Intel Fixes VT-d Bug in Sandy Bridge-E CPUs

News
By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Intel will be shipping its i7-3960X Extreme Edition and i7-3930K processor in C2 stepping in January, the company revealed in a product change notification (PCN) this week.

The C2 stepping removes the VT-d bug in C1 CPUs, which affected the CPU's hardware accelerated virtualization support.

While C1 CPUs are only running the software-accelerated only mode, the C2 now properly supports hardware acceleration on a hosted OS, Intel said. According to the document sent out on December 9, samples of the C2 Sandy Bridge-E processors became available last week. Commercial retail and tray units will begin shipping on January 20.

Intel told its customers that it does not anticipate "change to customer platforms designed to Intel guidelines." However, if a customer chooses to enable Intel VT-d, "regression testing is recommended to ensure their board is properly enabled," the PCN states. Those customers who prefer their own BIOS will have to install the latest Microcode update to support the C2 stepping.

Wolfgang Gruener
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29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • applefairyboy
    God bless us, everyone! - Tiny Tim
    Reply
  • mouse24
    I am confused, what exactly is VT-d and whats wrong with there being no hardware acceleration? isnt the gpu normally handling that?
    Reply
  • mouse24
    mouse24I am confused, what exactly is VT-d and whats wrong with there being no hardware acceleration? isnt the gpu normally handling that?
    edit: unless they mean it adds virtualization hardware accel support for virtual cores while running multi threaded apps...
    Reply
  • bejabbers
    Is this something that Intel will replace my c1 with? Or are they saying that everyone with the c1 is out off luck.
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    mouse24I am confused, what exactly is VT-d and whats wrong with there being no hardware acceleration? isnt the gpu normally handling that?
    VT-d is hardware acceleration within the CPU for virtual machines. it has nothing to do with graphics. This is mostly used for (in home and/or regular user situations) virtual machines to run old software that won't run under the current OS, like running Windows XP software in a Windows XP virtual machine while the main OS is Windows 7, or running a Linux virtual machine on a Windows main OS. Most people won't be using it. If they do, VT-d won't make much of a difference for most people.

    I do, however. I use it to make multiple virtual machines to learn stuff for IT certifications. Right now, I'm working on my MCITP-VA cert, running multiple virtual machines from my home server (running Windows 2008 R2) so I can get a better job. VT-d missing would mean great trouble for me, if I were to use it as a server. Thankfully, if I were to get one, I wouldn't be using it as a server since I already have that.
    Reply
  • gtx_560tiuser
    well at least they fixed it :P
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    For the typical pc user they don't even know what VT-d does let alone use it.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    SteelCity1981For the typical pc user they don't even know what VT-d does let alone use it.
    The typical PC user doesn't buy a $1000 CPU.
    Reply
  • Pinhedd
    dgingeriVT-d is hardware acceleration within the CPU for virtual machines. it has nothing to do with graphics. This is mostly used for (in home and/or regular user situations) virtual machines to run old software that won't run under the current OS, like running Windows XP software in a Windows XP virtual machine while the main OS is Windows 7, or running a Linux virtual machine on a Windows main OS. Most people won't be using it. If they do, VT-d won't make much of a difference for most people.I do, however. I use it to make multiple virtual machines to learn stuff for IT certifications. Right now, I'm working on my MCITP-VA cert, running multiple virtual machines from my home server (running Windows 2008 R2) so I can get a better job. VT-d missing would mean great trouble for me, if I were to use it as a server. Thankfully, if I were to get one, I wouldn't be using it as a server since I already have that.
    That is not entirely correct.

    VT-x is the set of extensions required to properly secure a virtual machine running in long addressing mode and reduce VM reliance on operation emulation. It is the bare minimum required to run an OS safely in 64 bit mode on Intel CPUs (AMD CPUs can run 64 bit guest OSes purely in software but will still see performance benefits from AMD-V).

    VT-d and AMD-Vi are the sets of extensions required to properly allow a guest OS access to peripherals without having to go through a software layer. This allows guests to access Ethernet controllers, USB controllers, PCI-E controllers, SATA controllers, etc... VT-d is to the chipset as VT-x is to the CPU.
    Reply
  • digitalrazoe
    ~And so it begins ... BugZilla
    Reply