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ESX Passthrough of AMD Ryzen Integrated Graphics (iGPU)

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I recently had a conversation with Wenchao (creator of AMD Zen4/Zen5 IPMI Thermal Driver for ESX Fling and Realtek Network Driver for ESX Fling) about the incredible work he has done to support the VMware/Broadcom community. His latest contributions has really closed the capability gap when running ESX on popular AMD Ryzen platforms like the Minisforum MS-A2, which been an ideal system for running VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 in a lab environment.

The only remaining capability we have not yet been able to take advantage of is the integrated graphics (iGPU) on modern AMD Ryzen systems, which have become surprisingly powerful for running AI models.

While this has been a topic I have researched quite extensively and even spent time debugging with Engineering, it is always great to get a new perspective on things. I kid you not, a few days later Wenchao came back with a solution that had a few caveats which I was able to help iron out with some of my prior experience in this area. 😆

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Installing Realtek Network Driver Fling using Free ESXi 8.0 Update 3e ISO

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The typical method for authoring a customized ESXi image that contains additional drivers and packages is by either using vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) if you already have a vCenter Server deployed or by using PowerCLI cmdlets which does not depend on vCenter Server to to create a new image.

In the latter option of using PowerCLI, users must provide a reference to the ESXi base image which can be be provided by using Broadcom's Online Depot (requires Broadcom Download Token) or served using a local ESXi offline bundle zip file.

As some of you may have observed over the years, not every single ESXi release (typically patch/updates) will include both an ISO and offline bundle deliverable. If you have an existing vCenter Server, you can download ANY ESXi release in either ISO and/or offline bundle format using vLCM.

What if you only had access to an ESXi ISO, can you still take advantage of some of the custom drivers including the recently released Realtek Network Driver for ESXi Fling?

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Every Mini PC & SFF Hardware Announced at CES 2026

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I always look forward to the annual announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), with a specific eye toward new hardware platforms and innovations well suited for running VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) in a lab environment. This year is no exception, although acquiring affordable memory may require a few sacrifices given the skyrocketing prices driven by the insatiable demands of AI.

At CES 2026, Intel and AMD introduced their next generation consumer processors, Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) and AMD Ryzen AI 400 Series (Gorgon Point), which will power many of the newly announced hardware platforms.

Most of the hardware vendors seem to have prioritized LPDDR5 (soldered memory), which offers higher bandwidth for AI workloads but it comes at a premium on top of the exploding prices. I was also hoping to see some announcements for systems supporting the new LPCAMM2 or SOCAMM2 memory standard, which could enable configurations with up to 256GB of memory. I suspect due to the supply chain constraint and overall costs, such platforms may only be reserved for AI focused systems in the future.

Whether you are refreshing a home lab, looking for an ideal AI platform for exploration, new gaming rig or general curiosity, I have compiled a comprehensive list of all the new Mini PCs and Small Form Factor (SFF) systems that should be arriving in 2026.

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