Always nice to confirm pass-through works well, as there are indeed occasional board/CPU combos that don't seem to "play nicely" with this feature.  That's a very nice video card for that little ITX system.  How close a fit is it for the Q25B ??

 

 

 

 

I'm not using the Q25 (I'm not the OP, sorry if my post made it seem like I was!) - I'm using a Fractal Design Node 304.

 

I chose the 750 Ti specifically for its compact dimensions (<7" long) and low TDP - it gets all its power from the PCIe slot without an additional cable and runs very cool and quiet. It fits in the case with lots of room to spare. I'd expect it to work very well in the Q25 too.

 

I have the VM running Steam with In-Home Streaming enabled, so I can play on my laptop with the server doing all the hard work!

Will certainly look at Dockers next and then VMs :-)

Posting this here just as a record, as I couldn't find a definite answer elsewhere:

 

I've got the H87I-Plus paired with an i5 4570S (which is VT-d capable, unlike the i3 being discussed here) and can confirm that device passthrough works with this motherboard. Currently passing a 750ti through to a Windows 8.1 VM on 6.0-rc5.

 

I couldn't find any clear information online on whether it would work with the H87 chipset (and this board specifically, despite VT-d appearing in the BIOS), so I just wanted to get this information online for anyone in the same position in the future! Sorry if there's a more appropriate place for it.

Thanks for the report. I have the same mobo/CPU but never actually got around to testing passthrough with it. May not ever use it that way but good to know.

I'm not using the Q25 (I'm not the OP, sorry if my post made it seem like I was!) - I'm using a Fractal Design Node 304.

 

I chose the 750 Ti specifically for its compact dimensions (<7" long) and low TDP - it gets all its power from the PCIe slot without an additional cable and runs very cool and quiet. It fits in the case with lots of room to spare. I'd expect it to work very well in the Q25 too.

 

I have the VM running Steam with In-Home Streaming enabled, so I can play on my laptop with the server doing all the hard work!

 

Nice job on the passthrough!

 

Really itching to ditch my Asus P8H77 and i3-3220T for a mobo/cpu that will do GPU passthrough for the steam in-home streaming.

 

We really need a thread for known compatibilities of mobo/cpu that work with GPU passthrough.

is this hardware KVM capable?

( newbie)

Yes, but if you want to do I/O pass-through you'll need to use a CPU that supports vt-d (i.e. a Core i5 instead of an i3)

 

Just check Intel's Ark site for the CPU you're thinking of using to confirm it has vt-d support.

 

 

Thank you !

 

i have VM installed but not sure if it is KVM or not.

when i boot my Unraid server, i can see the option to choose unraid or xen. I leave it to default unraid. Does this means my VM is already KVM?

i want KVM because i am planning on installing a GTX 750Ti video card and make it a little gaming pc...

My cpu is i5-4570s which has VT-d support. However, IOMMU is showing disabled in my unraid system info...

 

 

Thank you again.

You have to enable it (IOMMU / vt-d) in the BIOS.

Thank you !

 

i have VM installed but not sure if it is KVM or not.

when i boot my Unraid server, i can see the option to choose unraid or xen. I leave it to default unraid. Does this means my VM is already KVM?

i want KVM because i am planning on installing a GTX 750Ti video card and make it a little gaming pc...

My cpu is i5-4570s which has VT-d support. However, IOMMU is showing disabled in my unraid system info...

 

 

Thank you again.

 

Check the BIOS -- it's likely just not enabled.

 

Should have refreshed before posting 

Thank you for replying!

 

Enabling IOMMU is not currently showing in my BIOS...

I have ASUS H87I-PLUS board. I will try to update the BIOS (risky:))

 

I get it! IOMMU is required for KVM. Correct?

 

 

Thank you again!

 

 

 

 

No. Vtd is required to pass through physical devices such as a USB controller or video card.

 

It may not be called iommu in the Bios. Look for virtualization or something along those lines.

It almost certainly will NOT be referred to as IOMMU in the BIOS ... Intel refers to this as "Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O" ... abbreviated vt-d.    The BIOS will likely have a vt-d enabled/disabled setting.

 

Looked at the manual for your motherboard => in section 2.6.1 it shows the CPU Configuration options in the BIOS.  It does not segregate vt-x and vt-d support; but it does show that virtualization support is Disabled by default.  I suspect you simply need to enable this.

 

As previously mentioned in this thread, I have this hardware providing passthrough.

 

If I remember correctly, VT-d and VT-x are separate entries in the BIOS. They're in completely different sections though - one is in 'System Agent' and the other in 'CPU' settings.

This is great news!

I am the OP and always thought I did not have virtualisation capabilities here.

