Intel ARC A770 SR-IOV under Linux not available?

[Wolfi]

I have an ARC A770 based graphics card (ASRock Phantom Gaming) that I am using under Linux (Fedora 37 Workstation).

I would like to enable Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) to be able to pass a virtual function of the graphics card to a virtual machine (QEMU/KVM-based, using libvirt). Motherboard and Linux kernel are configured accordingly (IOMMU, ReBAR, SR-IOV and other virutalization options enabled).

However, I can't find SR-IOV capabilities for that card (should be reported via lspci).

On another machine with AlderLake (Core i9) built-in graphics, SR-IOV is being reported.

Please enable that feature for the ARC A770 graphics cards, too!

This was one major buying decision for that graphics card family.

Best regards,

-wolfi

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Wolfi

Thank you for posting on the Intel® ARC™ Graphics Communities. We are sorry that you are experiencing issues when trying to use virtualization (SR-IOV) on your system with Intel® Arc™ A770 Graphics.

The Intel® Arc™ A-Series GPUs do not support Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) this is the reason why it cannot be set up. We apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause. You can check more information at the following link:

Graphics Virtualization Technologies Support for Each Intel® Graphics Family.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Wolfi]

Hello Hugo,

thanks a lot for your answer to my inquiry, even if it is not what I hoped for.

Is that decision of not supporting SR-IOV for Intel® Arc™ A770 Graphics under Linux final, or can it be reassessed? I.e. unless it is a hardware issue, which I can't imagine for a contemporary graphics card; I still hope, this could be supported by the card's firmware.
If so, could you please kindly poke the relevant people in this regard (and if not, all the more...)?

Does this also apply to the new Xe driver currently being under development?

I just wanted to be able to use a decent graphics card within a (Windows) virtual machine on my Linux workstation (i.e. nothing server-related).

With kind regards,

-wolfi

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Wolfi

In regards to Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics, these models do support SR-IOV you can check this article for more information Do 11th Generation Intel® Processors Support GVT-g Technology?

As for your questions if there might be future support for SR-IOV in future firmware updates, allow me to check that internally with our team and I will let you know as soon as I have an update.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Hugo_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello Wolfi

Thank you for your patience. After checking your inquiry with our team, we can not comment on unannounced plans or the reason for this limitation in the Intel® Arc™ A-Series GPUs.

You can take a look at our Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series which does offer this type of technology.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[steven_ik]

Hello,

Is there any more news or plans regarding this topic?

Best regards,

Steven

[gh975223]

Steven Intlel will not tell you but you can flash the A770 with the bios of another device and you get SRIOV! the actual hardware has SRIOV capability but Intel deliberalty disables that functionality from Consumer devices so they can charge businesses excessive amounts of cash for same device, This practice needs to be illegal as SRIOV capability is a requirement for a consumer GPU and businesses can just buy lots more GPU!

[steven_ik]

thanks for you reply,

do you know where i can find this? I am a IT student and looking in to vGPU like functionality but don't have the money for server-grade hardware so i hoped i could work with these cards as they are more affordable

[gh975223]

as long as it is a Arc A770 (and for safety a Intel card) then it is exact same as a arctic sound-m cannot remmeber the exact model but basically there is a web site on the internet that has all the vbios of gpu (for example Tech powerup may have it) and specs of them, it will have the enterprise cards bios and then it is a matter of flashing it, i have not done such as i only have a ARC A750! level1tech formums may have instructions or not But be warned it will break soo many of intels rules it has for consumers and well it will be sriov capabile but perhaps needs anorther gpu (say the igpu) for graphics to Linux etc

[steven_ik]

sad... i also have a A750 so thats not going to work then....

[gh975223]

yeh it needs Intel to release appropriate firmware for Arc A750 to enable the SRIOV capability, it is really sick as the igpu in the CPU is capable of SRIOV!!!!! but it is less powerful so no good for gaming in a VM! and i have not tried recently but running the ARC A750 in a VM with pcie passrthrough (with the igpu for linux) is no good either it either works and poor performance (no rebar) or just does not work!

if you were to try the Xe gpu cores on the CPU you need to use a special Linux kernel like version 4.18 or something daft making using the dGPU a bit hard as it needs like linux 6.5 kernel to work correctly

[steven_ik]

yea it is to bad, but i do wonder wy? it would greatly improve the value of the cards with developers by testing for cuberneties or docker. and in the end probably lead to more sales of the arc series and the enterprise cards.

[Wolfi]

Hello Hugo,

many thanks for your efforts and for checking with the team.

Best Regards,

-wolfi

[Hugo_Intel]

Hello Wolfi

I appreciate your understanding. We are glad to know the information helped. Since there are no further questions, we will close this thread. If you need further assistance feel free to open a new topic.

Best Regards,

Hugo O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[gh975223]

This is not an acceptable answer! The hardware is definitely capable of SRIOV and your deliberate stopping consumers from using hardware to proper potential! you are foring users to buy multiple GPU (different suppliers!!!!) but at same time crippling users ability ot do that as you deliberately crippling consumer motherboard IO capability by not allowing 7x PCIe 16x slots!

All your doing is getting consumers to use AMD and Nvidia GPU!

[AnimeLife]

@Hugo_Intel , from a consumer standpoint it would be great if Intel could add this support. I want to purchase A770 over Nvidia 4060 Ti because its drivers are open-source and integrated with the Linux kernel. Since the drivers are open source and Intel develops SR-IOV spec, it might not be that big of an effort. 

I understand this functionality could be limited to avoid consumer cards being used for commercial purposes. But power users and almost every Linux user who gets these cards need this functionality. For instance, we must run Windows VM alongside Linux hosts to get a decent gaming experience.

On Nvidia people have gone to great lengths to get this support. For example here is a project: https://github.com/DualCoder/vgpu_unlock. Please notice how enthusiastic people are about this functionality from GitHub stats. Getting it out of the box in ARC GPUs would be sweet and appreciated in the community.