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DDR5 SODIMM capable kits for ESXi

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After successfully confirming the new non-binary 48GB DDR5 SODIMM modules (96GB total) is fully functional with any DDR5 capable system, I started receiving questions about which DDR5 kits are currently available today and that can also be used with ESXi?

The ASUS PN64-E1 is definitely a top contender for anyone in the market for a new or updated VMware Homelab and it was also the system that I had used to verify the new DDR5 memory. In addition to the PN64-E1, the following kits listed below from my research also supports DDR5 SODIMM memory and would also be compatible with ESXi.

Note: While there are other DDR5 kits out in the market, especially those with an AMD CPU, they are not viable with ESXi as the onboard networking uses a Realtek network adapter and there are no ESXi drivers from Realtek.

If folks are aware of other kits that are both DDR5 compatible and would also function with ESXi, feel free to share by leaving a comment below.

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ESXi on ASUS PN64-E1

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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!

UPDATE (02/20/25) - 128GB (2x64GB) DDR5 SODIMM memory is fully functional with PN64-E1, please see this blog post for more information.

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vSphere Pods using VDS based Supervisor in vSphere with Tanzu?

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vSphere with Tanzu has received an exciting update with the release of vSphere 8.0 Update 1, which removes the restriction for requiring NSX-based networking to deploy Supervisor Services. This is really cool because customers with only a VDS based Supervisor can now also get the benefits of the various Supervisor Services that vSphere with Tanzu supports!


For those not aware, Supervisor Services are deployed as vSphere Pods, which is a super tiny VM that boots up a Photon OS kernel and is configured with just enough resources to run one or more Linux containers. In earlier releases of vSphere with Tanzu, vSphere Pods required an NSX based Supervisor, but with this restriction removed in vSphere 8.0 Update 1, it seems like deploying vSphere Pods should also be possible with just a VDS based Supervisor? 🤔

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