ESXi on ASUS PN64-E1

There are not many small form factor kits out there right now that supports Thunderbolt 4, so I was really interested in what ASUS had to offer with their release of the PN64-E1.

I have actually never worked with an ASUS kit before, so I was definitely looking forward to getting my hands on one of this system and see what capabilities it can enable for the VMware community. I initially learned about this platform last year with their PN64, but in speaking with ASUS, they mentioned I should really check out their newest offering, the PN64-E1, which has several new enhancements over their previous model.

So here is your first look at the ASUS PN64-E1!

Compute

There are three different configurations for the PN64-E1, all of which are vPro capable and utilizing the latest Intel 13th Generation (Raptor Lake) CPUs:

• Intel 13th Generation Intel® Core i7-13800H (vPro)
  • 14 Processor Cores (6P+8E), 20 threads, 24MB Intel® Smart Cache, 35W TDP
  • P-Cores: 5.2GHz Turbo; E-Cores : 4.0GHz Turbo
• Intel 13th Generation Intel® Core i7-13700H (vPro)
  • 14 Processor Cores (6P+8E), 20 threads, 24MB Intel® Smart Cache, 35W TDP
  • P-Cores: 5.0GHz Turbo; E-Cores: 3.7GHz Turbo
• Intel 13th Generation Intel® Core i5-13500H (vPro)
  • 12 Processor Cores (4P+8E), 16 threads, 18MB Intel® Smart Cache, 35W TDP
  • P-Cores: 4.7GHz Turbo; E-Cores: 3.5GHz Turbo

Memory

The PN64-E1 support the latest DDR5 memory, which means you likely will need to purchase new memory before you can take advantage of this kit. The system supports two SODIMM memory slots, similiar to many of the small form factor systems including the Intel NUC.

While the "official" maximum supported memory for the PN64-1 is 64GB, what is really exciting about this system or any DDR5 capable system for that matter is that they can immediately take advantage of the new non-binary 48GB DDR5 SODIMM. In fact, the PN64-E1 is the actual system that I had used to validate that 96GB of memory can be detected (BIOS screenshot above) and can be used by ESXi! 😎

Memory is typically the first resource that is constrained in most VMware environments, so being able to able to easily upgrade to an extra 32GB is definitely a great investment in my opinion. For more details about the memory used, which is the Mushkin 96GB (2 x 48GB) DDR5 SODIMM, please see this blog post HERE for more information.

Network

The onboard networking for the PN64-E1 can support up to two Intel i226 (2.5GbE), which is simliar to that of the latest Intel NUC 13 Pro (Tall) and is automatically recognized when using ESXi 8.0 and later or you can use the Community Networking Driver for ESXi Fling for those that wish to run earlier ESXi 7.0 versions. The PN64-E1 that I am using (pictured above), only has a single 2.5GbE, but you can certainly get it configured to support two which would be an ideal setup for running something like VMware Cloud Foundation as I have previously demonstrated HERE.

There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports which you can utilize to add more networking with these Thunderbolt 10GbE solutions for ESXi or you can look at USB-based networking by using the popular USB Network Native Driver for ESXi Fling.

Storage

The storage on the PN64-E1 can support 2 x M.2 PCIe x4 Gen 4 (2280) and 1 x SATA (2.5") devices, which is the perfect combination for installing ESXi on a reliable media like an SSD and still have enough drives to setup vSAN, which was the exact configuration I had used for my setup. You can of course configure multiple standard VMFS volumes if you prefer not to use vSAN and connect to remote network storage as well.

If you need even more storage or performant external storage options, you can also use the two Thunderbolt 4 ports and add these Thunderbolt M.2 NVMe solutions for ESXi which will give you plenty of storage capacity.

Graphics

Happy to share that the onboard iGPU can be successfully passthrough to an Ubuntu VM, which has support for the latest Intel Graphics Drivers. For more details and setup instructions, please refer to this blog post HERE.

Note: iGPU passthrough to a Windows VM will NOT work due to lack of Intel driver support as shared in this detailed blog post.

If you are looking to use the newest release of Ubuntu 23.04, the required Intel Graphics Drivers is now installed by default and just works out of the box. However, I did notice the Ubuntu VM Console did not fully load and its possible as this is still a new release that this maybe an expected behavior for now. Since VMware Tools is already included and running by default in all Ubuntu releases, you should see the IP Address show up in the vSphere UI and then access over SSH or you could also setup remote desktop and connect that way as well.

TPM

I was extremely surprised to see that the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip that is included in the PN64-E1 was not an fTPM, which you typically find in almost all consumer Intel platforms including the Intel NUC, which are not compatible with ESXi. The TPM 2.0 chip that is included in the PN64-E1 supports FIFO (First In, First Out) and is the industry standard for communicating with a TPM device that ESXi uses.

With the PN64-E1, you will have full attestation capabilities with ESXi as shown in the screenshot above and you will be able to deploy Windows 11 systems without setting up vTPM, which would be the alternative if you do not have a compliant TPM chip. This is a huge plus for the PN64-E1 as I know many have asked about the TPM capabilities for other systems that I have reviewed but they all lack the the support required due to the use of an fTPM instead of a TPM chip with FIFO support. This might even be the first system that I have come across that is not a server grade system that has proper TPM chip that can be utilized by ESXi, which is awesome.

ESXi

Finally, ESXi runs great on the PN64-E1 and the latest release of ESXi 8.0 Update 1 installs on the PN64-E1 without any issues, no additional drivers are required as the Community Networking Driver for ESXi has been productized as part of the ESXi 8.0 release. If you want to install ESXi 7.x, you will need to use of the Community Networking Driver for ESXi Fling to recognize the onboard network device.

It is recommended to disable the E-cores within the BIOS which is located under the Advanced settings to prevent ESXi from PSOD'ing due to the non-uniform CPU cores, which will result in the following error "Fatal CPU mismatch on feature".

If for some reason you prefer not to disable either the P-cores or E-Cores, then follow the instructions HERE for applying the workaround to prevent a PSOD, especially important if you plan on using ESXi 8.0 Update 1 which requires an additional kernel option in addition to ignoring the CPU uniformity check.

Overall, I am really impressed with what ASUS has delivered with the PN64-E1! It has all the basic capabilities that we have come to expect of these small form factor systems and has some added advantage over other platforms like a functional TPM that can now be utilized by ESXi. Best of all, the PN64-E1 can go beyond the 64GB memory limit and can easily be upgraded to support a total of 96GB of memory, making this a very compelling platform if you are in the market for a new VMware Homelab or if you want to upgrade and expand your existing enviornment.