Now it is time to drag the screen and keyboard back to the tower and change some settings.

I am still running the bios from Jan 2014 would you suggest I upgrade while I am at it?

 

Thanks

 

This is great news!

I am the OP and always thought I did not have virtualisation capabilities here.

Now it is time to drag the screen and keyboard back to the tower and change some settings.

I am still running the bios from Jan 2014 would you suggest I upgrade while I am at it?

 

Thanks

 

 

Unless you need to upgrade the bios, don't bother at this time. Look for the settings (also google your mb model and enabling vt-d) and try it out.

 

Then, if while moving forward, you find some issue/glitch/etc, and find that it MIGHT/IS resolved with a bios update, then go for it. Alternatively, read the changes to a newer bios for your mb as well, and there might be something in there that got fixed, feature, etc that might warrant upgrading anyway.

 

And yes, bios upgrades have been known to break perfecting working vt-d support as well (though this isn't common).

This is great news!

I am the OP and always thought I did not have virtualisation capabilities here.

Now it is time to drag the screen and keyboard back to the tower and change some settings.

I am still running the bios from Jan 2014 would you suggest I upgrade while I am at it?

 

Thanks

 

 

If you think there's ever a chance you may want to update your processor, I'd go ahead and update to the newest BIOS now ... there have been several versions since the Jan 2014 version [You apparently have v1005;  since then there's been 1006, 1008, 2001, 2002, and the current 2003].    The newer versions support the additional Haswell processors that have been released; improve memory compatibility; and provide better support for large drives.

 

Since you don't normally have a display & keyboard attached to the server, it's not a bad idea to go ahead and do the update while you've got them set up.    The BIOS has a built-in update capability (EZ Flash 2) ... you just need to have the update file available on a USB flash drive (I believe it has to be formatted with FAT-32).

 

Hi everyone,

 

I follow this forum for quiet some time now and am about to build my very first (unraid) server.

I really like the PC-Q25 and I think that roland's build would fit my requirements pretty good.

 

I mainly want to use it as NAS (HD/4K-streaming) and also want to install some dockers I think.

Maybe in the future I want to make use of virtual machines but I don't think that I will install a graphics card so IOMMU isn't a topic for me if I understand this correct.

 

So thank you for sharing your build roland

 

Well I still have a few questions on the components and I hope some of the experts in here can clear me up.

 

 

Case: Lian Li PC-Q25 Black Hot Swap Mini Tower Case

I definitely want to use this

 

 

Board: ASUS H87I-PLUS Motherboard

Is there any reason for me to choose the H97I instead of the H87I?

I'm thinking that maybe the M.2 Socket can be used for a cache drive such as the new Samsung SSD 950 Pro in the future.

Do you think that M.2 will get relevant for unraid?

 

Another question on the board: what kind of internally mounted usb 3.0 port adapter would you recommend?

 

 

CPU:  Intel Core i3 4130

I think that when I only want to make use of Intel VT-x this one is ok, right?

 

 

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM (2x4GB) DDR3

What's the reason to use 1600MHz for unraid? Because on other websites sometimes 1333MHz is recommended.

And how important would be the use of ECC-RAM as these Ripjaws are non-ECC RAMS.

I know that the ASUS-board does not support ECC-RAM, so maybe I should switch the board aswell?

 

Another question I have is for how many HDD-Drives 8GB of DDR3 RAM in total would be enough?

Is there a rule of thumb maybe?

 

 

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF 450W SFX

For the PSU I have the same question as for the RAM

Is 450W enough even when I use a full setup of HDD drives and maybe SSD-Cache drives?

 

 

Disk: 2x 4TB WD Red (1 data, 1 parity)

I will get these aswell.

Would you suggest using the SATA cables coming with the drives or should I order different cables?

 

 

Cache: 120 GB Samsung SSD 840EVO

I won't use a cache drive at first, but definitely sometime in the near future

 

 

USB:  Cruzer Fit (8GB)

Is USB 3.0 a topic or is 2.0 enough?

Is there maybe another USB-stick that would be a better choice in regard to wear leveling for example.

 

 

I also want to use BeQuiet Silent Wings 2 PWM fans as I already own them as intace (140mm) and exhaust (120mm) fans.

Is it save to use both fans with an y-adapter cable even if one is 140mm and the other one 120mm?

Because the Asus-Board only has 2 4-pin connectors.

I'm also thinking of getting the Noctua NH-L9i for cpu cooling.

 

 

I hope someone can answer my questions and/or has additional tips for me.

 

A wonderful week to all of you

The Q25 is becoming harder and harder to find. When you find it, the price will be much higher then it used to be. Research this and go from there (you'll likely be switching which case you get).

