mobo cpu uprgade for gpu passthrough

[tservice]

I purchased a XFX Radeon RX 480, but only to discover that my current rig doesn't support vt-d. So time to upgrade. I am not a hardware guy, so I need some suggestions from ya'll.

I would like a few more sata ports than what I have also. I want to reuse the ram if possible, and keep costs down as much as possible.

Thanks.

 

Current setup.

unRAID system:unRAID server Plus, version 6.3.2

Model:Custom

Motherboard:Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. - GA-78LMT-USB3

Processor:AMD FX™-6100 Six-Core @ 3.3 GHz

HVM:Enabled

IOMMU:Disabled

Cache:Internal Cache = 128 kB (max. capacity 128 kB)

External Cache = 2048 kB (max. capacity 2048 kB)

Memory:32 GB (max. installable capacity 32 GB)*

Bank0/1 = 8192 MB, 1333 MHz

Bank2/3 = 8192 MB, 1333 MHz

Bank4/5 = 8192 MB, 1333 MHz

Bank6/7 = 8192 MB, 1333 MHz

Network:eth0: 1000Mb/s, full duplex, mtu 1500

Edited March 26, 2017 by tservice

[ufopinball]

You didn't mention BIOS settings, but looking through the manual there appears to be a "Virtualization" option that defaults to Disabled.  Fourth item in the list:
 

 

Double check this setting.  Your motherboard seems new enough that it should really support the latest virtualization features.  Give this a shot?

 

- Bill

 

Edited March 26, 2017 by ufopinball

[tservice]

Thanks for the reply Bill, Virtualization is enabled. Any other thoughts?

[ufopinball]

Sorry, nope.  I know IOMMU works on the ASUS F2A85-V PRO, although this is an FM2 socket board.

 

It sounds like you are looking for an AM3+ motherboard, that accepts 32GB DDR3 RAM, and offers a lot of SATA ports.

 

Any other limitations?  Must be Gigabyte, or will any brand do?  I primarily have ASUS motherboards.  Wouldn't say they're perfect, but in general I have not had serious reason to complain.

[tservice]

I am currently only using 4 of 6 sata ports.I would prefer not to have any less than that,8 would be nice for future drive expansion, Asus or any other brand would be fine with me. I have looked up the  ASUS F2A85-V PR0, all I can find is used ones. I assume you prefer Asus, is there a newer model that is compariable to the one you have stated? And which cpu should I be looking at?

[ufopinball]

Well, I just upgraded my setup to use the new AMD Ryzen 1800X 8-core CPU.  This requires an AM4 motherboard, and DDR4 memory.  My guess is you want an AM3+ motherboard.  The F2A85-V won't work for you unless you swap out your CPU.  Probably best look for a motherboard that supports the rest of your hardware.  You were trying to keep costs down.  I am unaware of any reason why your CPU would not support those features.

 

Feel free to look around, I'll do the same as I have time.

[tservice]

Thanks bud. I will keep looking.

 

[ufopinball]

So, here's a reasonably budget priced motherboard that should work for you:

 

ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - $74.99

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131872

 

It is shown here in the list of motherboards that support IOMMU :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IOMMU-supporting_hardware

 

There are a variety of others on that list that might also be contenders.  You'll have to dig through the specs to see if you can find one better than the M5A97.

 

- Bill

[tservice]

Thanks BIll, that one looks promising.