I have finally solved the nivida driver crashes issue.. however my configuration is a bit different. I have to left my SVGA enable otherwise the passthrough will fail. I have to add this parameter into the VM VMX configuration
- Edit the pciPassthru0.msiEnabled and change the option to false
This is taken from the nvidia tech note
VMware vDGA / GPU Passthrough Requires That MSI is Disabled on VMs | NVIDIA
Once again, thanks everyone for giving me a hand.
Finally! This was driving me nuts. Moving cards around to different PCIe slots, and a plethora of other things I’ve lost track of up to this point. It’s late now, I was about to throw in the towel, until one last Google search led me here, to this thread, and it was this that solved my issue. So, thanks!
I’ll share my setup here, in case it helps others:
Motherboard: EVGA SR-2 Classified (BIOS A58)
CPU 2 x Xeon X5650
RAM: 48GB (12 x 4GB DDR3)
Storage Controller: IBM ServeRaid M5015 (OEM branded Broadcom/Avago/LSI 9260-8i), with 7 SATA3 drives attached (details inconsequential to this thread)
GPUs: For ESXi - NVIDIA GeForce GT210, For VM - EVGA GTX 670
Host: ESXi 6.5.0 Update 1 (Build 6765664)
VM (for GTX 670): Windows 10 x64 (Build 16299), [Virtual HW Version 13, 6 vCPU, 8GB vRAM (reserved), VMXNET3 NIC, & PVSCSI storage controller.]
Here is the board layout. A1-A4 are on the same parent PCIe bridge, so anything plugged into those slots can only be passed through to the same VM. Likewise, for the slots labeled B1-B3, as they are on a different PCIe bridge.
Since I need the first PCIe slot for a console GPU (A1), that left me with using slots B1-B3 for my VM. So, my GTX 670 is plugged into slot B1. (Odd numbered slots are all PCIe x16, while even numbered are PCIe x8.) The rest of the hardware, for the ESXi host, is plugged into slots A1-A4 (GT210 GPU, Intel i340-T4 NIC, & IBM ServeRaid M5015 card.)
I have the following now successfully passed through to the Windows 10 VM:
1. onboard 2port NEC USB 3.0 controller (uPD720200).
2. EVGA GTX 670.
Next, I’m gong to try to attach a Vantec 3port USB 3 (2 x Type A, 1 x Type C) (UGT-PC331AC) to it. This card was also giving me a BSOD in Windows 10, but with the above change, I’m hopeful that it will also take care of that issue (fingers crossed).