I wanted to get it from here http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Lian-Li-PC-Q25B-Wuerfel-ohne-Netzteil-schwarz_760118.html

I don't know how the price was the years before, but 114€ is okay I hope

Hi everyone,

 

I follow this forum for quiet some time now and am about to build my very first (unraid) server.

I really like the PC-Q25 and I think that roland's build would fit my requirements pretty good.

 

I mainly want to use it as NAS (HD/4K-streaming) and also want to install some dockers I think.

Maybe in the future I want to make use of virtual machines but I don't think that I will install a graphics card so IOMMU isn't a topic for me if I understand this correct.

 

So thank you for sharing your build roland

 

Well I still have a few questions on the components and I hope some of the experts in here can clear me up.

 

 

Case: Lian Li PC-Q25 Black Hot Swap Mini Tower Case

I definitely want to use this

 

 

Board: ASUS H87I-PLUS Motherboard

Is there any reason for me to choose the H97I instead of the H87I?

I'm thinking that maybe the M.2 Socket can be used for a cache drive such as the new Samsung SSD 950 Pro in the future.

Do you think that M.2 will get relevant for unraid?

 

Another question on the board: what kind of internally mounted usb 3.0 port adapter would you recommend?

 

 

CPU:  Intel Core i3 4130

I think that when I only want to make use of Intel VT-x this one is ok, right?

 

 

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM (2x4GB) DDR3

What's the reason to use 1600MHz for unraid? Because on other websites sometimes 1333MHz is recommended.

And how important would be the use of ECC-RAM as these Ripjaws are non-ECC RAMS.

I know that the ASUS-board does not support ECC-RAM, so maybe I should switch the board aswell?

 

Another question I have is for how many HDD-Drives 8GB of DDR3 RAM in total would be enough?

Is there a rule of thumb maybe?

 

 

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF 450W SFX

For the PSU I have the same question as for the RAM

Is 450W enough even when I use a full setup of HDD drives and maybe SSD-Cache drives?

 

 

Disk: 2x 4TB WD Red (1 data, 1 parity)

I will get these aswell.

Would you suggest using the SATA cables coming with the drives or should I order different cables?

 

 

Cache: 120 GB Samsung SSD 840EVO

I won't use a cache drive at first, but definitely sometime in the near future

 

 

USB:  Cruzer Fit (8GB)

Is USB 3.0 a topic or is 2.0 enough?

Is there maybe another USB-stick that would be a better choice in regard to wear leveling for example.

 

 

I also want to use BeQuiet Silent Wings 2 PWM fans as I already own them as intace (140mm) and exhaust (120mm) fans.

Is it save to use both fans with an y-adapter cable even if one is 140mm and the other one 120mm?

Because the Asus-Board only has 2 4-pin connectors.

I'm also thinking of getting the Noctua NH-L9i for cpu cooling.

 

 

I hope someone can answer my questions and/or has additional tips for me.

 

A wonderful week to all of you

 

I suggest you start your own topic, as you'll get better response/help there, and it doesn't crowd up this thread for the original poster.

OK, thank you

started my own thread in the hardware section over here http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=43670.0

As previously mentioned in this thread, I have this hardware providing passthrough.

 

If I remember correctly, VT-d and VT-x are separate entries in the BIOS. They're in completely different sections though - one is in 'System Agent' and the other in 'CPU' settings.

 

I finally got around to upgrade my BIOS to the 2003 version and tried switching on the virtualisation.

I found the VT-x setting but there is no VT-d setting.

 

Could be because my CPU does not support it!! i3-4130 does have VT-x but not VT-d

Can I still do virtualisation in unRAID? What would be the restriction?

 

Thanks

 

As previously mentioned in this thread, I have this hardware providing passthrough.

 

If I remember correctly, VT-d and VT-x are separate entries in the BIOS. They're in completely different sections though - one is in 'System Agent' and the other in 'CPU' settings.

 

I finally got around to upgrade my BIOS to the 2003 version and tried switching on the virtualisation.

I found the VT-x setting but there is no VT-d setting.

 

Could be because my CPU does not support it!! i3-4130 does have VT-x but not VT-d

Can I still do virtualisation in unRAID? What would be the restriction?

 

Thanks

Yes you can. I have this mobo with an even lower grade CPU (celeron) and I manage to run two VMs. One Linux and one Mac OS X.

VT-x lets you do VMs.

VT-d lets you pass through hardware to the VM, for example a dedicated GPU for gaming.

So dependent on your needs, VT-x might suffice. If not, you need to upgrade your CPU to something that supports VT-d (the mobo does already)