Please pay a bit attention to this area.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> -Wei
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Leonardo
>>>>
>>>>> Prosperi
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 1:02 PM
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> To: xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Subject: [Xen-devel] IOMMU and AMD 890fx
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> All the reviews for the AMD 890fx chipset reported that it
>>>>
>>>>> supports
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> IOMMU
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> v1.2.
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> But I cannot find any mention of that on AMD site.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Does 890fx support IOMMU?
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Do 890fx motherboards with IOMMU exist?
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Does Xen support 890fx?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Leonardo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Sander mailto:linux@eikelenboom.it
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>>>>>> Sander mailto:linux@eikelenboom.it
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>>>>> Xen-devel mailing list
>>>>
>>>>>>>> Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>