RX480 passthrough on ESXi6.5

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vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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I am trying to passthrough a new RX480 on ESXi 6.5 to VM of Win10. I am new to ESXi and experimenting. I see that the hardware tab, the passthrough for RX480 is disable and greyed out, only the audio of RX480 is possible to passthrough. Do i have any way to make the GPU passthrough to the VM or it is the end of it ,i.e, nothing can be done?

Screen Shot 2017-03-31 at 11.59.50 PM.png
Screen Shot 2017-04-01 at 12.41.06 AM.png
My current system:
E3-1246 v3
B85M-D3H
32GB RAM
rx480
 
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helsyeah

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Aug 22, 2015
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Does the B85M-D3H support VT-D? If so, do you need to enable in the Bios/UEFI?
 

m_b

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Feb 26, 2017
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I think you should be OK - if you tick the box for the audio, the graphics card should automatically become available for passthru after you reboot (at least that's what happened for me).
 

vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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Does the B85M-D3H support VT-D? If so, do you need to enable in the Bios/UEFI?
Yes.. it supports and enabled..

I think you should be OK - if you tick the box for the audio, the graphics card should automatically become available for passthru after you reboot (at least that's what happened for me).
So you toggled the passthrough for audio and then restarted? And rx480 was also available to VM?

EDIT:It worked. Thanks..
 
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m_b

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Feb 26, 2017
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Yes - I have an Nvidia card but faced the same issue where I could only check the HDMI audio device and not the card itself. After I checked the audio device and rebooted, I could add both devices to a VM as PCI devices.
 

vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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@m_b: Thanks.. it worked.. but when i try to passthrough GPU, it give me the memory reservation failure. I see many have this problem.. but no idea how to solve it.. Did you face anything of this sorts.. ? if so how did you solve it?
Also i am trying to passthrough the keyboard and mouse. I see the option passthrough 1 usb 2.0 and 1 usb 3.0.. but are these ones? I mean i have 4 usb 3.0 and 8 usb 2.0.. how do i figure this out?
 

zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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@m_b: Thanks.. it worked.. but when i try to passthrough GPU, it give me the memory reservation failure. I see many have this problem.. but no idea how to solve it.. Did you face anything of this sorts.. ? if so how did you solve it?
Also i am trying to passthrough the keyboard and mouse. I see the option passthrough 1 usb 2.0 and 1 usb 3.0.. but are these ones? I mean i have 4 usb 3.0 and 8 usb 2.0.. how do i figure this out?
You might just need to reserve all of the ram for the system you are setting up.
If you open the AMD GPU PCI device and expand it you can see there is a warning message about reserving memory and then a button that sets it up for you.

I could never get passthrough working on ESXi with either an RX470 or RX480 so I gave up and am waiting on an Nvidia 1060 that arrives today
 

vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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I could never get passthrough working on ESXi with either an RX470 or RX480 so I gave up and am waiting on an Nvidia 1060 that arrives today
I am facing the exact same issue. This is not good.. :(
please do let know if Nvidia works..
 

zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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I am facing the exact same issue. This is not good.. :(
please do let know if Nvidia works..
What is the issue for you exactly?

Mine would freeze the whole ESXi server when I would start the host machine.
I couldn't get keyboard or mouse input, or even ping the box over the network :(
 

vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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Not able to pass the GPU in short..
At first when i was not able to configure GPU as device to VM , as it would give some error of reserving memory or some thing.. Then i tried to bring up a VM without GPU passthrough. Then i tried to add the RX480 but nothing happens , i mean the VM comes as normal and the VM is viewable through VNC and not directly to my monitor.. so now i fiddling around to check if something works.. I was hoping atleast in the device manager it will detect by Windows the display adapter but that is not happening , so it not getting passthrough..
 

vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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@vinay: can you post a screenshot of your VM configuration?
Before adding GPU..
Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 10.48.05 AM.png
After adding GPU
Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 10.40.12 AM.png

If it is not these screenshots do let me know..
After adding the GPU and adding the parameter " hypervisor.cpuid.v0 " to FALSE. THe VNC is also not opening, just a blank screen and so it the monitor. TightVNC is also not able to connect the pc. Not sureif the service is running though sincei cannt access the VM anymore.

Update:
So i have been trying lots of trial and error stuff.. And now after i pass through the RX480 and start the VM, on the device manager it shows a new Microsoft basic Display adapter . I try to update the software though online mechanism of microsoft and after that the vm keeps crashing.. Gives the BSOD with "VIDEO TDR FAILURE". Now i am out of ideas..
Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 3.00.18 PM.png
Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 3.18.06 PM.png

any help please..
 
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zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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Before adding GPU..
View attachment 5092
After adding GPU
View attachment 5091

If it is not these screenshots do let me know..
After adding the GPU and adding the parameter " hypervisor.cpuid.v0 " to FALSE. THe VNC is also not opening, just a blank screen and so it the monitor. TightVNC is also not able to connect the pc. Not sureif the service is running though sincei cannt access the VM anymore.

Update:
So i have been trying lots of trial and error stuff.. And now after i pass through the RX480 and start the VM, on the device manager it shows a new Microsoft basic Display adapter . I try to update the software though online mechanism of microsoft and after that the vm keeps crashing.. Gives the BSOD with "VIDEO TDR FAILURE". Now i am out of ideas..
View attachment 5094
View attachment 5093

any help please..
I would try with just 2gb memory reserved to begin with testing.
Also, did you install vmware tools and the AMD drivers before adding the card?
 

m_b

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Feb 26, 2017
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I'm assuming you figured out how to reserve the memory (else the VM wouldn't start :)), though it looks like you only added the RX480 device but not the corresponding audio device. Try adding the audio device as well and see if that works?

I also wouldn't rely on the MS driver update tool - I'd go download the driver installer from AMD and run the installer directly with the card connected to the VM.
 
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RyC

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Oct 17, 2013
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If all else fails, you may just have to try another motherboard. GPU passthrough in particular is very hit or miss. I had a Supermicro motherboard that would give the VIDEO TDR FAILURE bluescreen no matter what I tried, but the same GPU passed through just fine on an Intel motherboard.
 

zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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I can't seem to find any success with a Supermicro X9 dual socket 2011 board so far with either AMD or Nvidia GPU's :(
I've tried loads of settings and tweaks and no matter what I do it seems to just freeze the whole box when I boot the VM!
I'm thinking it might be some buried bios setting I'm missing...
 

vinay

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Mar 31, 2017
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I would try with just 2gb memory reserved to begin with testing.
Also, did you install vmware tools and the AMD drivers before adding the card?
Yup.. i did all this.. But i do not understand the point of running the installer and extracting it as it will again do the same when you add the GPU and run it again..
When you say 2gm you mean RAM setting right? I need to try that..

I'm assuming you figured out how to reserve the memory (else the VM wouldn't start :)), though it looks like you only added the RX480 device but not the corresponding audio device. Try adding the audio device as well and see if that works?

I also wouldn't rely on the MS driver update tool - I'd go download the driver installer from AMD and run the installer directly with the card connected to the VM.
I did try this also but when the installation takes place the VM crashes with the VIDEO TDR FAILURE..

If all else fails, you may just have to try another motherboard. GPU passthrough in particular is very hit or miss. I had a Supermicro motherboard that would give the VIDEO TDR FAILURE bluescreen no matter what I tried, but the same GPU passed through just fine on an Intel motherboard.
I really hope to not do that, also i am using intel MB, there is not way to be sure that next one also whill have problem, assuming i keep the same socket ..
I am came to esxi just because pfsense.. This is just secondary but i really want to work..