i7 4770k virtualization Support

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rwalker90

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Jan 1, 2014
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Hi Guys,

The i7 4770k only supports Vt-X and not Vt-d

Any idea what this restricts me to?

i am keen on visualization however with not supporting vt-d, im not sure where that leaves me,

would i be able to use vmware workstation to its full capabilities ie make a home lab for study?

Thanks
 
Solution
Supernova1138
VT-d offers better virtualization performance by allowing the VMs to get direct I/O access to the host machine's hardware. Vt-x does not allow this. If you need high performance out of your VMs, you may want to go with a CPU with Vt-d. If you don't need high performance for your VMs, then Vt-x will be sufficient, and VMWare workstation will be fully functional, it's just that the VMs will be a bit slower.

It comes down to what you want to do with the VMs, and whether you want to be able to overclock or not. If overclocking is more important to you, you might as well get the k version of the CPU. If you need the best possible Virtualization performance, then get the regular 4770.
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Supernova1138

Supernova1138

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Mar 22, 2011
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VT-d offers better virtualization performance by allowing the VMs to get direct I/O access to the host machine's hardware. Vt-x does not allow this. If you need high performance out of your VMs, you may want to go with a CPU with Vt-d. If you don't need high performance for your VMs, then Vt-x will be sufficient, and VMWare workstation will be fully functional, it's just that the VMs will be a bit slower.

It comes down to what you want to do with the VMs, and whether you want to be able to overclock or not. If overclocking is more important to you, you might as well get the k version of the CPU. If you need the best possible Virtualization performance, then get the regular 4770.
 
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Solution
P

Pinhedd

Champion
Aug 7, 2007
10,342
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VT-x, known as CPU level virtualization, provides the necessary functions needed to isolate guest processes running in the guest memory space from the host processes and the host memory space.

VT-d, known as chipset level virtualization or directed-IO, provides the necessary functions to isolate DMA capable hardware to a guest memory space when it bypasses the CPU through the DMA controller. This is necessary to prevent an attack vector where a device mapped into a guest memory space could be instructed to make DMA transfers to the host memory, or do so unintentionally through a driver bug.

VT-d can only be used effectively on Type-1 hypervisors that run on the metal. Type-2 hypervisors that run as applications cannot make use of VT-d effectively.

On a platform that supports VT-d at both the hardware level (VT-d support enabled) and on the hypervisor can attach some hardware components directly to a guest operating system without the need to use a complicated driver stack and VMbus. Good examples are storage controllers, ethernet controllers, and graphics cards.

VMWare VSphere Hypervisor (ESX/ESXi) supports VT-d, as does Microsoft Hyper-V. VMWare Workstation, and Virtualbox do not support VT-d.

You will be able to use VMWare Workstation to its full capabilities with a 4770k, but if you want the best of both worlds spend a few hundred extra bucks on a 4930k.
 
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prometheus1923

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Apr 17, 2014
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Craziest thing. The i7-4770K NOW does support vt-d. It didn't used to, but went on their site today....

ark.intel.com/products/75123

I even have it now showing up in my bios, on a Z87 chipset (yes - z, not q).

Interesting.
 
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S

STbob

Distinguished
Feb 3, 2015
56
4
18,545


VT-d seems faster. on my workstation I ran Vmware with VT-d and it could run a video game at almost full speed as it was using the hardware video card and not a virtual vga card. I did same thing on a 4770k a cpu with no Vt-d and the vmware machine could not run the video game at full speed, it was very sluggish. So it seems that vt-d gives true hardware access while no vt-d. Because of this I would not recommend a K series chip. They are too limited.

 
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