Jumping back to your VT-d problem:
From what I read a few months ago putting my ESXi box together, VT-d is more chipset related than it is CPU. There are some socket 775 cpu's with vt-d enabled (see: http://ark.intel.com/products/33910/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E8400-(6M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB)) Granted, you need a CPU that can do it, but between Manufacturer's not enabling it in BIOS and certain chipsets not supporting it, it was a pain all across the board.
If you find a board with vt-d enabled, finding a cpu that supports vt-x will be cake for the socket.
Yes, the VT support is dependent on both the chipset and the CPU. I found this out the hard way on a different rig I built. I built it using a board with a Z68 chipset and an i7-2600k. It's the high-end overclocking edition, it should work right? Hell no. Fucking Intel. I need P67 and a i7-2600 non-K in order to get the VT-d and other useful features. WTF.From what I read a few months ago putting my ESXi box together, VT-d is more chipset related than it is CPU. There are some socket 775 cpu's with vt-d enabled (see: http://ark.intel.com/products/33910/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E8400-(6M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB)) Granted, you need a CPU that can do it, but between Manufacturer's not enabling it in BIOS and certain chipsets not supporting it, it was a pain all across the board.
If you find a board with vt-d enabled, finding a cpu that supports vt-x will be cake for the socket.
Yea, I suspect it's to keep the gap between the workstation and enthusiast. But really, having a 5ghz 2600k for doing your VM work? Sounds like disaster for not having ECC.
I was throwing out the 775 reference in an attempt that maybe you can find a much cheaper option than the e3 board.
