This table contains a list of systems, motherboards, storage controllers and network cards that have been tested and found to work with ESXi 5.x. Please check out the source column for a system you are considering using as some systems will include special steps to enable ESXi to run on that system or have other issues to overcome. None of these systems are supported by VMWare for running ESXi. For a list of those systems please see this link. In same cases for ESXi, the system may be booting from a USB flash drive and be using no local storage.
If you have tested a system that is not listed here, please post a comment in the forum. UPDATE
NOTE: this list includes a number of SATA controllers that provide RAID functionily via a software component in the drivers supplied with the controller. Examples would be the Intel ICH series and the nVidia MCP series. ESXi 5.x does not support that software RAID functionality thus you will only be able to access the individual drives connected to controllers such as these.
| Servers / PCs | Storage Controller | Status | Source |
| Apple Mac Pro (mid 2010) | ICH10 | OK | Beta forum |
| Apple XServer v3.1 | OK | Beta forum – only v3.1 will work. | |
| Dell 1950 | OK | Beta forum. | |
| Dell 2950 | OK | Beta forum. | |
| HP DL360 G4 | OK | Beta forum. | |
| HP ML110 G6 | OK | Beta forum – required the boot option enableValidPCIDevices=false | |
| Lenovo TS200 | OK | Beta forum. | |
| Motherboards | Storage Controller | Status | Source |
| Asus P8H67-M-LE Motherboard B3 | Intel RST | OK | Beta forum – the MB had issues booting from USB. |